Urmston Musical Theatre
Urmston Musical Theatre (UMT) is an amateur theatre company based in Urmston, Greater Manchester, UK. History The organisation was formed in 1911 as the Urmston and District Operatic Society, and produced '' H.M.S. Pinafore'' at the Urmston Public Hall. In 1947, the name was changed to the Urmston Amateur Operatic Society which remained until it assumed the current name. Several well-known personalities have been connected with the society, notably the current President, Matthew Kelly, who appeared in the society's 1963 production of '' The King and I'' along with Peter Pennington, who became a featured soloist with the '' Black and White Minstrels''. Others include Brian Trueman who appeared in the group's production of '' Merrie England'' in 1951, the late Lord Winstanley and Winston Churchill MP, The Urmston Musical Theatre, Retrieved on 16 No ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Amateur Theatre
Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as for aesthetic values. Productions may take place in venues ranging from the open air, community centres, or schools to independent or major professional theatres. Amateur theatre is distinct from the professional or community theatre because performers are usually not paid. Amateur actors are not typically members of actors' unions. Definition Opinions vary on how to define "amateur" in relation to theatre. Technically speaking, an "amateur" is anyone who does not accept, or is not offered, money for their services. One interpretation of this is: "One lacking the skill of a professional, as in an art". Another is: "A person who engages in an art, science, study, or athletic activity as a pastime rather than as a profession". An amateur a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oliver!
''Oliver!'' is a stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before opening in the West End, where it enjoyed a record-breaking long run. ''Oliver!'' ran on Broadway, after being brought to the U.S. by producer David Merrick in 1963. Major London revivals played from 1977 to 1980, 1994 to 1998, 2008 to 2011 and on tour in the UK from 2011 to 2013. Additionally, its 1968 film adaptation, directed by Carol Reed, won six Academy Awards including Best Picture. ''Oliver!'' received thousands of performances in British schools, becoming one of the most popular school musicals. In 1963 Lionel Bart received the Tony Award for Best Original Score. Many songs are well known to the public, such as " Food, Glorious Food", " Consider Yourself" and " I'd Do Anything". Background ''Oliver!'' was the first musical adaptation of a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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HMS Pinafore
''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London on 25 May 1878, and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical theatre piece up to that time. ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' was Gilbert and Sullivan's fourth operatic collaboration and their first international sensation. The story takes place aboard the Royal Navy ship HMS ''Pinafore''. The captain's daughter, Josephine, is in love with a lower-class sailor, Ralph Rackstraw, although her father intends her to marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty. She abides by her father's wishes at first, but Sir Joseph's advocacy of the equality of humankind encourages Ralph and Josephine to overturn conventional social order. They declare their love for each other and eventually plan to elope. The Captain discovers this plan, but, as in many of the Gilbert an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Florodora
''Florodora'' is an Edwardian musical comedy. After its long run in London, it became one of the first successful Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals of the 20th century. The book was written by Jimmy Davis under the pseudonym Owen Hall, the music was by Leslie Stuart with additional songs by Paul Rubens (composer), Paul Rubens, and the lyrics were by Edward Boyd-Jones, George Arthurs and Rubens. The original London production opened in 1899 where it ran for a very successful 455 performances. The New York production, which opened the following year, was even more popular, running for 552 performances. After this, the piece was produced throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. The musical was famous for its double sextet and its chorus line of "Florodora Girls".Miller, Scott"Curtain Up, Light the Lights: 1874–1900" New Line Theatre, 2008, accessed 7 July 2024 The piece was popular with amateur theatre groups, particularly in Britain, into the 1950s. Background ''Flo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Mikado
''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, the second-longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time.The longest-running piece of musical theatre was the operetta ''Les Cloches de Corneville'', which held the title until ''Dorothy (opera), Dorothy'' opened in 1886, which pushed ''The Mikado'' down to third place. By the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera.H. L. Mencken, Mencken, H. L.]Article on ''The Mikado'', ''Baltimore Evening Sun'', 29 November 1910 ''The Mikado'' is the most internationally successful Savoy opera and has been especially popular with amateur and school productions. The work has ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mame (musical)
''Mame'' is a musical with a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Originally titled ''My Best Girl'', it is based on the 1955 novel '' Auntie Mame'' by Patrick Dennis and the 1956 Broadway play of the same name by Lawrence and Lee. A period piece set in New York City and spanning the Great Depression and World War II, it focuses on eccentric bohemian Mame Dennis, whose famous motto is "Life is a banquet and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death." Her fabulous life with her wealthy friends is interrupted when the young son of her late brother arrives to live with her. They cope with the Depression in a series of adventures. The musical opened on Broadway in 1966, starring Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur. The production became a hit and spawned a 1974 film version with Lucille Ball in the title role, and Arthur reprising her supporting role; as well as a London production, a Broadway revival, and a 40th anniversa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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No, No, Nanette
''No, No, Nanette'' is a musical with a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play ''My Lady Friends''; lyrics by Irving Caesar and Harbach; and music by Vincent Youmans. The farcical story centers on three couples who find themselves together at a cottage in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the midst of a blackmail scheme focusing on a fun-loving Manhattan heiress who has run off, leaving an unhappy fiancé. Its songs include the well-known " Tea for Two" and " I Want to Be Happy". After a pre- Broadway tour in 1924, the musical was revised for a production later 1924 in Chicago, where it became a hit and ran for more than a year. In 1925 ''No, No, Nanette'' opened both on Broadway and in London's West End, running for 321 and 665 performances, respectively. Film versions (1930 and 1940) and revivals followed. A Broadway revival in 1971, with the book adapted by Burt Shevelove, was a success, running for 861 performances. A popular myth holds t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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South Pacific (musical)
''South Pacific'' is a musical theatre, musical composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and Book (musical theatre), book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The work premiered in 1949 on Broadway theatre, Broadway and was an immediate hit, running for 1,925 performances. The plot is based on James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Pulitzer Prize–winning 1947 book ''Tales of the South Pacific'' and combines elements of several of those stories. Rodgers and Hammerstein believed they could write a musical based on Michener's work that would be financially successful and, at the same time, send a strong progressive message on racism. The plot centers on an American nurse stationed on a South Pacific island during World War II, who falls in love with a middle-aged expatriate French plantation owner but struggles to accept his mixed-race children. A secondary romance, between a U.S. Marine lieutenant and a young Tonkinese woman, explores his fears of t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Guys & Dolls
''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, such as "Pick the Winner". The show premiered on Broadway theatre, Broadway on November 24, 1950, where it ran for 1,200 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical has had several Broadway and London revivals, as well as a Guys and Dolls (film), 1955 film adaptation starring Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, and Vivian Blaine, who reprised her role of Adelaide from Broadway. ''Guys and Dolls'' is considered one of the greatest Broadway musicals. In 1998, Vivian Blaine, Sam Levene, Robert Alda and Isabel Bigley, along with the original Broadway cast of the 1950 Decca Records, Decca cast album, were inducted into the Grammy Hall o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Sound Of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Set in Austria on the eve of the ''Anschluss'' in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp. He is ordered to accept a commission in the German Navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children. Many songs from the musical have become standards, including " Do-Re-Mi", " My Favorite Things", " Edelweiss", " Climb Ev'ry Mountain", and the title song " The Sound of Music". The original Broadway production, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, opened in 1959 and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
''Annie Get Your Gun'' is a 1946 musical with lyrics and music by Irving Berlin and a book by Dorothy Fields and her brother Herbert Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley (1860–1926), a sharpshooter who starred in ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'', and her romance with sharpshooter Frank E. Butler (1847–1926). The 1946 Broadway production was a hit, and the musical had long runs in both New York (1,147 performances) and London, spawning revivals, a 1950 film version and television versions. Songs that became hits include " There's No Business Like Show Business", " Doin' What Comes Natur'lly", " You Can't Get a Man with a Gun", " They Say It's Wonderful", and " Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)". History and background Dorothy Fields had the idea for a musical about Annie Oakley to star her friend Ethel Merman. Producer Mike Todd turned the project down, so Fields approached a new producing team, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein I ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hello, Dolly! (musical)
''Hello, Dolly!'' is a 1964 musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce '' The Merchant of Yonkers'', which Wilder revised and retitled '' The Matchmaker'' in 1954. The musical follows the story of Dolly Gallagher Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker, as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. ''Hello, Dolly!'' debuted at the Fisher Theater in Detroit on November 18, 1963, directed and choreographed by Gower Champion and produced by David Merrick. It starred stage performer Carol Channing as Dolly Gallagher Levi, a role theatrical audiences of the world would forever associate with her. The show moved to Broadway in 1964, winning 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Actress in a Musical for Channing. The awards earned set a record which the play held for 37 years. The show album ''Hello, Dolly! An Original Cast ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |