Today's Birthdays 8/21

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 8/20/06 at 10:16pm

Leonid Andreyev 08/21/1871 - Sep 12, 1919 Source Material, Writer - HE WHO GETS SLAPPED; POOR MURDERER (Laurence Luckinbill, Kevin McCarthy, Maria Schell, Julie Garfield [John Garfield's daughter])

Count Basie 08/21/1904 - Apr 26, 1984 Composer, Performer aka William Allen Basie [Birthname] - FRANK SINATRA, ELLA FITZGERALD & COUNT BASIE; UPTOWN IT'S HOT (Maurice Hines, Michael Franks, Yolanda Graves)

Tom Tully 08/21/1908 - Apr 27, 1982 performer - JASON (Nicholas Conte, E.G. Marshall); THE STRINGS, MY LORD ARE FALSE (Ruth Gordon, Hurd Hatfield, Constance Dowling)

Karl Lukas 08/21/1919 - Jan 16, 1995 performer - origs MR. ROBERTS; REMAINS TO BE SEEN (Jackie Cooper, Janis Page, Ossie Davis, Howard Lindsay)

Jack Weston 08/21/1924 - May 3, 1996 Performer, Stage Manager - orig. SOUTH PACIFIC [replacement]; SEASON IN THE SUN (Joan Diener, Nancy Kelly, King Calder); BELLS ARE RINGING; THE OFFICE (Bill Daniels, Tony Lo Bianco, Elaine May); THE RITZ (Jerry Stiller, Rita Moreno, Geo. Dzundza, F. Murray Abraham); CALIFORNIA SUITE; CHEATERS (Doris Roberts); BREAK A LEG (Julie Harris); 1 NIGHT STAND (Charles Kimbrough, Kate Mostel; THE FLOATING LIGHTBULB (Bea Arthur, Danny Aiello); THE 10TH MAN (Phoebe Cates, Ron Rifkin)

Carolyn Leigh 08/21/1926 - Nov 19, 1981 Lyricist, Composer - PETER PAN; ZIEGFIELD OF 1957 (Beatrice Lillie, Billy DeWolfe, Frances Koll, Carol Lawrence); WILDCAT; LITTLE ME; HOW NOW DOW JONES

Barry Foster 08/21/1931 performer - THE PRIVATE EYE and THE PUBLIC EAR (Brian Bedford, Michael Sinclair [understudy]); tv's & film's Smiley's People; Wind in the Willows (Michael Gambon, Michael Palin, Alan Bennett, Rick Mayall, Vanessa Redgrave); Sweeney! (John Thaw); Ryan's Daughter; The Troubleshooters; The Adventures of Sir Francis Drake [loooove this series!]

Melvin Van Peebles 08/21/1932 Writer, Lyricist, Composer, Performer, Producer, Director, Screenwriter, father of Mario & Megan - DON'T PLAY US CHEAP; WALTZ OF THE STORK (Andy Torres, Mario Van Peebles); film's Terminal Velocity, Boomerang; actor, screen writer: Sophisticated Gents, Sweet Sweetback’s Badassssss Song; screenwriter: Panther, Greased Lightning, The Story of a Three Day Pass

Clarence Williams III 08/21/1939 performer; grandson of Clarence Williams & Eva Taylor, husband of Gloria Foster (divorced) - THE LONG ROOM (Peggy Pope, Gertrude Jeannette, Al Freeman); SLOW DANCE ON THE KILLING GROUND (Geo. Rose, Carolan Daniels); NIGHT & DAY (Maggie Smith); tv's & film's MOD SQUAD; PURPLE RAIN; Mystery Woman series

Josephine Abady 08/21/1949 - 5/25/02 Producer, Director, Theatre Owner/Operator - 1996 BUS STOP (Billy Crudup, Mary-Louise Parker, Ron Perlman, Kelly Bishop)

Loretta Devine 08/21/1949 performer - DREAMGIRLS; BIG DEAL (Wayne Cilento, Cady Huffman, Larry Marshall, Stephanie Pope)

Kim Cattrall 08/21/1956 performer - WILD HONEY (Ian McKellen, Kate Burton, J. Smith-Cameron); tv's & film's SEX IN THE CITY; Ice Princess; Wild Palms; The Bonfire of the Vanities; Police Academy; Tales of the Gold Monkey; Porkey's

Jerry Mettner 08/21/1958 performer - PRESENT LAUGHTER (Geo. C. Scott, Kate Burton, Dana Ivey, Christine Lahti, Nathan Lane)

SHOWS THIS OPENED ON AUGUST 21:

1944 Robert Wright and George Forrest put words to classical themes by Edvard Grieg to create the operetta Song of Norway, based on Grieg's life. It opens an 860-performance run today at the Imperial Theatre, helped by George Balanchine's choreography, and the success of the song "Strange Music."

1950 Borned in Texas Marsha Hunt, Anthony Quinn

1983 The Jerry Herman-Harvey Fierstein musical La Cage Aux Folles opens tonight at Broadway's Palace Theatre. George Hearn and Gene Barry star in this adaptation of the classic French play and film about a middle-aged homosexual couple who are forced to hide their sexual orientation in order to meet the fiancee of one of the men's sons, and her family. In pure musical comedy fashion, mayhem pursues. In a time when homosexuality had yet to become the basis of a big Broadway musical, La Cage proved to be a raging success, winning the Tony Award for best musical, and racking up 1,761 performances. Over the course of the run other actors who would play either Albin or George were Larry Kert, Jamie Ross, Walter Charles and Keith Mitchell. A 1996 non-musical film version of the same story called "The Birdcage" will star Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Diane Wiest, Calista Flockhart and Nathan Lane.

1986 A lot of major Broadway talent converges on the musical Rags, an original musical about immigrants on New York's lower east side, which opens a 4-performance flop run today. Music is by Charles Strouse, lyrics are by Stephen Schwartz (returning to Broadway for the first time since Working), libretto is by Joseph Stein. Opera star Teresa Stratas leads a cast that includes Larry Kert, Judy Kuhn, Dick Latessa and Lonny Price.

1999 Off-Off-Broadway's Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre begins its 2000 season with On the Razzle, Tom Stoppard's take on Viennese playwright Johann Nestroy's Einen Jux will er sich machen. The play is the same source that inspired Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker, which in turn inspired Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly!. Cocteau Rep is no stranger to Stoppard works, as they have previously produced Travesties, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Rough Crossing.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1980 - Linda Ronstadt debuted on Broadway in the production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s, The Pirates of Penzance in Central Park.

(sources: IBDB, IMDB, NYT's ON THIS DAY, 440.com’s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com)

Milla

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 11:00am

bump

[peapod36]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 12:42pm

It's MY birthday!

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 8:53pm

whoo hoo! happy birthday!

Milla

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 8/21/06 at 10:31pm

It's my birthday too!!