Word: librettos
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...shows Encores! has produced shows that the selectors - Daykin, Fisher and artistic directors Walter Bobbie, Kathleen Marshall and Jack Viertel - look for semi-legendary shows that (1) were written by one of the premier composers; (2) boast a lush score, preferably with a few standards; (3) have a libretto that today is either amusingly anachronistic or lingeringly poignant; (4) offer strong roles to either contemporary musical theater stars or star-is-born kids; and (5) haven't received full-dress Broadway revivals in decades. The ideal musical, by these criteria, is Rodgers and Hart's 1937 "Babes in Arms...
...addition to fiction and poetry, Updike—who now tries to produce three pages every day—has written a play and the libretto for an opera with music by Gunther Schuller...
...deep emotional investment (“I’m happy as a pup / Since love looked up at me”). The main enjoyment comes from the songs; book writer Ludwig has managed to work the Gershwins’ most popular numbers into the libretto, including “Embraceable You,” “I’ve Got Rhythm,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” making the musical...
...libretto deals with the misogynist philosopher Don Alfonso who incites two young officers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, to betting on the faithfulness of their lovers while they’re away. They part with their sweethearts in heartbreaking fashion, only soon to return in disguise as exotic Albanians, and even sooner to discover, to their dismay and Don Alfonso’s cynical satisfaction, how easily their lovers are lured into the traps of new temptation...
Sendak decided to revive the opera. He asked Pulitzer-prizewinning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America) to write a new libretto. Kushner, immediately drawn to what he calls the opera's "timeless message of the necessity to stand up to bullies," was also enchanted by the appealing staccato of the Czech language and has folded some of its nuances into his new version. In an earlier English version, the names Aninku and Pepicek became Annette and Little Joe, cutting out delicious linguistic details from the piece. "It sounded like a 1950s biker film," says Kushner...