The People in the Picture

Last updated
The People in the Picture
Music Mike Stoller
Artie Butler
Lyrics Iris Rainer Dart
Book Iris Rainer Dart
Productions2011 Broadway

The People in the Picture is a musical with book and lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart and music by Mike Stoller and Artie Butler. The musical is about a grandmother recalling her life in the Yiddish theater and the Holocaust.

Contents

Production

The People in the Picture premiered on Broadway at Studio 54 in a Roundabout Theatre Company production on April 28, 2011 after previews starting on April 1, 2011. This limited engagement closed as scheduled on June 19, 2011. [1] The musical was directed by Leonard Foglia, with staging by Andy Blankenbuehler, musical direction by Paul Gemignani, sets by Riccardo Hernandez, costumes by Ann Hould-Ward, orchestrations by Michael Starobin and Doug Besterman, lighting by James F. Ingalls and projection by Elaine J. McCarthy. The cast featured Donna Murphy (Bubbie/Raisel), Alexander Gemignani (Moishe Rosenwald), Christopher Innvar (Chaim Bradovsky), Nicole Parker (Red), Rachel Resheff (Jenny), Hal Robinson (Doovie Feldman/Rabbi Velvel), Lewis J. Stadlen (Avram Krinsky), Joyce Van Patten (Chayesel Fisher) and Chip Zien (Yossie Pinsker). [2]

Critical reception

Ben Brantley, reviewing for The New York Times , wrote that the musical "has all the elements of an emotional bulldozer on autopilot: a plucky Jewish theater group working defiantly in the shadow of Nazism; mothers and daughters longing to love but locked in conflict; a family secret—buried in the rubble of postwar Poland—that must be revealed if any of our main characters are to find (no, stop me, please don’t let me say that word) closure." [3] The New York Post reviewer wrote, "...it's not just the music that's subpar: The book is full of holes, and pulls at the heartstrings without earning its pathos." [4]

The reviewer for Bloomberg wrote:

"In Donna Murphy, the creators have a shimmering star who can play a tender, doting grandma and yet evoke Lombard, that irresistible mix of winks and minx … Leonard Foglia’s hyperactive production is lovely, with set designer Riccardo Hernandez taking the title at face value and offering up lots of gilded frames to frame the action. James F. Ingalls’s lighting evokes an Old World glow in Warsaw, steelier light in Manhattan, and Ann Hould-Ward’s costumes also place us in those cities with subtle specificity. And the cast couldn’t be bettered. The standouts include Alexander Gemignani, Chip Zien and Lewis J. Stadlen as troupers, Parker as the mother and a young charmer, Rachel Resheff, as Jenny." [5]

TheaterMania's reviewers said that the show "asks us to take a hard look at the suffering and the loss that resulted from this tragedy—and it moves us deeply in the process … The triumph of The People in the Picture is that the show insists upon—and earns—heroic stature for even small gestures of humanity." [6]

Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press wrote, "Dart, the playwright, gets full credit for conceiving of a cute way to have one generation talk to its descendants and has movingly captured an unconventional history lesson into a musical." [7] Talkin' Broadway's reviewer called it "an unbelievably powerful look at the history we create and destroy, and the lives that are shattered or strengthened in our wakes … an achingly affecting antidote to the plethora of recent musicals, from this season and others, that throw everything at you except honesty." [8]

Musical numbers

Note: Lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart except as noted; ≠ music by Mike Stoller; ≈ music by Artie Butler; § music and lyrics by Mark Warshavsky.

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

YearAwardCategoryNomineeResultRef
2011 Tony Award Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical Donna Murphy Nominated [9]
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Book of a Musical Iris Rainer Dart Nominated [10]
Outstanding Actress in a Musical Donna Murphy Nominated
Outstanding Music Mike Stoller and Artie Butler Nominated
Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Actress in a Musical Donna Murphy Nominated [11]

Related Research Articles

Stephen Sondheim American composer and lyricist (born 1930)

Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist known for his work in musical theatre.

William Finn

William Alan Finn is an American composer and lyricist. He is best known for his musicals, which include Falsettos, for which he won the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Book, A New Brain (1998), and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005).

James Lapine American stage director and librettist

James Elliot Lapine is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.

Annie Golden is an American actress and singer. She first came to prominence as the lead singer of the punk band The Shirts from 1975 to 1981 with whom she recorded three albums. She began her acting career as Mother in the 1977 Broadway revival of Hair; later taking on the role of Jeannie Ryan in the 1979 film version of the musical. Other notable film credits include Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Baby Boom (1987), Longtime Companion (1989), Strictly Business (1991), Prelude to a Kiss (1992), 12 Monkeys (1995), The American Astronaut (2001), It Runs in the Family (2003), Adventures of Power (2008), and I Love You Phillip Morris (2009).

Michael Frank Park is an American actor, best known for his roles as Larry Murphy in the original Broadway cast of Dear Evan Hansen, Tom Holloway in Stranger Things S3 and Jack Snyder on As the World Turns. Park won back-to-back Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2010 and 2011.

<i>The Boys from Syracuse</i> 1938 musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart

The Boys from Syracuse is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors, as adapted by librettist George Abbott. The score includes swing and other contemporary rhythms of the 1930s. The show was the first musical based on a Shakespeare play. The Comedy of Errors was itself loosely based on a Roman play, The Menaechmi, or the Twin Brothers, by Plautus.

Jerome Herbert "Chip" Zien is an American actor. He is best known for playing the lead role of the Baker in the original Broadway production of Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim. He has appeared in all of the "Marvin Stories" musicals by William Finn: In Trousers, March of the Falsettos, Falsettoland and Falsettos. He played the role of Thénardier in the Broadway production of Les Misérables and Mark Rothenberg in the film United 93. He is also known for providing the voice of the titular character in the film Howard the Duck.

Jefferson Mays American actor

Lewis Jefferson Mays is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Obie Awards.

Nicole Parker American actress and singer, born 1978

Nicole Frances Parker is an American actress, comedian, writer, podcaster, and singer. She is best known for her work on Fox's sketch comedy show Mad TV, which she was a regular cast member. In July 2009, Parker concluded her run as Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked, a role that she reprised on tour across North America. She voiced Penelope Pitstop in the animated series Wacky Races (2017–2019) and has appeared in the parody films Meet the Spartans and Disaster Movie. Parker currently co-hosts the Earwolf podcast The Neighborhood Listen, along with comedian Paul F. Tompkins.

Donna Murphy American actress, singer

Donna Murphy is an American actress and singer, known for her work in musical theater. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she has twice won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical: for her role as Fosca in Passion (1994–95) and as Anna Leonowens in The King and I (1996–97). She was also nominated for her roles as Ruth Sherwood in Wonderful Town (2003), Lotte Lenya in LoveMusik (2007) and Bubbie/Raisel in The People in the Picture (2011).

Walter Bobbie is an American theatre director, choreographer, and occasional actor and dancer. Bobbie has directed both musicals and plays on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and was the Artistic Director of the New York City Center Encores! concert series. He directed the long-running revival of the musical Chicago.

Alexander Gemignani

Alexander Cesare Gemignani is a Broadway actor, tenor, musician, and conductor. Born 7-3-1979 Gemignani was raised in Tenafly, New Jersey and graduated from Tenafly High School in 1997. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan's Musical Theater Department.

Iris Rainer Dart is an American author and playwright for television and the stage. Her most notable novel is Beaches, which was made into a 1988 film of the same name. She has also written several stage musicals as well as for television shows, such as The Sonny and Cher Show. She also voiced Donna, Peter Cottontail's love interest, in the 1971 stop-motion Easter classic, Here Comes Peter Cottontail.

Marin Mazzie

Marin Joy Mazzie was an American actress and singer known for her work in musical theatre.

<i>LoveMusik</i>

LoveMusik is a musical written by Alfred Uhry, using a selection of music by Kurt Weill. The story explores the romance and lives of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, based on Speak Low : The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, edited and translated by Lys Symonette & Kim H. Kowalke. Harold Prince had read Speak Low and suggested the idea for a musical to Uhry. Uhry and Prince worked on LoveMusik for four years to develop it into a stage work. The story spans over 25 years, from the first meeting of Lenya and Weill as struggling young artists, to their popularity in Europe and America, to Weill's death from a heart attack at age 50.

Paul Gemignani is an American musical director with a career on Broadway and West End theatre spanning over forty years.

Ann Hould-Ward is an American costume designer, primarily for the theatre and dance. She has designed the costumes for 24 Broadway productions. She won the 1994 Tony Award for Beauty and the Beast.

<i>Leap of Faith</i> (musical)

Leap of Faith is a stage musical based on the 1992 American movie of the same name, which starred Steve Martin. The music is by Alan Menken, with lyrics by Glenn Slater and a book by Janus Cercone and Slater about a con man posing as a man of faith, who is redeemed by the love of a good woman.

Arthur Butler is an American popular music arranger, songwriter, and pianist. In a long career, he has been involved in numerous hit records and other recordings, and has been awarded over 60 gold and platinum albums.

Elaine J. McCarthy

Elaine J. McCarthy is an American projection and video designer for theater and opera.

References

  1. ↑ Jones, Kenneth." 'People in the Picture', With Donna Murphy Living Two Lives, Comes Into Focus on Broadway April 1" playbill.com, April 1, 2011
  2. ↑ Bacalzo, Dan."Complete Casting Set for Broadway's 'People in the Picture' Starring Donna Murphy" theatermania.com, February 22, 2011
  3. ↑ Brantley, Ben. "What Bubbie Did During the War". New York Times, April 28, 2011
  4. ↑ Vincentelli, Elizabeth. "Holocaust Musical Brings Oy to the World" New York Post, April 28, 2011
  5. ↑ Gerard, Jeremy. "Shimmering Donna Murphy Duels Mean Daughter in 'People': Review" Bloomberg, April 30, 2011
  6. ↑ Siegel, Barbara and Scott. "Reviews: The People in the Picture" TheaterMania, April 29, 2011
  7. ↑ Kennedy, Mark. "Donna Murphy shines in The People in the Picture" Archived 2012-03-19 at the Wayback Machine MSN Entertainment, April 28, 2011
  8. ↑ Murray, Matthew. "Talkin' Broadway's Broadway Reviews" The People in the Picture Talkin' Broadway, April 28, 2011
  9. ↑ Jones, Kenneth and Gans, Andrew. "2011 Tony Nominations Announced; Book of Mormon Earns 14 Nominations" playbill.com, May 3, 2011
  10. ↑ Drama Desk "Drama Desk Nominations for the 2010–2011" Archived 2011-05-05 at the Wayback Machine dramadesk.com, May 2, 2011
  11. ↑ Gans, Andrew. "Outer Critics Circle Nominees Include 'Sister Act', 'Anything Goes', 'Book of Mormon' " Archived 2011-04-29 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, April 26, 2011
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.