The Girl in Pink Tights is a musical comedy with music by Sigmund Romberg; lyrics by Leo Robin; and a musical book by Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields. The musical opened on Broadway on March 5, 1954 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre where it ran for a total of 115 performances until it closed on June 12, 1954.
The production was produced and directed by Shepard Traube, choreographed by Agnes De Mille, used set and light designs by Eldon Elder, costume designs by Miles White, and conducted by musical director Sylvan Levin. The cast was led by Charles Goldner as Maestro Gallo, Zizi Jeanmaire as Lisette Gervais, David Atkinson as Clyde Hallam, Alexandre Kalioujny as Volodya Kuzentsov, Brenda Lewis as Lotta Leslie, Robert Smith as Van Beuren, and David Aiken as Eddington. [1]
A planned film version was cancelled after Marilyn Monroe refused the role in defiance of her studio contract. The actress called it "trash" and she was also to be paid less than a third as much as her co-star, Frank Sinatra. [2]
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, model, and singer. Known for playing comic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million by the time of her death in 1962. Long after her death, Monroe remains a pop culture icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her as the sixth-greatest female screen legend from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Elizabeth Ruth Grable was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer.
Jane Powell was an American actress, singer, and dancer who first appeared in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals in the 1940s and 50s. With her soprano voice and girl-next-door image, Powell appeared in films, television and on the stage, performing in the musicals A Date with Judy (1948), Royal Wedding (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and Hit the Deck (1955).
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a 1953 American musical comedy film based on the 1949 stage musical of the same name. It was directed by Howard Hawks and stars Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe, with Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid, Tommy Noonan, George Winslow, Taylor Holmes and Norma Varden in supporting roles.
Renée Marcelle "Zizi" Jeanmaire was a French ballet dancer, actress and singer. She became famous in the 1950s after playing the title role in the ballet Carmen, produced in London in 1949, and went on to appear in several Hollywood films and Paris revues. She was the wife of dancer and choreographer Roland Petit, who created ballets and revues for her.
Margaret Nixon McEathron, known professionally as Marni Nixon, was an American soprano and ghost singer for featured actresses in musical films. She is now recognized as the singing voice of leading actresses on the soundtracks of several musicals, including Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, although her roles were concealed from audiences when the films were released. Several of the songs she dubbed appeared on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list.
Leo Robin was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song "Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938, and with Jule Styne on "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," a song whose witty, Cole Porter style of lyric came to be identified with its famous interpreter Marilyn Monroe.
Cyd Charisse was an American dancer and actress.
Jerome Chodorov was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He co-wrote the book with Joseph A. Fields for the original Broadway musical Wonderful Town starring Rosalind Russell. The musical was based on short stories by Ruth McKenney.
Irving Berlin's There's No Business Like Show Business is a 1954 American musical comedy-drama film directed by Walter Lang. It stars an ensemble cast, consisting of Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Marilyn Monroe, Dan Dailey, Johnnie Ray, and Mitzi Gaynor.
Sheree North was an American actress, dancer, and singer, known for being one of 20th Century-Fox's intended successors to Marilyn Monroe.
Daniel James Dailey Jr. was an American actor and dancer. He is best remembered for a series of popular musicals he made at 20th Century Fox such as Mother Wore Tights (1947).
Dania Krupska was an American dancer and choreographer.
Ted Thurston was an American actor and singer.
Joseph Albert Fields was an American playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, and film producer.
Joan Shawlee, nee Joan Fulton (and also credited sometimes under that name, such as in the film noir Woman on the Run, was an American film and television actress. She is known for her recurring role as "Pickles" in The Dick Van Dyke Show, a career-defining turn in Billy Wilder's comedy titled Some Like It Hot playing Sweet Sue, the abrasive martinet in charge of Marilyn Monroe's all-girl jazz band, and as the flamboyant Madame Pompey in the 1957 Maverick episode "Stampede" with James Garner.
Marilyn Michaels is a comedian, singer, actress, impressionist, author, and composer.
Robert Cecil Smith was an American actor of the stage, television, and film.
Charles Goldner was an Austrian-born actor who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s. Born in Vienna, Austria, on 7 December 1900, he made his screen debut in the 1940 film Room for Two and went on to appear in Brighton Rock, No Orchids for Miss Blandish, Bond Street and The Captain's Paradise. His stage work included starring in the 1954 Broadway musical The Girl in Pink Tights. He died on 15 April 1955 in London, England.
Bombshell is an American musical with book by Patrik Komljenović, music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman based on the original fictitious musical from the first season of the NBC television series Smash. The songs include soulful jazz anthems and upbeat pop songs. Bombshell is the life story of Marilyn Monroe. It tells the story of the aspiring starlet who transforms herself into a worldwide sex symbol, including her early life and her alleged affair with American President John F. Kennedy. Despite the same name, and subject matter, this musical from SMASH is unrelated to the Off-Broadway musical from 2001 which ran at the Grove Street Playhouse.