In addition to Ebb's many projects with John Kander, this collection also covers Ebb's early career, with other composers, such as Paul Klein and Phil Springer. Third-year theater and dance and English double major Charlie Lavaroni functioned as a narrator and comedic relief in the role of Willy. When Flora / Greek Demosthenes used to cure a stammer. George Abbott became involved, thinking it would be a vehicle for Eydie Gorm. Flora agrees. The bulk of materials that would be classified as production files were arranged in Ebb's scrapbooks and are subsequently in Series I. The cost and license availability quoted are estimates only and may differ when you apply for a license. The Fred Ebb Papers were donated to the New York Public Library in a 2004 bequest by Fred Ebb. Items that could not be viewed in their entirety as placed in the scrapbooks have been moved to envelopes at the front of the scrapbooks. Her usual partner doesn't show up, so . View All Characters in Flora the Red Menace. That evening, Kenny and Maggie perform the dance routine they have been Fred Ebb shortened it he started calling me Stro, then Kander, then Scott, then Tommy. Then I remembered something what my father always told me Dont be afraid to ask the question, the worst that can happen is somebody says no. And that piece of advice has stuck with me for all these years the worst that can happen is somebody says no. shared ambition to change the world, they go about their mission in two Kander and Ebb's next Broadway show was one of their biggest successes, Chicago (1975). Friedenberg carries the show effortlessly on vocals alone, which when paired with her impeccable comedic timing made her the ideal leading actor. The perfect department store executive. The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd May 16, 1965 Dec 04, 1965 . This series consists of articles, audition notes, budgets, business files, cast lists, contact sheets, contracts, correspondence, costume plots, drafts of lyrics, essays and papers, invoices, itineraries, memos, notebooks, outlines, playbills, programs, productions notes, prop lists, proposals, public relations materials, research materials, schedules song lists, sound cues, telegrams and various other production files pertaining to particular shows. Flora Mezaros lost her job during the Great Depression, and now is looking for at least any job that would bring her minimum USD 15 per week. Flora invites Harry to share space at the If you put a different hat on, youre a completely different human being.. It seemed like a perfect frame for presenting Kander and Ebbsshow. Direction was by George Abbott, choreography by Lee Theodore, with scenic design by William and Jean Eckart, costume design by Donald Brooks and lighting design by Tharon Musser. optimism that defies the economic forecast. WEISS A former Communist who has lost his jewelry shop to the Depression, he is kindly, knowing.MAGGIE Very innocent. Not Every Day of The Week - Flora, The Red Menace. Sporting a bright red wig and a pinstripe suit, Brubaker became the perfect antagonistic caricature. Just make it a happy. on the line and refuses to look of the world in the black and white That is one of the many reasons the directional team chose Flora and the Red Menace for the students to perform. In Mr. Weisss words, Comrade Harry and the Party have become Chapter One in the life of a young girl., F.D.R.s Voice: Art Carney Apple Seller: J. Vernon Oaks Pencil Seller: Clark Morgan Policeman: Daniel P. Hannafin Broker: Henry LeClair Fourth Man: John Taliaferro Woman: Anne C. Russell Fifth Man: Anthony Falco Sixth Man: Les Freed Seventh Man: Robert Fitch School Principal: Abbie Todd Flora: Liza Minnelli Harry Toukarian: Bob Dishy Lilly: Anne C. Russell Artists: Les Freed, John Taliaferro, J. Vernon Oaks, Diane McAfee, Anthony Falco, Marie Santell Comrade Galka: Louis Guss Comrade Ada: Mary Louise Wilson Comrade Jackson: Clark Morgan Comrade Charlotte: Cathryn Damon Elsa: Stephanie Hill The Lady: Dortha Duckworth Mr. Weiss: Joe E. Marks Bronco Smallwood: James Cresson Joe: Danny Carroll Katie: Marie Santell Mr. Rearson: Gordon Dilworth Mr. Stanley: Robert Kaye Lulu: Jamie Donnelly Maggie: Elaine Cancilla Dancers: Elaine Cancilla, Ciya Challis, Barbara Doherty, Judith Doren, Ellen Graff, Mary Ann Niles, Phyliss Wallach, Harry Bell, Robert Fitch, Marcello Gamboa, Charles Kalan, James McArdle, Neil J. Schwartz Singers: Jamie Donnelly, Barbara Christopher, Diane McAfee, Abbie Todd, Anthony Falco, Les Freed, Daniel P. Hannafin, Henry LeClair, J. Vernon Oaks, John Taliaferro, The young composing team of John Kander and Fred Ebb made its Broadway debut with this vehicle for Liza Minnelli, which was produced by Harold Prince, and which opened at the Alvin on May 11, 1965. It is 1933 on a street in New York as the Prologue takes place. American Communist agitation during the Great Depression of the he is a Communist and persuasively asks her to join the party. The cost and license availability quoted are estimates only and may differ when you apply for a license. Photographs. However, the early 1970s brought many triumphs to Kander and Ebb, with the motion picture of Cabaret as well as the acclaimed television special, Liza with a Z (1972) written and produced by Ebb, directed by Fosse and starring Minnelli. leaves. The coffee date conversation starts about Flora's previous employer, who paid her through the barter system and she ended up having to dig cemetery plots. A member of an artists co-operative of dancers, musicians and designers, this plucky young woman is determined to find work during the Great Depression of the 1930's. The scrapbooks contain the bulk of Ebb's personal correspondence, including opening night telegrams and cards from Ebb's friends and notable colleagues, such as Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Chita Rivera and John Kander. Lyn Green was exceptional as Comrade Charlotte. SW1W 8AS American Communist agitation during the Great Depression of the Sometimes, the talented Eddie Korbich, playing an out of work clarinetist, would join in with David Pogues piano arrangements and add to the musical montages. In Central Park, meanwhile, romance triumphs over Marx as an unlikely pair, the Cowboy and Comrade Ada, warm to each other with Knock Knock. The collection also includes many score sheets and lyric drafts for songs that were cut from famous Kander and Ebb productions like Cabaret, Chicago and Kiss of the Spiderwoman, as well as scores and script drafts for unproduced Kander and Ebb projects, including Golden Gate and Santa Teresa, a musical about Eva Peron. Harry, however, has had little difficulty in persuading the sexy Comrade Charlotte (Cathryn Damon) to join him upstairs. Ebb's final show to open on Broadway was Steel Pier (1997), but two other Kander and Ebb projects, The Visit and The Skin of Our Teeth/Over and Over, had regional theater productions after that. Rising to the occasion, Flora promises to collect names In a burst of irony she resolves to Sing Happy. the evening ends abruptly for everyone. Being able to bridge the gap between audience and cast was a really cool experience, Challis said. The original 1965 production starred Liza Minnelli in the title role in her Broadway debut, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 4f, 5m Fred Ebb, John Kander, David Thompson, George Abbott. stammer. The cost and license availability quoted are estimates only and may differ when you apply for a license. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. The score's memorable songs include A Quiet Thing, All I Need is One Good Break, The Flame, Dear Love and Sing Happy.. at conversation, she takes matters into her own hands. They cannot be used to hold auditions, produce the show without a license, or find sheet music for a separate performance. Alvin Theatre - Broadway - May 11, 1965 (87 perfs), Revised version Book by David Thompson: Vineyard Theatre - Off-Broadway Learn The WPA has given a troop Flora understands every muffled syllable, but hesitates to go with him to his apartment and become his loving comrade. He mumbles his frustrations to Flora in the duet Hello, Waves. Even though prosperity is just around the corner, bread lines form down Fourth-year international relations major Hannah Ross attended the show as an assignment for class and was amazed by the production of it all. The cost and license availability quoted are estimates only and may differ when you apply for a license. He stammers, especially when he is nervous. Ebb's work for the theatre included Flora, The Red Menace; Cabaret; The Happy Time; Zorba; 70, Girls, 70; Chicago; The Act; Woma John Kander is a Tony, Emmy and Grammy-winning composer, a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors Award, and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Kander and Ebb followed up Cabaret with two moderately successful shows, both of which opened in 1968 and ran about 300 performances, The Happy Time, which won Tonys for director Gower Champion and star Robert Goulet and Zorba, which was directed by Prince. piano and transformed the space into a theater brimming with hope and Flora is One of the highlights is the collection of extensive scrapbooks Ebb kept on each of his shows and other aspects of his life and career, containing playbills, programs, photographs, correspondence, press coverage and various souvenirs of the shows. Tommy had the idea to rewrite using the form of the Federal Theater Project, which was a perfect idea because the Federal Theater Projects purpose was to create jobs for unemployed theatrical people during the Great Depression. Flora the Red Menace Music by John Kander: Lyrics by Fred Ebb; Book by George Abbott & Robert Russell: Based on the novel Love Is Just Around the Corner by Lester Atwell. Some weeks later, Flora, now deeply in love with Harry, invites him to her studio and introduces him to her unique assortment of friends. Lester Atwell. With frequent collaborator Fred Ebb, he composed the score to dozens of Broadway musicals, including Cabaret, Zorba, Chi David Thompson's theatre credits include And the World Goes 'Round (Drama Desk and Outer Circle Critics Award), The Look of Love, Thou Shalt Not, Flora the Red Menace (Drama Desk Award nomination), Steel Pier (Tony Award nomination) and the 1996 Broadway revival of Chicago, f A Broadway actor, director, playwright and producer, George Abbott (1887-1995) wrote and starred in his first comedy, Perfectly Harmless, while attending Harvard. Cooper, who has acted as an Artist-in-Residence before, had an idea in mind of where she wanted to take the theater department when she became a professor. About. The first Broadway musical by the new team of Kander and Ebb, introduced them to two other collaborators who would work with them several times through the next forty years and largely shape the public's image of their work. Date Created. It was staged like a Federal Theater project with 9 actors playing 25 roles. During the song, Flora, Harry and the other artists sneak their designs into a box of Mr. Stanley's merchandise, and after the secretary kicks them out, Flora asks Harry to coffee. Reluctantly Harry kisses Flora good-bye. Flora, The Red Menace. I had played Hunyak in the First National Tour of Kander and EbbsChicagostarring Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera, and Jerry Orbach. For the first time I realized what made a really good artistic director. The program included new Kander and Ebb songs, for which they received an Emmy Award. The Liza Minnelli vehicle, The Act (1977), which remains Martin Scorcese's only Broadway credit, was Kander and Ebb's next show. Pizazz musical numbers make the evening hum, Could lead America into a better world, The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville. She was both powerful and hysterical during The Flame in which she fervidly rallies a group of communists together. The set is amazing, the performers are amazing, Ross said. Important: that Harry shall speak. We watch Flora juggle the difficulties of unbridled love and the disciplined party. The show, which was directed by Hal Prince, ran 904 performances and won Tonys for its three stars, Rivera, Brent Carver and Anthony Crivello as well as for Kander and Ebbs score and the musical itself. A stammerer, he emulates his idol Demosthenes by declaiming with a mouthful of pebbles. The musical score is fun, poignant and challenges the actors vocal ranges. This was followed by The Rink (1984), which starred Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli. Important: Division. The majority of the photographs in this collection are in the scrapbooks, so researchers should also consult Series I. Whoever's interested helping me out. The score is consistently winning and often quite funny. WQXR Radio, Covers familiar territory with a refreshing lightness of touch. New York Magazine, Opening/Graduation Song CompanyThe Kid Herself Flora and ArtistsAll I Need Is One Good Break ArtistsIts Not Every Day of the Week Flora and HarrySign Here HarryA Quiet Thing FloraThe Flame Charlotte and CommunistsIts Not Every Day of the Week (Reprise) Flora and HarryDear Love Flora and Company, Keepin It Hot Kenny and MaggieExpress Yourself CharlotteWhere Did Everybody Go? Harry, Flora and CharlotteYou Are You Mr. Weiss, Elsa and FloraThe Joke Harry and CompanyA Quiet Thing (Reprise) WillySing Happy Flora. Two years later, while applying for a job as a fashion illustrator at Garrett and Mellicks Department Store, Flora meets a strangely intense young artist named Harry Toukarian (Bob Dishy). Easily disliked. Liza Minnelli won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, the youngest person to have done so at age 19. Like Cabaret and Chicago, it features a headstrong heroine and has a strong dose of political content. [3] In the Vineyard Theatre revival, the story was told as though in a presentation by the Federal Theatre Project, part of the WPA established by President Roosevelt (voiced by Art Carney). It's a quiet thing. a union shop. This series largely consists of scores for Ebb's stage musicals, but also includes motion picture and television projects. illustrator, who has just graduated from high school determined to change Harry was played by Peter Frechette. With a new, updated book that presents a romance of charming simplicity set amidst the American communist agitation during the Depression of the 1930's, this spirited musical asks: Is Flora a red menace or just that good ol' Broadway standby a girl in love? Although the play was not commercially successful, Minnelli won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role. We enter a small meeting hall in New York in 1935. Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. This challenging feat was executed to perfection by the hardworking and talented cast. Flora rents out her studio to other artists, like a dancer named Maggie and her ex-boyfriend Kenny ("All I Need is One Good Break"). That night after a Communist rally in Union Square, Harry once again details his yearning for Flora. Scripts and rental materials are not included in this estimate. So we mustered up our courage and knocked on the door of Kander and Ebb. Start planning your production with a cost estimate you can save and share with your team. Harry enters and tells This series includes business files and correspondence that do not pertain to a particular Ebb show as well as personal files and correspondence. In your trembling hand. Kander and Ebb wrote several new songs for our production. Although George Abbott directed Flora, the Red Menace (1965) it was produced by Abbott's protege, Hal Prince and starred Liza Minnelli, in her Tony award-winning Broadway debut. Genre. Friedenberg and Challis on-stage chemistry and Challis strong vocal performance made any duet the two performed mesmerizing. Little did I know that when I was in rehearsal staging the song, All I Need Is One Good Break, it would be my own art imitating life moment., The show was an Off-Broadway hit and generated a cult following. IBDB provides a . still image. The choreography was filled with intense chair slamming and frenzied fist pumping.. Where's the roaring of the crowds. I was in musical comedy heaven and pinching myself every day that I was in a room with Kander and Ebb. Then we meet Flora Meszaros (Liza Minnelli) who, as valedictorian of the class graduating from New York City's High School of Commercial Art, leads her classmates in an optimistic march - Unafraid. This ends up with Flora punching Harry in the face and, after initial refusal, taking him to her studio. And as I became known in the business, the name stuck I was Stro. For 70 years, he was the director who guided such budding acting talents as Gene Kelly ("Pal Joey"), Carol Burnett ("Once Upon a Mattress") and Liza Minelli ("Flora, the Red Menace.") Although it compromises her job in an organization which does not recognize the new unions, she seeks to hold down both job and relationship. 760px. I'll let you serenade me till dawn comes along. Music by John Kander: Lyrics by Fred Ebb; Book by George Abbott to retrieve the list of names. Flora Meszaros is a headstrong individualist taking on the world by storm. Flora the Red Menace opens May 18, 2012 at 1st Stage, 1524 Spring Hill Road, McLean, VA. He tells her Daylight saving time: Is it worth the change? Billy Rose Theatre Division. In spite of the fact that much excitement was generated around its budding young star, seen off-Broadway shortly before in a revival of Best Foot Forward, and that it was Mr. Abbotts 105th production, the musical lasted only for 87 performances. In the 20's/30's, his plays were mostly comedies, including Twentieth Century, Three Men on a Horse and Room Serv You'll have to sign in before you share your experience. The story follows a group of artists trying to make a name for themselves while struggling with the effects of the Great Depression. Flora the Red Menace is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Robert Russell, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb. 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