''Song of Norway'' is an

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

written in 1944 by Robert Wright and

George Forrest George Forrest may refer to: *G. Topham Forrest (George Topham Forrest, 1872–1945), principal architect for the London County Council *George Forrest (author) (1915–1999), American author and musician *George Forrest (botanist) (1873–1932), S ...

, adapted from the music of

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

and the book by

Milton Lazarus Milton Lazarus (1898 or 1899 – March 1, 1955) was an American playwright and screenwriter. He began his career as a Press Agent before pursuing a career as a writer. He wrote the book for the Broadway musicals '' Shoot the Works'' (1931), ''New ...

and

Homer Curran Homer F. Curran (1885–1952) was an American theatrical producer on the West Coast of the United States during the first half of the 20th century. Born in Springfield, Missouri, he was educated at Stanford University. After graduating, he purchas ...

. A very loose

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

with major changes to both the book and music was released in 1970.

Stage production

''Song of Norway'' was originally developed and presented in Los Angeles by

Edwin Lester Edwin Lester (30 March 1895 – 13 December 1990) was an American theatre director, impresario, and producer. He was the longtime general director of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, which he founded in 1938. He also co-founded the LACLO's a ...

Los Angeles Civic Light Opera The Los Angeles Civic Light Opera (LACLO) was an American theatre/opera company in Los Angeles, California. Founded under the motto "Light Opera in the Grand Opera manner" in 1938 by impresario Edwin Lester, the organization presented fifty season ...

in 1944, with essentially the same cast as seen later on Broadway. It was also performed in San Francisco. The show opened at the

Imperial Theatre The Imperial Theatre is a Broadway theater at 249 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1923, the Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and ...

in New York on August 21, 1944, and ran for 860 performances. Charles K. Freeman directed while

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

was responsible for the choreography. The sets, costumes, and lighting design was by

Lemuel Ayers Lemuel Ayers (January 22, 1915, New York City, New York - August 14, 1955, New York City) was an American costume designer, scenic designer, lighting designer, and producer who had a prolific career on Broadway from 1939 until his death from can ...

. while

Lawrence Brooks Lawrence Brooks (born Huard, August 7, 1912April 15, 1994) He was an American singer and actor. Biography Brooks was born in Westbrook, Maine, the son of Emile and Anna Huard. He participated in musical and dramatic productions at Westbrook H ...

starred as

. The original Broadway cast featured

Irra Petina Irra Petina (April 18, 1908 – January 19, 2000) was an actress and singer as well as a leading contralto with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She was called the "floperetta queen" by critic Ken Mandelbaum. Born in St. Petersburg, Russ ...

as a fictional opera singer Louisa Giovanni and Kent Edwards as Elnar. The show featured dances, both ballet and Norwegian folk dances, performed by the

Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo The company Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo (with a plural name) was formed in 1932 after the death of Sergei Diaghilev and the demise of Ballets Russes. Its director was Wassily de Basil (usually referred to as Colonel W. de Basil), and its ...

Maria Tallchief Maria Tallchief, born Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief ( "Two-Standards"; Osage language, Osage family name: , Osage script: ; January 24, 1925 – April 11, 2013), was an Osage Tribe, Osage and American ballerina. She was America's first major p ...

, one of the featured dancers, married Balanchine during the run of the show. Ballet dancer

James Starbuck James Starbuck (March 13, 1912, Albuquerque, New Mexico – August 13, 1997, Beverly Hills, California) was an American choreographer, ballet dancer, musical theatre actor, and stage and television director. He studied modern dance with Martha Gr ...

portrayed the roles of Freddy and Tito in the Broadway production. It ran in London for 526 performances at the

Palace Theatre Palace Theatre, or Palace Theater, is the name of many theatres in different countries, including: Australia *Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria *Palace Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales Canada *Palace Theatre, housed in the Robillard Block, Mo ...

, the first Broadway show to cross the Atlantic after the end of the Second World War.

Story line

The show is set in and around Norway in

Troldhaugen Troldhaugen is the former home of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg and his wife Nina Grieg. Troldhaugen is located in Bergen, Norway and consists of the Edvard Grieg Museum, Grieg's villa, the hut where he composed music, and his and his wife ...

and

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

; as well as

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

and Rome in and after 1860. It follows the fictionalized lives of three childhood friends:

(played in New York by Lawrence Brooks), Nina Hagerup ( Helena Bliss) and

Rikard Nordraak Rikard Nordraak (12 June 1842 – 20 March 1866) was a Norway, Norwegian composer. He is best known as the composer of the Norwegian national anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet". Biography Rikard Nordraak was born and grew up in Oslo, Norway. Hi ...

(Robert Shafer). The play tells of the early struggles of Edvard Grieg and his attempts to develop an authentic Norwegian national music. Grieg dreams of being a great composer and these dreams are shared by his friend Nordraak and Grieg's sweetheart, Nina. Grieg is lured to Italy by the great prima donna Louisa Giovanni, but he finds he cannot create amid all the glitter and excitement and so returns to Norway and his beloved Nina to write his music. The melody of the Norwegian National Anthem, ''Ja, vi elsker dette landet'' was actually written by Rikard Nordraak to lyrics written by the Norwegian national poet,

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

. Although Nordraak was in fact the composer who wrote the national anthem, he was portrayed as a poet in the show because it was believed "two composers would be confusing".

Music

Songs include "Prelude & Legend" (based on Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor), "Freddy and His Fiddle" (based on ''Norwegian Dance No.2''), "Now" (based on Violin Sonata No. 2, and ''Waltz'' from ''

Lyric Pieces ''Lyric Pieces'' () is a collection of 66 short pieces for solo piano written by Edvard Grieg. They were published in 10 volumes, from 1867 ( Op. 12) to 1901 (Op. 71). The collection includes several of his best known pieces, such as '' Wedding ...

''), "Strange Music" (based on ''

Wedding Day at Troldhaugen "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" (Norwegian: "", literally "Wedding Anniversary at Troldhaugen") is a composition for piano by Edvard Grieg. It is the sixth piano piece in the eighth book of his ''Lyric Pieces'', bearing the opus number 65. Descripti ...

''), "Midsummer's Eve" (based on ''One Balmy Summer Eve'' from ''Five Poems, Op.26'', and ''Scherzo in E'' from ''

''), and "I Love You" (''Ich Liebe Dich'', from ''Melodies of the Heart, Op.5''). The original Broadway cast recording was released by

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

on 6 78-rpm 12 inch discs. Irra Petina was under contract to a competing record label (Columbia), so her part in the "original cast" was sung by

Kitty Carlisle Kitty Carlisle Hart (born Catherine Conn; September 3, 1910 – April 17, 2007) was an American stage and screen actress, opera singer, television personality and spokesperson for the arts. She was the leading lady in the Marx Brothers movie '' ...

, who never actually played the part on Broadway. Decca later released a 33 rpm single disc LP, with some edits to fit the single-disc medium. In 2004, Decca finally released the full original album on CD.

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

made a recording in 1959 of the Jones Beach production (which opened in June 1958) with

Brenda Lewis Brenda Lewis (March 2, 1921 – September 16, 2017) was an American operatic soprano, musical theatre actress, opera director, and music educator. She enjoyed a 20-year-long collaboration with the New York City Opera (NYCO) with whom she notably ...

and

John Reardon John Henry Reardon (born July 30, 1975) is a Canadian actor. Prior to 2015, Reardon starred as Blake Laviolette on the CBC Television series ''Arctic Air'' and had a recurring role as Greg Cameron on the Showcase series '' Continuum''. As of 20 ...

, which was released on CD by Masterworks Broadway.Suskin, Steve
"The 1959 Jones Beach Revival of Song of Norway and London's Most Happy Fella"
playbill.com, September 5, 2010

References

External links

*
Song of Norway on Floormic.com
{{Authority control Operettas English-language operettas 1944 musicals 1944 operas Broadway musicals Arrangements of compositions by Edvard Grieg Musicals choreographed by George Balanchine Musicals set in Norway Musicals set in the 1860s

Stage production

Story line

Music

See also

References

External links