Liza Redfield (born Betty Weisman; 11 August 1924, Philadelphia - 23 December 2018, Manhattan) was an American

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

, pianist, and composer who is chiefly remembered for being the first woman to be the full-time conductor of a

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

pit orchestra; a feat she achieved in 1960 when she was appointed music director of ''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical theatre, musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns a confidence trick, con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and ...

'' during its initial run.

Early life and education

Born to Issac Weisman, a tailor, and Sophie (Becker) Weisman, a homemaker, Liza Redfield was a piano prodigy who was performing recitals by age 8. She graduated from the

Philadelphia High School for Girls Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 census. The city is the urb ...

and earned a music degree from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. She planned a career as a classical pianist, but after graduating from university at age 19 she decided that she didn't enjoy the constant practice and performing. By her own account she "ran off and got married and went to live in New York," where she switched to popular

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

. The marriage to Ira Leff was over quickly, but Redfield found work doing orchestrations for recording companies. Her stage name was supposedly inspired by her red hair.

Conducting career

Redfield's first experience as a conductor was in recording sessions of the songs from ''The Amazing Adele'', a forgotten musical of the mid-1950s with

Tammy Grimes Tammy Lee Grimes (January 30, 1934 – October 30, 2016) was an American film and stage actress and singer. Grimes won two Tony Awards in her career, the first for originating the role of Molly Tobin in the musical '' The Unsinkable Molly Brow ...

that never made it to Broadway. Later she studied conducting with Vladimir Brailowsky, who also encouraged her to continue her piano studies. Redfield took a job as a conductor in a Detroit summer theater, on productions including ''

Damn Yankees ''Damn Yankees'' is a 1955 musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., d ...

'', ''

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, whe ...

'' and ''South Pacific''. Her work in regional theater eventually led to conducting jobs with two

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

musicals in 1960, ''Miss Emily Adams'' and ''

Ernest in Love ''Ernest in Love'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Anne Croswell and music by Lee Pockriss. It is based on ''The Importance of Being Earnest'', Oscar Wilde's classic 1895 comedy of manners. Background The two-act musical is an expanded ve ...

''. Redfield's big break came when she was appointed orchestra director for ''Music Man''. She later recalled: "Women seemed more surprised and pleased than men. Female members of the audience would come up to me after the show and tell me how pleased they were that I was conducting." An amusing sidelight of her conducting career was her appearance on panel

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a Panel show, panel game show that originally ran in the United States, between 1950 and 1967, on CBS, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent American revivals. The game uses celebrity panelists ...

'' in 1960. The panel failed to guess her occupation, though

Dorothy Kilgallen Dorothy Mae Kilgallen (July 3, 1913 – November 8, 1965) was an American columnist, journalist, and television game show panelist. After spending two semesters at the College of New Rochelle, she started her career shortly before her 18th bir ...

asked if she was one of the

stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at private events. Modern forms of stripping m ...

s in ''Gypsy''. After ''Music Man'', Redfield was the conductor for Broadway shows ''Sophie'', ''Good News'', and '' Charlie and Algernon'', none of which lasted more than a few weeks. She worked through the 1980s with touring Broadway shows and pre-Broadway tryouts. She was also a composer and created music for the reopening of

Ford's Theater Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C., which opened in 1863. The theater is best known for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater box where ...

in Washington, D.C. in 1968.

Death

Liza Redfield's death in 2018 at the Amsterdam Nursing Home in Manhattan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redfield, Liza 1924 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American conductors (music) American women conductors (music) 20th-century American women pianists 20th-century American classical pianists American women composers Philadelphia High School for Girls alumni American women classical pianists University of Pennsylvania alumni 21st-century American women