All tagged Lucille Ball

From Little Me to City of Angels: The Eclectic Brilliance of Composer Cy Coleman

Broadway composers tend to settle into a style that is distinctly their own. We know a Stephen Sondheim score when we hear it. Andrew Lloyd Webber, the same. In fact, many people cling to the familiarity of a Broadway composer’s style, knowing that attending their latest show will hopefully yield something new and familiar at the same time. We can almost count on this result, and why not? Each composer is unique and cultivates their own sound with each new show that they write. There was, however, one musical theatre composer who reinvented his voice several times over throughout his career, so it is much harder to pinpoint what his style exactly is. Working with a variety of musical styles, and a wide-range of writing partners, each score he touched sounded like he reimagined his talents to best capture the musical world at hand.  This is the eclectic brilliance of composer Cy Coleman.

Our Best Girl: Celebrating 50 Years of MAME

On May 24th the 1966 musical Mame will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. The original Broadway production worked its magic for 1,508 performances and saw a parade of stars march through the title role: Angela Lansbury originated the part, followed by Celeste Holm, Janis Paige, Jane Morgan, and Ann Miller. Tony Awards were awarded to Lansbury (Best Actress), Beatrice Arthur (Best Featured Actress), Frankie Michaels (the youngest winner of a Tony Award, won for Best Featured Actor) but the Best Musical prize went to Man of La Mancha. Despite having an avid following, Mame has only been revived once on Broadway in 1983 (with Lansbury) but that only ran 41 performances. A much-maligned film version was made in 1974 starring Lucille Ball.