Registration for WDW's Second Master Class is Now Open!

Registration is now open for our MUSICAL THEATRE DANCE master class on Sunday, May 15th! We expect this to be a lot of fun! Come and join us if you are a beginner or an expert dancer. Please e-mail westondramaworkshop49@gmail.com to request info and a registration form. If you register before May 1, you will get a significant price break. So, don't delay. There are only 20 slots! We hope to see you there.

C.B.

The Facts about The Who's TOMMY

CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM:
Composer and Lyricist: Pete Townshend
Librettist: Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff

Broadway Premiere
Theatre: St. James Theatre
Opening Night: April 22, 1993
Total Performances: 899
Original Cast: Michael Arnold, Anthony Barrile, Bill Buell, Maria Calabrese, Michael Cerveris, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Paul Dobie, Jonathan Dokuchitz, Tom Flynn, Cheryl Freeman, Jody Gelb, Christian Hoff, Paul Kandel, Donnie Kehr, Pam Klinger, Lisa Leguillou, Norm Lewis, Crysta Macalush, Michael McElroy, Marcia Mitzman, Lee Morgan, Alice Ripley, Sherie Scott, Buddy Smith, Carly Jane Steinborn, Timothy Warmen
Director: Des Mconuff
Choreographer: Wayne Cilento
Producer: PACE Theatrical Group, Inc., Dodger Theatricals and Kardana Productions
Musical Director: Joseph Church
Orchestrations: Steve Margoshes
Scenic Design: John Arnone
Costume Design: David C. Woolard
Lighting Design: Chris Parry
Sound Design: Steve Canyon Kennedy

SYNOPSIS:
After witnessing his father commit murder, Tommy is traumatized into catatonia. As an adolescent, he discovers a natural knack for pinball, and when his breaking through his catatonia, becomes an international pinball superstar.

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:

1993 Tony Award Nominations
Best Original Score (tie)- WIN
Best Scenic Design- WIN
Best Lighting Design-WIN
Best Choreography- WIN
Best Direction of a Musical- WIN
Best Musical
Best Book of a Musical
Best Featured Actor in a Musical - Michael Cerveris
Best Featured Actor in a Musical - Paul Kandel
Best Featured Actress in a Musical - Marcia Mitzman
Best Costume Design

1993 Theatre World Award Nominations
Michael Cerveris- WIN

1993 Drama Desk Award Nominations
Outstanding Choreography-WIN
Outstanding Director of a Musical-WIN
Outstanding Orchestrations-WIN
Outstanding Lighting Design-WIN
Outstanding Sound Design-WIN
Outstanding Set Design-WIN
Outstanding Musical-WIN


For more information on THE WHO, please visit their website:
http://www.thewho.com/

R&H- Our Master Creators of the American Musical

RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN- Creators of OKLAHOMA!

After long and highly distinguished careers with other collaborators, Richard Rodgers (composer) and Oscar Hammerstein II (librettist/lyricist) joined forces to create the most consistently fruitful and successful partnership in the American musical theatre.

Prior to his work with Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) collaborated with lyricist Lorenz Hart on a series of musical comedies that epitomized the wit and sophistication of Broadway in its heyday. Prolific on Broadway, in London and in Hollywood from the '20s into the early '40s, Rodgers & Hart wrote more than 40 shows and film scores. Among their greatest were ON YOUR TOES, BABES IN ARMS, THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, I MARRIED AN ANGEL and PAL JOEY.

Throughout the same era Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) brought new life to a moribund artform: the operetta. His collaborations with such preeminent composers as Rudolf Friml, Sigmund Romberg and Vincent Youmans resulted in such operetta classics as THE DESERT SONG, ROSE-MARIE, and THE NEW MOON. With Jerome Kern he wrote SHOW BOAT, the 1927 operetta that changed the course of modern musical theatre. His last musical before embarking on an exclusive partnership with Richard Rodgers was CARMEN JONES, the highly-acclaimed 1943 all-black revision of Georges Bizet's tragic opera CARMEN.

OKLAHOMA!, the first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, was also the first of a new genre, the musical play, representing a unique fusion of Rodgers' musical comedy and Hammerstein's operetta. A milestone in the development of the American musical, it also marked the beginning of the most successful partnership in Broadway musical history, and was followed by CAROUSEL, ALLEGRO, SOUTH PACIFIC, THE KING AND I, ME AND JULIET, PIPE DREAM, FLOWER DRUM SONG and THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Rodgers & Hammerstein wrote one musical specifically for the big screen, STATE FAIR, and one for television, CINDERELLA. Collectively, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals earned 35 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, two Grammy Awards and 2 Emmy Awards. In 1998 Rodgers & Hammerstein were cited by Time Magazine and CBS News as among the 20 most influential artists of the 20th century and in 1999 they were jointly commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp.

Despite Hammerstein's death in 1960, Rodgers continued to write for the Broadway stage. His first solo entry, NO STRINGS, earned him two Tony Awards for music and lyrics, and was followed by DO I HEAR A WALTZ?, TWO BY TWO, REX and I REMEMBER MAMA. Richard Rodgers died on December 30, 1979, less than eight months after his last musical opened on Broadway. In March of 1990, Broadway's 46th Street Theatre was renamed The Richard Rodgers Theatre in his honor.

At the turn of the 21st century, the Rodgers and Hammerstein legacy continues to flourish, as marked by the enthusiasm that greeted their Centennials, in 1995 and 2002 respectively.

In 1995, Hammerstein's centennial was celebrated worldwide with commemorative recordings, books, concerts and an award-winning PBS special, "Some Enchanted Evening." The ultimate tribute came the following season, when he had three musicals playing on Broadway simultaneously: SHOW BOAT (1995 Tony Award winner, Best Musical Revival); THE KING AND I (1996 Tony Award winner, Best Musical Revival); and STATE FAIR(1996 Tony Award nominee for Best Score.)

In 2002, the Richard Rodgers Centennial was celebrated around the world, with tributes from Tokyo to London, from the Hollywood Bowl to the White House, featuring six new television specials, museum retrospectives, a dozen new ballets, half a dozen books, new recordings and countless concert and stage productions (including three simultaneous revivals on Broadway, matching Hammerstein's feat of six years earlier), giving testament to the enduring popularity of Richard Rodgers and the sound of his music.


This article is courtesy of: www.rnh.com

C.B.