Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma. The company was re-organized by Fox in 1956 under its present name and, after her 1981 departure, it has continued to be of one of the major opera companies in the United States. The Lyric is housed in a theater and related spaces in the Civic Opera Building. These spaces are now owned by the Lyric.
Dame Adeline Genée DBE was a Danish-British ballet dancer.
The Joffrey Ballet is an American dance company and training institution in Chicago, Illinois. The Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at the Civic Opera House, including its annual presentation of The Nutcracker.
Virginia Gibson was an American dancer, singer and actress of film, television and musical theater.
Ruth Page was an American ballerina and choreographer, who created innovative works on American themes.
The Auditorium Theatre is a music and performance venue located in the Auditorium Building at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, Illinois. Inspired by the Richardsonian Romanesque Style of architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the building was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan and completed in 1889. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed in the theatre until 1904 as well as the Chicago Grand Opera Company and its successors the Chicago Opera Association and Chicago Civic Opera until its relocation to the Civic Opera House in 1929. The theater was home to the Joffrey Ballet from 1998 until 2020. It currently hosts a variety of concerts, musicals, performances, and events. Since the 1940s, it has been owned by Roosevelt University and since the 1960s it has been refurbished and managed by an independent non-profit arts organization.
Arena di Verona Festival is a summer festival of opera, located in the city of Verona, Italy. Since 1936, it has been organized under the auspices of an official body, first the Ente Autonomo Spettacoli Lirici Arena di Verona,, and then, following legislation in 1996 and 1998, the Ente Lirico Arena di Verona was transformed into a private foundation, the present-day Arena di Verona Foundation.
Myrtle Stedman was an American leading lady and later character actress in motion pictures who began in silent films in 1910.
Iva Kitchell was a concert dancer, dance satirist and comedian.
Chicago Opera Ballet was a Chicago dance company located in downtown Chicago.
Ann Barzel was an American writer, critic and lecturer on dance.
Edith Allard was an American ballerina.
Margot Grimmer rose to prominence as a dancer in several companies, including the Lyric Opera Ballet, the Ruth Page International Ballet, the New York City Ballet, and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She studied ballet as a child in Chicago, and was among 50 from 3,000 applicants selected for the children’s ensemble of the New York City Ballet’s Chicago production of George Balanchine’s Nutcracker at the Opera House. At age 14, she danced professionally in Broadway musicals at the Kansas City Starlight Theatre and continued at the St. Louis Municipal Theatre and Music Theater in Highland Park. After high school, Grimmer’s career flourished. In 1962, she appeared with Ruth Page’s Chicago Opera Ballet in the American debut of Russian defector superstar Rudolf Nureyev at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 1965, she danced a principal role in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Carmina Burana at the Opera House. From 1965-1968, she performed in the International Ballet’s Nutcracker, starring Erik Bruhn, Carla Fracci, Henning Kronstam and Kirsten Simone, at McCormick Place and the Opera House. From 1965-1968, she gave lecture-demonstration performances in ballet and modern dance, under a federal grant from the National Endowment for Arts, for the War On Poverty’s Cultural Enrichment program in Chicago’s inner city schools. In 1967, she was featured in the experimental dance movie Statics, which won awards in cinematography and art direction at International Film Festivals. On off-seasons, she attended Northwestern University, majoring in acting and English Literature.
Ruth Pryor (1906-2001) was a Chicago ballet dancer and instructor, and the first American ballerina to dance the role of the Swan Queen in Swan Lake, in 1930. She was known for "her feat of whirling thirty-six times a minute on her toes," according to the Purple Parrot of Northwestern University.
Ruth Godfrey was an American film actress, best known for her work in several Three Stooges shorts. She also worked under the name of Ruth Godfrey White.
Anna Ludmila, born Jean Marie Kaley, was a ballet dancer based in Chicago, New York City, and then France. She toured widely before injuring her leg in 1930 and after that focused on ballroom dancing and teaching. During her career, she performed for the Chicago Opera Ballet in the Chicago Opera Association, later known as Chicago Civic Opera Company, on Broadway in New York City, and in film. As a teacher she moved with her husband to Panama where she headed the ballet division of a new National School of Dance.
Edna Foster was an American child actress who was active during the silent film era.
Eugene Strong was an American film actor and vaudevillian.
Clarence "Harry" Fender was an entertainer and detective who performed in Florenz Ziegfeld shows such as Kid Boots and later hosted the St. Louis children's television program Captain 11's Showboat.
Under the Bamboo Tree is a song composed by Robert Cole, J. Rosamond Johnson, and James Weldon Johnson. J. W. Stern & Co. published it in 1902. A ragtime hit, it sold over 400,000 copies.
