John Murray Anderson's Almanac | |
---|---|
Music | Richard Adler and Jerry Ross Cy Coleman Michael Grace Joseph McCarthy Henry Sullivan John Rox Bart Howard Harry Belafonte Charles Zwar |
Lyrics | Richard Adler and Jerry Ross Cy Coleman Michael Grace Joseph McCarthy Henry Sullivan John Rox Bart Howard Harry Belafonte Charles Zwar |
Book | various |
John Murray Anderson's Almanac is a musical revue, featuring the music of the songwriting team of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, as well as other composers. It was conceived by John Murray Anderson. An earlier version of the show had been produced in 1929 with the title Murray Anderson's Almanac . [5] The earlier production included Henry Sullivan for composing the music and Noël Coward as part of the script writing team. Sullivan would go on to write music for the 1953 production mentioned here. The full title for the show was John Murray Anderson's Almanac: A Musical Harlequinade. [6]
John Murray Anderson's Almanac began with a tryout at the Shubert Theatre in Boston from November 5, 1953 to December 5, 1953. [7]
The production opened on Broadway on December 10, 1953, at the Imperial Theatre, New York City, and closed on June 26, 1954, after 229 performances. The revue was conceived and staged by John Murray Anderson, with sketches directed by Cyril Ritchard and dances and musical numbers staged by Donald Saddler. Scenic design was by Raoul Pene Du Bois. [8] The revue starred Harry Belafonte, Hermione Gingold, Polly Bergen, Orson Bean, Carleton Carpenter, Tina Louise, Monique van Vooren, and Billy DeWolfe.
Richard Adler and Jerry Ross provided the majority of the songs for the show. [9] They later wrote songs for The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees over the course of the next two years (1954-1955). [10] [11] John Murray Anderson's Almanac was the first Broadway show for each of them. [12] [13] The producers of the show were Michael Grace (who was also one of the lyricists as well), Stanley Gilky, and Harry Rigby. [14]
The sketches were written by Jean Kerr, Sumner Lock-Elliot, Arthur Macrae, Herbert Farjeon, Lauri Wylie and Billy K. Wells. [15]
The show was a modernized version of Murray Anderson's Almanac (1929). The 1929 version was directed by Harry Ruskin, William Hollbrook, and John Murray Anderson of this 1953 version.
Henry Sullivan composed music for both shows. [16] A few years before the 1953 show, John Murray Anderson and Henry Sullivan composed the music for the off-camera scenes in the film The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). [17]
Title | Year (Creation/ Publication) | Lyricist | Composer |
---|---|---|---|
You're so much a part of me [21] | 1951 | Richard Adler and Jerry Ross | |
Fini [21] | 1953 | Richard Adler and Jerry Ross | |
The earth and sky [21] | 1953 | John Rox | |
Acorn in the meadow [21] | 1953 | Richard Adler and Jerry Ross | |
Anema e core: With all my heart and soul. [21] | 1954 |
| Salve D'Esposito |
Mark Twain [21] | 1954 | Harry Belafonte | |
Hold 'em Joe [21] | 1954 | Harry Belafonte |
Brooks Atkinson reviewing for The New York Times called it a "bright and brilliant show", and had special praise for Hermione Gingold, who "gives herself artistic airs that are hilarious", and Harry Belafonte's "Mark Twain" performance, "expository style as a singer and actor makes it the 'Almanac's' high point in theatrical artistry." However, Atkinson wrote that the "Almanac is more distinguished for its humor. Jean Kerr...has written a gruesome jest about horror literature, 'My Cousin Who?'" [22]
Actor | Award | Category | Year |
---|---|---|---|
Harry Belafonte | Tony Award | Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical | 1954 |
Harry Belafonte | Theater World Awards | Award Winner | 1954 |
Harry Belafonte | Donaldson Award | Best Featured Actor in a Musical [23] | 1954 |
Orson Bean | Theater World Awards | Award Winner | 1954 |
Billy De Wolfe | Donaldson Awards | Best Actor Debut in a Musical [23] | 1954 |
Hermione Gingold | Donaldson Awards | Best Actress Debut in a Musical [23] | 1954 |
Note: Hermione Gingold would go on to make a cameo in the film Around the World in 80 Days (1956). [24]
Harry Belafonte was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte's career breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.
Alexander Galbraith "Sandy" Wilson was an English composer and lyricist, best known for his musical The Boy Friend (1953).
Jerry Ross was an American lyricist and composer whose works with Richard Adler for the musical theater include The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees, winners of Tony Awards in 1955 and 1956, respectively, in both the "Best Musical" and "Best Composer and Lyricist" categories.
Richard Adler was an American lyricist, writer, composer and producer of several Broadway shows.
Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric character. Her signature drawling, deep voice was a result of nodules on her vocal cords she developed in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Celia Keenan-Bolger is an American actress and singer. She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for portraying Scout Finch in the play To Kill a Mockingbird (2018). She has also been Tony-nominated for her roles in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005), Peter and the Starcatcher (2012), The Glass Menagerie (2014), and Mother Play (2024).
Carleton Upham Carpenter Jr. was an American film, television and stage actor, magician, songwriter, and novelist.
William Andrew Jones, better known as Billy De Wolfe, was an American character actor. He was active in films from the mid-1940s until his death in 1974.
John Murray Anderson was a Canadian theatre director and producer, songwriter, actor, screenwriter, dancer and lighting designer, who made his career in the United States, primarily in New York City and Hollywood. He worked in almost every genre of show business, including vaudeville, Broadway, and film. He also directed plays in London.
Harry Rigby was an American theatre producer and writer.
The 60th Annual Tony Awards were held at Radio City Music Hall on June 11, 2006. The award ceremony was broadcast live on the CBS television network in the United States. The 2006 Tony Awards did not feature a host, but instead over 60 stars presented awards at the ceremony.
The Donaldson Awards were a set of theatre awards established in 1944 by the drama critic Robert Francis in honor of W. H. Donaldson (1864–1925), the founder of The Billboard magazine.
Monique van Vooren was a Belgian-American actress, singer, and dancer whose credits included onscreen roles in Tarzan and the She-Devil, Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, the television series Batman, and Wall Street.
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Ilona Murai Kerman, born Ellen Josephine Muray, was an American dancer.
Michael Paul Grace ll was the producer of the Broadway shows King of Friday's Men (1951) and John Murray Anderson's Almanac (1953).
Henry Anthony Sullivan (1895–1975) was a composer, songwriter, and pianist.
Murray Anderson's Almanac: A Revusical Comedy of Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow (1880–1930) was a Broadway show from 1929.
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Stanley Gilkey (1900-1979), also known as StanleyGilky, was a production manager, producer, and actor on Broadway.