| Two's Company | |
|---|---|
 Original Cast Recording | |
| Music | Vernon Duke |
| Lyrics | Ogden Nash Sammy Cahn |
| Book | Charles Sherman Peter DeVries |
| Productions | 1952 Broadway |
Two's Company is a musical revue with principal sketches by Charles Sherman and Peter DeVries, principal lyrics by Ogden Nash and Sammy Cahn, and principal music by Vernon Duke.
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.
Frederic Ogden Nash was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry.
Sammy Cahn was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area. He and his collaborators had a series of hit recordings with Frank Sinatra during the singer's tenure at Capitol Records, but also enjoyed hits with Dean Martin, Doris Day and many others. He played the piano and violin. He won an Oscar 4 times for his songs, including the popular song "Three Coins in the Fountain".
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The evening consisted of a series of show business-themed comedy sketches and song-and-dance routines tailored for the talents of its centerpiece, Bette Davis, who accepted the challenge of an eight-shows-a-week schedule when good film roles failed to follow her triumph in All About Eve .
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry. From the business side, the term applies to the creative element and was in common usage throughout the 20th century, although the first known use in print dates from 1850. At that time and for several decades, it typically included an initial the. By the latter part of the century, it had acquired a slightly arcane quality associated with the era of variety, but the term is still in active use. In modern entertainment industry, it is also associated with the fashion industry and acquiring intellectual property rights from the invested research in the entertainment business.
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television, and theater. With a career spanning 60 years, she is regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films, suspense horror, and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas.
All About Eve is a 1950 American drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It was based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr, although screen credit was not given for it.
The out-of-town tryout opened at the Shubert Theatre in Detroit on October 19, 1952. In the middle of the third chorus of her first song, an overworked Davis collapsed. Revived by her then-husband Gary Merrill, she walked to the apron of the stage and with a smile commented to the audience, "Well, you can't say I didn't fall for you!," winning over both them and the critics, whose reviews were kind. From there the show moved to Pittsburgh, where it was met with less enthusiasm, and the creative team began reshaping it on a nightly basis. By the time it reached Boston it was in serious trouble, and noted play doctor and Davis pal John Murray Anderson was called in for consultation. Roles were recast, sketches were eliminated and new ones added, and musical sequences were rearranged. Several songs were contributed by others, including Sheldon Harnick, and Horton Foote was among those who wrote additional sketch material.
Detroit is the largest and most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan, the largest United States city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of Wayne County. The municipality of Detroit had a 2017 estimated population of 673,104, making it the 23rd-most populous city in the United States. The metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, is home to 4.3 million people, making it the second-largest in the Midwest after the Chicago metropolitan area. Regarded as a major cultural center, Detroit is known for its contributions to music and as a repository for art, architecture and design.
Gary Fred Merrill was an American film and television character actor whose credits included more than fifty feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances. Merrill starred in All About Eve and married his co-star Bette Davis.
Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. As of 2017, a population of 305,704 lives within the city limits, making it the 63rd-largest city in the U.S. The metropolitan population of 2,353,045 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 26th-largest in the U.S.
Among the leading lady's characterizations were Tallulah Bankhead, Jeanne Eagels, an actress involved with an Italian director, a hillbilly singer on a television variety show, and a performer in parodies of plays by Noël Coward and Arthur Miller.
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an American actress of the stage and screen. Bankhead was known for her husky voice, outrageous personality, and devastating wit. Originating some of the 20th century theater's preeminent roles in comedy and melodrama, she gained acclaim as an actress on both sides of the Atlantic. Bankhead became an icon of the tempestuous, flamboyant actress, and her unique voice and mannerisms are often subject to imitation and parody.
Jeanne Eagels was an American stage and film actress. A former Ziegfeld Girl, Eagels went on to greater fame on Broadway and in the emerging medium of sound films. She was posthumously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her 1929 role in The Letter after dying suddenly that year at the age of 39. That nomination was the first posthumous Oscar consideration for any actor, male or female.
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 (116,350 sq mi) and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe.
With Davis bedridden due to exhaustion, the Broadway opening, scheduled for December 4, was postponed. The revue, directed by Jules Dassin and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, finally opened on December 15, 1952 at the Alvin Theatre, where it ran for 90 performances. In addition to Davis, the cast included David Burns, Nora Kaye, George S. Irving, Maria Karnilova, Tina Louise, Ellen Hanley, Stanley Prager, and Hiram Sherman, who won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
Broadway theatre, commonly known as Broadway, refers to the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres, each with 500 or more seats located in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.
Julius "Jules" Dassin was an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He was a subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, and subsequently moved to France, where he revived his career.
Jerome Robbins was an American choreographer, director, dancer, and theater producer who worked in classical ballet, on Broadway, and in films and television. Among his numerous stage productions he worked on were On the Town, Peter Pan, High Button Shoes, The King and I, The Pajama Game, Bells Are Ringing, West Side Story, Gypsy, and Fiddler on the Roof; Robbins was a five-time Tony Award-winner and a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. He received two Academy Awards, including the 1961 Academy Award for Best Director with Robert Wise for West Side Story. A documentary about his life and work, Something to Dance About, featuring excerpts from his journals, archival performance and rehearsal footage, and interviews with Robbins and his colleagues, premiered on PBS in 2009 and won both an Emmy and a Peabody Award the same year.
Despite mostly unfavorable notices, the show played to sold-out houses. Davis continued to suffer from fatigue, but doctors could find no physical cause. When a wisdom tooth became inflamed, it was discovered she was suffering from osteomyelitis of the jaw, which required immediate surgery. With no hope of Davis returning in the near future, the producers opted to close the show, but not before Bette Davis's understudy Lenore Korman took over the role. But the production ended up losing $320,000 of the investment. There is an undocumented rumor that Bette Davis wanted no part of this musical and she had from the very beginning found a woman in the singing ensemble who had a most fabulous voice, to eventually take over the role after Davis feigned all her illness. The star's rehabilitation ultimately kept her unemployed for the next three years. That also was an unverified ruse and Davis simply took a break.
A wisdom tooth or third molar is one of the three molars per quadrant of the human dentition. It is the most posterior of the three. The age at which wisdom teeth come through (erupt) is variable, but generally occurs between late teens and early twenties. Most adults have four wisdom teeth, one in each of the four quadrants, but it is possible to have none, fewer, or more, in which case the extras are called supernumerary teeth. Wisdom teeth commonly affect other teeth as they develop, becoming impacted. They are often extracted when or even before this occurs.
Osteomyelitis (OM) is an infection of bone. Symptoms may include pain in a specific bone with overlying redness, fever, and weakness. The long bones of the arms and legs are most commonly involved in children, while the feet, spine, and hips are most commonly involved in adults.
Surgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate or treat a pathological condition such as a disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance or to repair unwanted ruptured areas.
The original cast recording is available on compact disc on the Sepia label. The compact disc release includes six bonus tracks not on the original cast LP record.
