Word: weills
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Down in the Valley, a one-act "folk opera" by Composer Kurt Weill and Librettist Arnold Sundgaard, had become a sensational hit on the campus theater circuit all over the U.S. Written a year ago, it had already had some 80 separate productions. Last week its latest one was the biggest hit in the three-year history of Manhattan's zestful Lemonade Opera company...
...opera house, a church basement in Greenwich Village, was sold out for nearly a week in advance. Said the manager: "We're swamped." Said Weill, who has already made $2,000 in royalties from the piece: "There are little opera companies all over the country which are crying for just this sort of thing ... If I had three of these one-act operas to make a full evening's entertainment, they would make a living for both composer and librettist...
...Loves J.P. Weill intends to write them soon, and a full-length opera as well, all based on U.S. folk tales and tunes. He thinks there is plenty of material for others to follow suit. "The trick," he says, "is to write them so nonprofessional groups can do them...
...recent years, the Playwrights have slowed down. Howard died before one of his plays could be produced. Behrman quit because he shrank from the managerial decisions imposed by the system. Composer Kurt Weill joined, but that still left the company with only three dramatists- and a lagging output. This season, however, the Playwrights have a real prospect of getting new blood: Garson Kanin (whose new play is on their current schedule), Ruth Gordon and Thornton Wilder...
...show has its very real assets: Nanette Fabray who, without losing one whit of her looks, keeps gaining in versatility and charm; and Ray Middleton, who has both voice and personality. It has some admirably lively and stylish Michael Kidd dances. It has one of Kurt Weill's most attractive scores, ranging from satiric little ditties like Progress to the full-throated tunefulness of Green-Up Time...