#bella spewack

[doyouknowthismusical]

[audiemurphy1945]

We’re No Angels(1955)

[adaptationsdaily]

'Tom, Dick or Harry' musical number in Kiss Me Kate (1953) dir. George Sidney

[nine-frames]

The Cat and the Fiddle, 1934.

Dir. William K. Howard | Writ. Bella & Samuel Spewack | DOP Harold Rosson & Charles Clarke with Technicolor Photography by Ray Rennahan

[byneddiedingo]

Ramon Novarro and Jeanette MacDonald in The Cat and the Fiddle (William K. Howard, 1934) Cast: Ramon Novarro, Jeanette MacDonald, Frank Morgan, Charles Butterworth, Jean Hersholt, Vivienne Segal, Frank Conroy, Henry Armetta, Adrienne D'Ambicourt, Joseph Cawthorn. Screenplay: Bella Spewack, Sam Spewack, based on a play by Otto A. Harbach and Jerome Kern. Cinematography: Charles G. Clarke, Ray Rennahan, Harold Rosson. Art direction: Alexander Toluboff. Film editing: Frank E. Hull. Music: Herbert Stothart, songs by Jerome Kern and Otto A. Harbach. The Cat and the Fiddle marks a change in Jeanette MacDonald's career: It was her first film for MGM after the classic series of witty, racy movies co-starring Maurice Chevalier at Paramount, and it neatly bridges her way into the more famous but less interesting operetta films she made with Nelson Eddy at MGM. Here her co-star is Ramon Novarro, a charming actor with great comic skills and a nice singing voice, but they don't mesh the way she did with either Chevalier or Eddy; she seems a little too stiff, he a little too boyish. Made before the full introduction of the Production Code, the movie tries for some of the sexiness of the Paramount films made under the aegis of the master of the sly wink, Ernst Lubitsch. The lovers, Novarro's Victor and MacDonald's Shirley, live together without benefit of clergy, a thing impossible under the code. There is fun to be had watching the film: The dialogue -- among the uncredited contributors to the screenplay are Anita Loos and James Kevin McGuinness -- is often smart and funny, the songs are pleasant, and the giddy nonsense of the plot skips along merrily. And at the end there's a nice surprise: The final reel is in Technicolor, giving audiences a first glimpse of MacDonald's red hair. But this is minor MGM musical stuff, even in comparison with the later MacDonald/Eddy movies.

[alrederedmixedmedia]

Alredered Remembers Bella Cohen Spewack, author of Broadway plays and musicals (including Kiss Me, Kate), novels, short stories, and articles, on her birthsday.

“That’s the woman’s soul. That’s her inside.” My friends regarded me questioningly. “It’s what can’t be buried,” I explained wildly and vaguely. “It’s what makes you laugh or cry and love people and hate people. It’s—it’s feeling and thinking and—it’s what can’t be put in the ground.”

― Bella Spewack, Streets: A Memoir of the Lower East Side

[onehandtypingb1]

BATTLE OF THE BANDS: "Brush Up Your Shakespeare"

This song has been on my mind for the last several days, and I’m taking that as a sign… “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” is from the 1948 musical Kiss Me Kate, written by Bella and Samuel Spewack with lyrics and music by Cole Porter. It took home five Tony Awards in 1949, for Best Musical, Best Author (Musical), Best Original Score, Best Costume Design, and Best Producer of a Musical. It was adapted…

[twodoorsnotone]

Having a moment over Bella Spewack and Cole Porter brb

[thestageyshelf]

Kiss Me Kate @ Chichester Festival Theatre 2012 (#87)

Title: Kiss Me Kate

Venue: Chichester Festival Theatre

Year: 2012

Condition: Wear to edges

Author: Music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Book by Sam Spewack and Bella Spewack

Director: Trevor Nunn

Choreographer: Stephen Mear

Cast: Hannah Waddingham, Alex Bourne, Holly Dale Spencer, Adam Garcia, David Burt, Clive Rowe, Mark Heenehan, Wendy Mae Brown, Jason Pennycooke, Paul Grunert, Kevin Brewis, Samuel Holmes, Harry Morrison, Warren Sollars, Richard Jones, Holly James, Tanya Robb, Carolyn Maitland, Jo Morris, Shaun Henson, Christopher Dickins, Michelle Bishop, Kate Tydman

FIND ON EBAY HERE

[erainbowd]

And Now I’m Mad About Curious George

And Now I’m Mad About Curious George

I guess this is a series now. As you may remember, a short while ago, I was real mad about Kiss Me, Kate when I found out it had been written by a woman but not credited to her as a sole author, even though she was the sole author. Then I learned about the authorship of Curious George. Curious freakin’ George, the kid’s book about the curious monkey. You know you read it as a child. It is one of…

[robinsonaden]

#MeToo isn’t just about outing men as abusers. It’s also about dismantling a system that has forced women to be silent—about giving women space and resources, and protection, to do our work and tell our stories.

It shouldn’t be used to give problematic musicals contemporary relevance, or to sell tickets to a show, or to effectively keep women out of positions of power. This is performative wokeness: producers and directors giving lip service to the idea of diversity and equality, but doing very little to actually further the cause by, you know, hiring more women on their creative teams for shows about sexism and women, or people of color for shows about race.

[theoscarsproject]

Kiss Me Kate (1953). An ex-husband and wife team star in a musical version of 'The Taming of the Shrew'; off-stage, the production is troublesome with ex-lovers' quarrels and a gangster looking for some money owed to them.

This is a pretty fun, albeit dated rom com, due in no small part to the chemistry between Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel and the bright, bold art direction. The whole thing is generous and playful, and it culminates in a compelling adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous play. That said, the parts that are dated are, well, really dated, particularly the spanking scene. 7/10.

[byneddiedingo]

Kiss Me Kate (George Sidney, 1953) Cast: Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Ann Miller, Tommy Rall, Bobby Van, Bob Fosse, Keenan Wynn, James Whitmore, Kurt Kasznar, Ann Codee, Willard Parker, Ron Randell, Carol Haney, Jeanne Coyne. Screenplay: Dorothy Kingsley, based on a musical play by Sam Spewack and Bella Spewack, and on a play by William Shakespeare. Cinematography: Charles Rosher. Art direction: Urie McCleary, Cedric Gibbons. Film editing: Ralph E. Winters. Music: musical direction by Saul Chaplin, André Previn, songs by Cole Porter. Censorship has erased some of the bawdiness from Cole Porter's lyrics but his music still remains. Howard Keel is swaggeringly handsome as Fred Graham/Petruchio and Ann Miller is thoroughly vivacious as Lois Lane/Bianca. She is accompanied by a trio of terrific dancers, Tommy Rall, Bobby Van, and Bob Fosse, in numbers choreographed by Hermes Pan (with some uncredited assistance from Fosse in the "From This Moment On" number, where he gets an extended duo with an almost unbilled Carol Haney). The adaptation of the Broadway hit stumbles a little in Dorothy Kingsley's screenplay, but rights itself in most of the musical numbers. George Sidney was never as skillful a director as his MGM contemporaries Vincente Minnelli and Stanley Donen, but the stretches between the story parts and the song and dance parts aren't overlong. The only major drawback to this version of Kiss Me Kate is Kathryn Grayson, who pouts a lot as Lilli Vanessi/Katherine, but doesn't have much chemistry with Keel and fails to make the character someone we care about. Her voice, too, has that vinegary edge to it that even careful miking can't hide. Nor do Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore succeed in their attempts at clowning as the goofy gangsters with their supposedly show-stopping number, "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." (How, by the way, did the line "Kick her right in the Coriolanus" get past the censors?) Still, this is a solid B-plus MGM musical, and an honorable attempt at remaking a stage version. It was filmed in 3-D, during the brief period in the 1950s when the studios were trying to win audiences back away from their televisions, which explains some of the exaggerated perspective of the stage sets and the occasional instances of things being tossed at the camera.

[aliveandfullofjoy]

The 50 Most Nominated Shows in Tonys History (2019 Edition)

An update from this post.

01. Gypsy – 28 nominations, 6 wins (musical) 02. Cabaret – 27 nominations, 12 wins (musical) 03. Angels in America – 26 nominations, 10 wins (play) 04. The King and I – 25 nominations, 14 wins (musical) 05. La Cage aux Folles – 24 nominations, 11 wins (musical) 06. Follies – 24 nominations, 8 wins (musical) 07. Long Day’s Journey Into Night – 24 nominations, 7 wins (play) 08. Hello, Dolly! – 23 nominations, 13 wins (musical) 09. My Fair Lady – 23 nominations, 8 wins (musical) 10. South Pacific – 22 nominations, 18 wins (musical)

11. She Loves Me – 22 nominations, 18 wins (musical) 12. Death of a Salesman – 21 nominations, 13 wins (play) 13.=Fiddler on the Roof – 21 nominations, 10 wins (musical) 13.=Kiss Me, Kate – 21 nominations, 10 wins (musical) 15.=How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying – 20 nominations, 9 wins (musical) 15.=Pippin – 20 nominations, 9 wins (musical) 17. Nine – 20 nominations, 7 wins (musical) 18. Into the Woods – 20 nominations, 5 wins (musical) 19. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – 19 nominations, 10 wins (musical) 20.=Guys and Dolls – 19 nominations, 9 wins (musical) 20.=Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – 19 nominations, 9 wins (play)

22.=Anything Goes – 19 nominations, 6 wins (musical) 22.=Chicago – 19 nominations, 6 wins (musical) 24. A View from the Bridge – 19 nominations, 5 wins (play) 25. Ragtime – 19 nominations, 4 wins (musical) 26. Sunday in the Park with George – 19 nominations, 2 wins (musical) 27.=Candide – 18 nominations, 6 wins (musical) 27.=Company – 18 nominations, 6 wins (musical) 27.=The Music Man – 18 nominations, 6 wins (musical) 30. Carousel – 17 nominations, 7 wins (musical)

31. Sweet Charity – 17 nominations, 5 wins (musical) 32.=42nd Street – 17 nominations, 4 wins (musical) 32.=Oklahoma! – 17 nominations, 4 wins (musical) 34. Little Me – 17 nominations, 2 wins (musical) 35. The Iceman Cometh – 17 nominations, 0 wins (play) 36. Hamilton – 16 nominations, 11 wins (musical)* 37.=Fences – 16 nominations, 7 wins (play) 37.=A Little Night Music – 16 nominations, 7 wins (musical) 37.=A Moon for the Misbegotten – 16 nominations, 7 wins (play) 40. The Mystery of Edwin Drood – 16 nominations, 5 wins (musical)

41. Once on This Island – 16 nominations, 1 win (musical) 42. The Producers – 15 nominations, 12 wins (musical)* 43.=Billy Elliot – 15 nominations, 10 wins (musical)* 43.=A Chorus Line – 15 nominations, 10 wins (musical) 45. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum – 15 nominations, 9 wins (musical) 46. Les Misérables – 15 nominations, 8 wins (musical) 47.=The Color Purple – 15 nominations, 3 wins (musical) 47.=West Side Story – 15 nominations, 3 wins (musical) 49. Much Ado About Nothing – 15 nominations, 1 win (play) 50. The Book of Mormon – 14 nominations, 9 wins (musical)*

Some stray observations and statistics:

I recounted everything to make sure the math was correct here (last year had some issues). The big addition is Oklahoma! at #32 (tied with 42nd Street).  

Kicked off the list this year: Spring Awakening, Evita, and Dreamgirls.

Obviously, the vast majority are musicals - 9 plays to 41 musicals. It’s a bit unfair, considering musicals actively compete in several more categories than plays do - score, book, choreography, orchestrations. Plays can technically be nominated for score and choreography, as we saw this year with To Kill a Mockingbird and Choir Boy, but they happen infrequently.

Any show marked with an asterisk (*) indicates that the nomination/win count comes exclusively from their original production. This is only true for Hamilton (#36), The Producers (#42), Billy Elliot (#43), and The Book of Mormon (#50).

Of the musicals on the list, 24 won Best Musical. Of the plays, 5 won Best Play (Angels won twice). It’s worth noting that one of the remaining plays, Much Ado About Nothing, has never been eligible for Best Play. It’s also worth noting that the top ranking show, Gypsy, lost Best Musical.

Sondheim has his name on 10 of the 50 shows: Gypsy, Follies, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Candide, Company, A Little Night Music, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and West Side Story.

Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers have 3 shows in the top 50. Lynn Ahrens, Leonard Bernstein, Jerry Bock, Cy Coleman, Fred Ebb, Stephen Flaherty, Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Herman, John Kander, Frank Loesser, Arthur Miller, Eugene O’Neill, and Cole Porter all have 2. Sondheim, Herman, Rodgers, and Hammerstein are the only artists with more than one title in the top ten.

Only seven titles on the list have a credited female author: Kiss Me, Kate (librettist Bella Spewack), Ragtime (lyricist Lynn Ahrens), Candide (librettist and lyricist Lillian Hellman and lyricist Dorothy Parker), Sweet Charity (lyricist Dorothy Fields), Little Me (lyricist Carolyn Leigh), Once on This Island (librettist and lyricist Lynn Ahrens), and The Color Purple (librettist Marsha Norman and composer/lyricists Allee Willis and Brenda Russell).

Nine titles on the list won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Angels in America (1993), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1957), South Pacific (1950), Death of a Salesman (1949), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1962), Sunday in the Park with George (1985), Hamilton (2016), Fences (1987), and A Chorus Line (1976). Oklahoma! received a special citation from the Pulitzer committee in 1944.

[musicalsorwhatever]

“Always True to You (In My Fashion)” is the fourteenth song in the 1948 Broadway musical Kiss Me, Kate. With music and lyrics by Cole Porter (Anything Goes), the book by Bella and Samuel Spewack was based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. The show was nominated for and won five Tony Awards, including for Best Musical. This song is performed by Lisa Kirk as Lois Lane.

[shakespearenews]

“...early drafts of the Kiss Me, Kate book, located in the Samuel and Bella Spewack papers at Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library in New York City, show that Bella attempted to change the narrative of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the basis and frame for Kiss Me, Kate, to create a more progressive Katharine. Unfortunately her attempts were edited out, apparently by her male collaborators, with the more active Katharine from her early drafts erased in favor of a more traditional take on the role.”