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...
When I was a child, like all other children, I loved the holidays...…..Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. But, (don't ask me why?) the month of February always had a special place in my heart. Why? When I was a child it had three holidays.....Lincoln's Birthday, Valentine's Day and Washington's Birthday. For some unknown, some people in Washington D. C. decided that Lincoln and Washington could be lumped together and called President's Day. And thus, today's children are missing out and only have two days instead of three. In my grade school, we celebrated them all. Back then, It was customary to decorate the class room for the holidays We were given black "construction" paper to make silhouettes of the two presidents which were adhered to the windows in the classroom. Red construction paper was supplied for Valentine's we make our mothers and "girlfriends" (as well as assorted hearts to enhance those same windows). Whi...
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