Of Thee I Sing
Musical
Let 'Em Eat Cake...want to hear and it was a failure. However, it did have one outstanding song: "Mine ". Several musical themes from Of Thee I Sing are reused in Let 'Em Eat Cake, including the Supreme Court Judges' song and the campaign song "Wintergreen for... In this article: Let 'Em Eat Cake, Opera North, Of Thee I Sing, Stars and Stripes Forever, Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here, BBC Radio 3, William Gaxton, Victor Moore, Morrie Ryskind, and George S. Kaufman |
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Independent.co.uk - Theater | February 03, 2009
Let 'em Eat Cake, Grand Theatre, Leeds
...blue-collar dictatorship. The show, which opened on Broadway in 1933, is only now receiving its British stage premiere by Opera North, which is also presenting the composer's earlier work, Of Thee I Sing. Another slice of the same type...
In this article: George Gershwin, Grand Theatre, Leeds, Stars and Stripes Forever, League of Nations, and Opera North
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Telegraph.co.uk - Arts | January 30, 2009
Let 'em Eat Cake at Opera North review
...Cake at Opera North After presenting a new production of Gershwin's 1931 Broadway hit Of Thee I Sing in October, Opera North now pairs it with its less successful follow-up, Let 'em Eat Cake, written two years later. I think we've all had...
In this article: Opera North, George Gershwin, Wyn Davies, Supreme Court, League of Nations, and George S Kaufman
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Times Online | August 20, 2009
Opera North/Aida at the Bregenz Festival, Austria
...the 11am shows) has no such hang-ups. Paradise Moscow by Shostakovich, Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing (merrily translated as Fur Dich Baby) and David Sawer's Skin Deep - Austrian audiences lapped them up. David Sawer and Armando Iannucci's...
In this article: David Sawer, Opera North, and George Gershwin
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Guardian Unlimited | October 25, 2008
Bravo for Wexford and Romeo Music The Observer
...current season goes from strength to strength. It opened with Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing, a timely satire on US presidential elections (written, what's more, during the economic depression of 1931). It's an entertaining if slight piece,...
In this article: Sarah Connolly, Opera North, Compton Mackenzie, Champagne, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and Snegurochka
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Times of London | October 08, 2008
City gloom, arts boom: let's face the music and dance, sing and laugh
...Alden's hands it won't be a tame period-costume drama. Opera North is touring Of Thee I Sing, above (operanorth.co.uk, 0844 8482717) - the Gershwins' 1931 satire on American elections. And for more contemporary social satire, try For You,...
In this article: London, Mark Rothko, Liverpool, Steve Coogan, Sadler's Wells, Royal Opera House, Seagram, and Wayne McGregor
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Description from Wikipedia:
Of Thee I Sing is a musical set in the White House, with a score by George and Ira Gershwin and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. It opened on Broadway in 1931 and ran for 441 performances. It was the longest-running Gershwin show during George Gershwin's lifetime, although as an integrated song-and-story production it produced fewer hit songs than many of his other musicals.
Of Thee I Sing was the first musical comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize for best American play in 1932, signaling the genre of the American musical had come of age. Brooks Atkinson's review in the New York Times called it "a taut and lethal satire... funnier than the government, and not nearly so dangerous."
Musically, it was the most sophisticated of the Gershwin shows up to then, and it used extensive recitative to further the plot. Its songs advanced the storyline in a way not even tried by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in Show Boat, and in a way that would not be seen again until the days of Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Of Thee I Sing also has a sequel musical entitled Let 'Em Eat Cake.
The musical was revived in May of 2006, as part of the New York City Center Encores! series. It has never been filmed, although a television version was produced in 1972, and a radio version in 1985. Possibly, it was considered too much of a "hot potato" for Hollywood, or perhaps the authors feared that movie executives would alter the show if and when it was filmed. Back in the 1930s, the Marx Brothers had intended to produce a film adaptation of the musical, but they decided to make Duck Soup instead. Many scholars draw parallels between Of Thee I Sing and Duck Soup, even going so far as to suggest that the musical helped provide inspiration for that Marx Brothers classic.
- Name:
- Of Thee I Sing
- Music By:
- George Gershwin
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