The trail-blazing musical that launched the prolific partnership of Rodgers and Hammerstein celebrates its 50th anniversary with members of the original production helping Wilk (And Did You Once See Sidney Plain?, 1986, etc.) piece together a colorful history of its evolution as the first Broadway musical drama to weld music, book, song, and dance into an integrated whole. Told in a fervid style that leans heavily on exclamation points and question marks, the story is nevertheless alluring, featuring an all-star cast: unconventional Hollywood director Rouben Mamoulian; gifted composer Richard Rodgers; a temporarily becalmed Oscar Hammerstein II; and messianic Theatre Guild producer Theresa Helburn, obsessed about making a musical out of Lynn Riggs's 1931 play Green Grow the Lilacs. In setting the background, Wilk treads familiar ground that includes Theatre Guild history and the creative turmoil of the musical's collaborators. He's fortunate in his witnesses to the midwifing of Oklahoma!, who include Helene Hanff, who helped on publicity, and Elaine Steinbeck, not yet married to writer John, who worked backstage on both the Riggs play and its musical adaptation. Oklahoma! was a first not only for Hammerstein but also for young, innovative choreographer Agnes de Mille, who replaced traditional chorus girls with offbeat ballet dancers. Performed mainly by unknowns, the musical catapulted Celeste Holm and Alfred Drake to instant fame. Holm remembers opening night on March 31, 1943: ``With each song, the show rose higher and higher!'' Having surmounted the usual out-of-town rewrites, cuts, and frayed tempers, as well as an epidemic of measles that felled the cast (and de Mille), Oklahoma! enjoyed a brilliant first night and a record-breaking run, ushering in a new era in American musical theater. Despite a melodramatic presentation, Wilk's enthusiasm makes this an entertaining read—a nostalgia trip for some and an important piece of stage history for others. (Color and b&w photographs throughout—most seen.)
Pub Date: March 31, 1993
ISBN: 0-8021-1432-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Grove
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1993
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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