A resurrection story that offers a significant contribution to the history of American popular theater.
A veteran music critic and historian excavates the long-buried story of the signal contributions made to the original staged production of Porgy and Bess by director Rouben Mamoulian (1897–1987).
Horowitz (Moral Fire: Musical Portraits from American’s Fin de Siècle, 2012, etc.) has more than one entree on his narrative plate. Throughout, he reminds us of the condescension that many in “high” music culture displayed toward Gershwin, and he reprints a number of comments from reviews of Porgy and Bess (and of other Gershwin works) that demonstrate a reluctance to take him seriously. Gershwin’s story is prominent, but the author has done his greatest service by escorting Mamoulian back out onto the stage and celebrating his many accomplishments as a stage and film director. But Horowitz begins with his own “epiphany” about Gershwin. He had adopted the received opinions about the composer, but then, later, he began identifying almost Wagnerian aspects of his composition, and his opinion escalated. The author then tells the story of the original 1925 novella Porgy by DuBose Heyward. He explains how Heyward and his wife converted it into a stage play and how Mamoulian altered the script, directed the play and became, for a while, a star himself. Horowitz emphasizes Mamoulian’s ferocious planning for a production—every movement, rhythm, sound, silence and shadow. And we see, too, how his casts deeply respected and cared for him. Mamoulian went out to Hollywood, and the author talks about each of his films and writes almost in celebration of Love Me Tonight (1932). He carefully describes Mamoulian’s contributions to Porgy and Bess and his subsequent success directing the original productions of Oklahoma! and Carousel. He was hired to direct the film of Porgy and Bess, but all fell apart—as did Mamoulian’s career.
A resurrection story that offers a significant contribution to the history of American popular theater.Pub Date: July 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-393-24013-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
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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