Today's Birthdays 10/10
Today's Birthdays 10/10
#0Today's Birthdays 10/10
Posted: 10/9/06 at 9:51pm
Oliver Goldsmith 10/10/1730 - Apr 4, 1774 Lyricist, Source Material, Writer - SHE STOOPS TO CONQUOR; TWO ROSES; EDWIN & ANGELINA
Giuseppe Verdi 10/10/1813 - 1/27/1901 Italian operatic composer - Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Aida
Vernon Duke 10/10/1903 - 1/16/1969 composer - ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1934 (Buddy & Vilma Ebsen, Eve Arden, Fanny Brice, Jane Froman); CABIN IN THE SKY (Todd Duncan, Rex Ingram); BANJO EYES (Eddie Cantor, Adele Jergens, Virginia Mayo); SADIE THOMPSON (June Havoc replace Ethel Merman in previews); 2'S COMPANY (Bette Davis, Tina Louise); TIME REMEMBERED (Richard Burton, Helen Hayes, Susan Strasberg)
Helen Hayes 10/10/1900 - 3/17/1993 performer, She was the mother of one of TV’s well-known actors, James MacArthur (Hawaii Five-O’s Danno), wife of Charles MacArthur (1928 - 1956) his death - the First Lady of the American Theater. Her best work on stage was as Great Britain’s Queen Victoria in the play, Victoria Regina. She was more than wonderful on Broadway and her Tony Awards attest to that: Best Dramatic Actress in 1947 for Happy Birthday, and again in 1958 for Time Remembered. Her talents were recognized on movie screens (Hayes appeared in films as early as 1927). She received an Academy Award for Best Actress for her first major role: The Sin of Madelon Claudet in 1931, and forty years later for Best Supporting Actress in Airport. Other silver screen performances included roles in Arrowsmith, A Farewell to Arms and Anastasia. Helen Hayes was recognized for her talents on the small screen as well, garnering an Emmy for TV’s Best Actress on February 5, 1953. And, as late as 1974 she was still performing on TV in The Snoop Sisters.
James Clavell 10/10/1924 - 9/7/1994 writer - SHOGUN, THE MUSICAL (Philip Casnoff, June Angela, Francis Ruivivar); novels, Shogun, Noble House, Tai-pan, Gai-Jin
Harold Pinter 10/10/1930 playwright, husband of Lady Antonia Fraser, husband of Vivien Merchant (1956 - 1980) - THE CARETAKER; BUTLEY; BETRAYAL (my 1st Pinter, Blythe Danner, Raul Julia, Roy Scheider); novel & film The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Daniel Massey 10/10/1933 - Mar 25, 1998 performer, brother of Anna Massey, godson of Noël Coward, son of Raymond Massey & Adrianne Allen, spouse of Penelope Wilton 1975-1984 (divorced), spouse of Joan Wilton 1984-1985 (her death), spouse of Adrienne Corri 1961-1967 (divorced) - orig SHE LOVES ME (Jack Cassidy, Barbara Cook, Gino Conforti, Barbara Baxley)
Ben Vereen 10/10/1946 - singer, dancer, Tony Award-winning performer; Godfather of Usher Raymond - Wicked [replacement]; PIPPIN; JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Anita Morris, Jeff Fenholt, Yvonne Elliman); GRIND (Stubby Kaye, Timothy Nolen); film's & tv All that Jazz, Funny Lady, Webster, Roots, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe
Charles Dance 10/10/1946 performer; He was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to drama in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours List. - My fav BBC show: THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN, Undertow, The Surgeon, Last Action Hero, Alien 3, China Moon, The Phantom of the Opera, White Mischief, For Your Eyes Only; Bleak House; Don Bosco; 2003 tv Henry VIII; Gosford Park; 1997 tv Rebecca
Gary Beach 10/10/1947 performer - 2004 La Cage aux Folles; SOMETHING'S AFOOT; DOONESBURY; BEAUTY & THE BEAST; 2006 Les Misérables
Ken Jennings 10/10/1947 performer - orig SWEENEY TODD; MAYOR; GRAND HOTEL; LONDON ASSURANCE; SIDE SHOW; URINETOWN
Bradley Whitford 10/10/1959 performer, Husband of Jane Kaczmarek (1992 - present) - A FEW GOOD MEN [replacement]; tv's & film's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip; The West Wing; Scent of a Woman; Little Manhattan; Billy Madison; Other credits include "Curse of the Starving Class" with Kathy Bates; "Three Days of Rain" at the Manhattan Theatre Club; "Measure for Measure" at Lincoln Center; and the title role in "Coriolanus" at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Jodi Benson 10/10/1961 SMILE (Jeff McCarthy); WELCOME TO THE CLUB (Sally Mayes' debut); Crazy For You
Rebecca Pidgeon 10/10/1963 performer, wife of David Mamet (1991 - present) - THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD (Patti LuPone, Peter Reigert)
Jeffrey Kuhn 10/10/1969 performer - Ragtime; 2004 Assassins (Michael Cerveris, Marc Kudisch, Neil Patrick Harris, Dennis O'Hare, Mario Cantone)
SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:
1927 Harry Ruby, Bert Kalmar and Guy Bolton open their musical The Five O'Clock Girl at the 44th Street Theatre.
1927 Also tonight, Dorothy and DuBose Heyward open their drama Porgy, about a crippled beggar who finds love. It will serve as the basis of George and Ira Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess, opening precisely eight years later.
1928 - You’re the Cream in My Coffee ... comes from Hold Everything, which opened on Broadway this day.
1935 George and Ira Gershwin collaborate with DuBose Heyward on the opera Porgy and Bess, which runs just 135 performance on Broadway, but goes on to a long life in revivals, repertory and film. Todd Duncan and Anne Wiggins Brown play the original title characters. In supporting roles are Ford L. Buck and John W. Bubbles, the onetime Vaudeville team of Buck and Bubbles.
1947 Today is the opening of a groundbreaking musical at the Majestic Theatre: Allegro, by Rodgers & Hammerstein. Agnes DeMille staged this production, which starred Lisa Kirk, John Battles, and Roberta Jonay. The most highly anticipated musical of the 1940s, Allegro sold 250,000 tickets and had $750,000 in the box office before it even opened. The sets were abstract and minimalist, the chorus served the same dramatic purpose as the Greek equivalent (comment and interpretation), and a symphony orchestra provided much of the music. Using such non-traditional measures to achieve a dramatic effect was not common for a Broadway show at the time, so the devices provided a rare outlet for less realistic and naturalistic theatre. Although some reviewers thought the work unclear, several critics were fascinated. Robert Coleman of the Daily Mirror stated that "Perfection and great are not words that are to be lightly used...but Allegro is perfection, great." He also called it a "stunning blend of beauty, integrity, intelligence, imagination, taste, and skill." The show ran 315 performances. Future note: Hammerstein's gofer on the production was a teen-aged family friend by the name of Stephen Sondheim. On this night, at the opening, he met another ambitious young talent, Harold Prince, with whom he would later create Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Bounce and other shows.
1961 Composer Jerry Herman makes his Broadway debut tonight with the musical Milk and Honey, set in Israel. It runs 543 performances, and earns Herman his first Tony nomination. Before the decade is out, he'll add Hello, Dolly! and Mame to his resume.
1985 The Marriage of Figaro with Dana Ivey, Chris Reeve, Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio, Louis Zorich & Anthony Heald
2002 Say Goodnight, Gracie with Frank Gorshin
ON THIS DAY IN:
1886 The tuxedo dinner jacket made its American debut at the autumn ball in Tuxedo Park, N.Y.
1965 Twelve days before she will appear on the cover of Life for doing so, Mary Martin will begin a 10-day tour of U.S. Military installations in Vietnam at the Bien Hoa air base, performing with the touring company of Hello, Dolly!, with herself in the title role. General William Westmoreland and South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky are in the audience.
1985 Also on this date, Orson Welles passes away. Welles will be remembered for his Academy Award winning work as a director, writer, actor and producer, and especially for the 1941 classic, "Citizen Kane," which some call the best movie ever made. Welles' theatre work included shows with The Mercury Theatre and the Federal Theatre Project, directing and starring in such plays as Macbeth (1936) and Dr. Faustus (1937). He also directed the 1956 production of King Lear in New York and appeared for the first time in London in 1951, playing the title character in Othello. He was 70 years old.
1985 Yul Brynner, the man responsible for making the King of Siam famous in The King and I dies today. Brynner's work in the stage version of that show is known around the world, having racked up over 4,000 performances, starting in 1951 and not ending until June 1985 -- only two months before his death. Brynner will also be remembered for the 1956 movie version of "The King and I" and also the films "Anastasia" in 1956 and "The Magnificent Seven" in 1960.
(sources: IBDB, IMDB, NYT's ON THIS DAY, 440.com’s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com)
Milla
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