The year was 2010. The Broadway Cares annual Christmas ornament was the incomparable Carol Channing as Dolly Levi in the Jerry Herman musical (with Michael Stewart providing the lyrics), "Hello Dolly." Beginning as a play in England, it was adapted into a French farce before falling into the hands of Thornton Wilder and becoming "The Merchant of Yonkers." With little success at the box-office Wilder revise it and presented it again as "The Matchmaker" in 1954 starring Ruth Gordon which in turn became a movie starring Shirley Booth in 1958. The producer David Merrick acquired the rights to make it a musical ("Dolly, A Damned Exasperating Woman" and "Call on Dolly" were two of the original titles) and he offered it to Ethel Merman and then Mary Martin, both of whom turned it down (Ironically, they both did it later.) To helm the project, Hal Prince, Jerome Robbins and Joe Layton were approached but with no agreement reached and ulti...
In 2011, the yearly Broadway Cares Christmas ornament was Bernadette Peters, lauded for her performance in the Stephen Sondheim / James Lapine musical, "Sunday in the Park With George." This is perhaps the only musical inspired by a painting, namely Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." What started out as a workshop, the first act was performed off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizon while the second act was being written. It ultimately evolved, was completed and the whole thing was transferred to Broadway where it got mixed reviews but ultimately won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama! It was the recipient of ten Tony Awards but only collected two (Best Scenic Design and Best Lighting Design). The major winners that year were "La Cage Aux Folles"( Best Musical), George Hearn (Best Actor for "La Cage....") and Chita Rivera (Best Actress for "The Rink") On a personal note, I didn't care for th...
I have always been intrigued by puzzles of all sorts starting out with jigsaws in my youth and eventually graduating to Crosswords, Jumbles, Sudokus, Cyphers, Word Searches and a myriad of other types of posers. And I do my fair share...….the New York Times Sunday Crossword is by far my favorite and I am proud to say that I can now solve it in ink! (After many years with the no.2 and an eraser) On the contest side, I've entered here and there...……..New York magazine ran a weekly challenge back in the day and had numerous types of things to do. For instance (and a classic)….Make up a name using other names (the old "if so-and-so married so-and-so" game). If Anna Maria Alberghetti married producer David Merrick, divorced him and married comedian Jackie Cannon, divorced him and married composer Norman Paris, her name would be Anna Merrick Cannon Paris. You get the picture? Well, after a few honorable mentions in the New York contest, I finally won one. ...
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