Lola and the Highwayman | |
---|---|
Also known as | Lola and the Highwayman |
Genre | musical |
Directed by | Fred Maxian |
Starring | Suzanne Steele |
Country of origin | Australia |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes [1] |
Production company | ABC |
Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | 27 September 1965 (Sydney) [2] |
Release | 4 October 1965 (Melbourne) [3] |
Release | 25 October 1965 (Brisbane) [4] |
Lola and the Highwayman is a 1965 Australian TV special. It consisted of selected songs from the Australian stage musicals Lola Montez and The Highwayman and combined them to tell a short thirty minute story. The special is the only known visual record of either musical to survive. (A 1962 version of Lola Montez was filmed but does not survive.) [5]
Fred Maxian, who directed the special, said "some of the melodies from these musicals are among the best in the world." Songs selected from the musical were interwoven in a story to give it continuity. [4]
Eleven songs were used in all. [3]
An extract from the production is at the State Library of New South Wales. [6]
Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld, better known by the stage name Lola Montez, was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Gräfin von Landsfeld. At the start of the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, she was forced to flee. She proceeded to the United States via Austria, Switzerland, France and London, to return to her work as an entertainer and lecturer.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is a musical written for television, but later played on stage, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based upon the fairy tale Cinderella, particularly the French version Cendrillon, ou la petite pantoufle de verre, by Charles Perrault. The story concerns a young woman forced into a life of servitude by her cruel stepmother and self-centered stepsisters, who dreams of a better life. With the help of her fairy godmother, Cinderella is transformed into a princess and finds her prince.
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