TV Musicals at MT&R
I wanted to give everyone a heads up about this, especially the
unofficial reunion of "Wonderful Town" cast members and creators
and the "historic" screening of "Baby Doe."
Once again The Museum of Television & Radio will be participating in
The New York Musical Theatre Festival. The Museum will be showing four
television musicals as well as reprising the hour-long tribute we
produced celebrating the career of Dorothy Loudon.
The schedule is below:
http://www.nymf.org/index.php?module=ShowManager&func=display&sid=531
I have been trying to round up as many of the original cast members
from the 1953 Broadway production and the 1958 telecast of "Wonderful
Town" to attend the screening. So far Cris Alexander, Ted Beniades
(Speedy Valenti), and Michele Burke (Wreck's girlfriend Helen) from
both productions and the original choreographer Donald Saddler plan to
attend. I haven't tracked down Jacquelyn McKeever yet. Jac Venza, who
designed the sets for the television production, will also...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TV Musicals at MT&R
I wanted to give everyone a heads up about this, especially the
unofficial reunion of "Wonderful Town" cast members and creators
and the "historic" screening of "Baby Doe."
Once again The Museum of Television & Radio will be participating in
The New York Musical Theatre Festival. The Museum will be showing four
television musicals as well as reprising the hour-long tribute we
produced celebrating the career of Dorothy Loudon.
The schedule is below:
http://www.nymf.org/index.php?module=ShowManager&func=display&sid=531
I have been trying to round up as many of the original cast members
from the 1953 Broadway production and the 1958 telecast of "Wonderful
Town" to attend the screening. So far Cris Alexander, Ted Beniades
(Speedy Valenti), and Michele Burke (Wreck's girlfriend Helen) from
both productions and the original choreographer Donald Saddler plan to
attend. I haven't tracked down Jacquelyn McKeever yet. Jac Venza, who
designed the sets for the television production, will also be here.
We are also presenting the first public screening of "The Ballad of
Baby Doe" which aired on "Omnibus" in February 1957. This is the
50 anniversary of the opera.
I find the backstory of "Baby Doe" fascinating. After the opera's
premiere 50 years ago in Central City, CO, it was optioned by producer
Michael Myerberg for a Broadway production scheduled for the fall of
1957. John Latouche was working on the revisions for the Broadway
production when he died in Vermont in 1956. As a teaser, Myerberg
presented an abridged 65-minute version of "Baby Do" on
"Omnibus" in February 1957 with William Johnson (who had been
nominated for a Tony the previous year for "Pipe Dream") as a
terrific Horace Tabor. Three weeks after the telecast Johnson died
suddenly of a heart attack at age 41 (leaving behind a new wife and
four-month old daughter). According to the obituaries he was slated to
open that fall on Broadway in "Baby Doe." Myerberg then dropped his
option on the show, making it available for the New York City Opera to
mount which it did in 1958 with Beverly Sills (making her an opera
superstar - - the rest is history).
"Omnibus"'s Baby Doe, opera star Virginia Copeland, whom I
don't believe every saw the Omnibus kinescope, will be coming in from
CT where she teaches to attend the screening. Ms. Copeland, who since
the 1960s has performed in Italy under her married name, Virginia
Gordoni, also replaced Priscilla Gillette as Penelope in original
production of "The Golden Apple" and created the role of Annina on
Broadway in Gian Carlo Menotti's "The Saint of Bleecker Street."
She also starred in the NBC Opera telecast of that opera.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TV Musicals at MT&R
I wanted to give everyone a heads up about this, especially the
unofficial reunion of "Wonderful Town" cast members and creators
and the "historic" screening of "Baby Doe."
Once again The Museum of Television & Radio will be participating in
The New York Musical Theatre Festival. The Museum will be showing four
television musicals as well as reprising the hour-long tribute we
produced celebrating the career of Dorothy Loudon.
The schedule is below:
http://www.nymf.org/index.php?module=ShowManager&func=display&sid=531
I have been trying to round up as many of the original cast members
from the 1953 Broadway production and the 1958 telecast of "Wonderful
Town" to attend the screening. So far Cris Alexander, Ted Beniades
(Speedy Valenti), and Michele Burke (Wreck's girlfriend Helen) from
both productions and the original choreographer Donald Saddler plan to
attend. I haven't tracked down Jacquelyn McKeever yet. Jac Venza, who
designed the sets for the television production, will also be here.
We are also presenting the first public screening of "The Ballad of
Baby Doe" which aired on "Omnibus" in February 1957. This is the
50 anniversary of the opera.
I find the backstory of "Baby Doe" fascinating. After the opera's
premiere 50 years ago in Central City, CO, it was optioned by producer
Michael Myerberg for a Broadway production scheduled for the fall of
1957. John Latouche was working on the revisions for the Broadway
production when he died in Vermont in 1956. As a teaser, Myerberg
presented an abridged 65-minute version of "Baby Do" on
"Omnibus" in February 1957 with William Johnson (who had been
nominated for a Tony the previous year for "Pipe Dream") as a
terrific Horace Tabor. Three weeks after the telecast Johnson died
suddenly of a heart attack at age 41 (leaving behind a new wife and
four-month old daughter). According to the obituaries he was slated to
open that fall on Broadway in "Baby Doe." Myerberg then dropped his
option on the show, making it available for the New York City Opera to
mount which it did in 1958 with Beverly Sills (making her an opera
superstar - - the rest is history).
"Omnibus"'s Baby Doe, opera star Virginia Copeland, whom I
don't believe every saw the Omnibus kinescope, will be coming in from
CT where she teaches to attend the screening. Ms. Copeland, who since
the 1960s has performed in Italy under her married name, Virginia
Gordoni, also replaced Priscilla Gillette as Penelope in original
production of "The Golden Apple" and created the role of Annina on
Broadway in Gian Carlo Menotti's "The Saint of Bleecker Street."
She also starred in the NBC Opera telecast of that opera.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: Moving Weight
David McCall wrote:
> "E. Lee Dickinson" wrote in message
> news:edl1fs$cp7$1@solaris.cc.vt.edu...
> >
> > "David McCall" wrote:
> >
> >>>Chris Jahn wrote:
> >>> Hell, I worked at a theatre that didn't HAVE a loading galley at
> >>> all.
> >>>
> >> Very few of the venues I've worked had loading galeries.
> >>
> >> It's a wonderful thing when you have it.
> >
> >
> > How do you handle that? Bring the line in halfway arbor heavy, and then
> > take it out halfway pipe heavy, and then balance it?
> That is aproximately what you do, but only if you remember :-)
>
I have done this on a double purchase system that was a retrofit of an
old pinrail system, (no loading gallery,) makes for double the fun ;)
> I've heard stories of the Last tie of the cable bundle being released and
> the pipe screaming up to the grid, breaking loose and plumeting back to the
> stage.
> Never seen it myself, but I guess your only option would be to run.
>
I was doing a changeover that required rigging a /really/ heavy
top-piece to a set, (made out of 18" steel wall studs.) It reqired a
lot of weight on the arbor.
Anyway, the theater has a loading gallery, but for whatever reason the
procedure was to load the weights in the gallery while the piece was
being rigged up. The line set was snubbed at the bottom and at the
locking rail. The arbor was almost fully loaded when one of the pins
fell out causing the other to fall out too. the lineset flew up, the
arbor crashed down.
Amazingly, nobody was hurt, but there was severe damage to the t-bar
guide, and when the batten was pulled down, it looked like a cooked
noodle.
Where was I during this? Positioning a stair unit onto the set. When
someone yelled "runaway line!!!" I bolted downstage, almost falling
into the orchestra pit.
> BTW that was on a stage that did have a loading galery. Might have been a
> myth though.
>
> David
Well the pipe stayed put in this case. So the legend continues...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: Moving Weight
David McCall wrote:
> "E. Lee Dickinson" wrote in message
> news:edl1fs$cp7$1@solaris.cc.vt.edu...
> >
> > "David McCall" wrote:
> >
> >>>Chris Jahn wrote:
> >>> Hell, I worked at a theatre that didn't HAVE a loading galley at
> >>> all.
> >>>
> >> Very few of the venues I've worked had loading galeries.
> >>
> >> It's a wonderful thing when you have it.
> >
> >
> > How do you handle that? Bring the line in halfway arbor heavy, and then
> > take it out halfway pipe heavy, and then balance it?
> That is aproximately what you do, but only if you remember :-)
>
I have done this on a double purchase system that was a retrofit of an
old pinrail system, (no loading gallery,) makes for double the fun ;)
> I've heard stories of the last tie of the cable bundle being released and
> the pipe screaming up to the grid, breaking loose and plumeting back to the
> stage.
> Never seen it myself, but I guess your only option would be to run.
>
I was doing a changeover that required rigging a /really/ heavy
top-piece to a set, (made out of 18" steel wall studs.) It reqired a
lot of weight on the arbor.
Anyway, the theater has a loading gallery, but for whatever reason the
procedure was to load the weights in the gallery while the piece was
being rigged up. The line set was snubbed at the bottom and at the
locking rail. The arbor was almost fully loaded when one of the pins
fell out causing the other to fall out too. the lineset flew up, the
arbor crashed down.
Amazingly, nobody was hurt, but there was severe damage to the t-bar
guide, and when the batten was pulled down, it looked like a cooked
noodle.
Where was I during this? Positioning a stair unit onto the set. When
someone yelled "runaway line!!!" I bolted downstage, almost falling
into the orchestra pit.
> BTW that was on a stage that did have a loading galery. Might have been a
> myth though.
>
> David
Well the pipe stayed put in this case. So the legend continues...
