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| Howard Keel, Danielle Darrieux, and the Ambassador company. |
The following precedes each entry
"In Lieu of Reviews"
Around 40 years ago, I began a major project that eventuated in the
publication of my multivolume series, The Encyclopedia of the New York
Stage, each volume covering a decade. For some reason now lost to the sands
of time, I chose to start with the 1970s. After writing all the entries through
1975 and producing a typed manuscript of 1,038 pages my publisher (Greenwood)
and I decided it would be best to commence with the 1920s. So the 1970-1975 material
was put aside as I produced volumes for 1920-1930, 1930-1940, and 1940-1950.
With those concluded, Greenwood decided it was all too expensive and not
sufficiently profitable, so the remaining volumes were cancelled, leaving my
1970s entries in limbo.
To compensate, I used the research I’d done on the 1970s to write a
book for Greenwood called Ten Seasons: New York Theatre in the
Seventies, which described all aspects of that era’s theatre, onstage and
off. Many years later, in 2012, I began a postretirement “career” as a theatre
reviewer, which led to my creating this blog as an outlet for my reviews. Over
the past eight years or so I’ve posted nearly 1,600 reviews, a substantial
number having first appeared on other websites: Theater Pizzazz, The Broadway
Blog, and Theater Life.
Now, however, with the New York theatre in suspension, and my
reviewing completely halted, is probably the perfect time to post as many as
possible of the entries I prepared for the never-published 1970-1975 book. The
entries that follow are in alphabetical order. Each entry has a heading listing
the subject categories of the work described: the author (A), the director (D),
additional staging (ADD ST), when credited; the producer (P), the set designer
(S), the costume designer (C), the lighting designer (L), the source (SC), the
theatre (T), the dates of the run, and, in parentheses, the length of the run.
The original entries also contained the names of all the actors but I’ve
omitted those here.
I will try to post at least one entry daily. When time allows, I’ll
provide more. The manuscript exists on fading, fragile paper and, because no
digital files exist, must be retyped. Hopefully, the tragic health situation
we’re all enduring will abate before I get too far into posting these entries
but, for the time being, devoted theatre lovers may find reading these
materials informative.
AMBASSADOR
[Musical/France/Period/Romance] B: Don Ettlinger and Anna Marie Barlow; M: Dohn
Gohmen; LY: Hal Hackady; SC: Henry James’s novel, The Ambassadors; D: Stone Widney; CH: Joyce Trisler; S/C: Peter
Rice (costumes “supervised” by Sara Brook); L: Martin Aronstein; P: Gene
Dingenary, Miranda D’Ancona, Nancy Levering; T: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre;
11/19/72-11/25/72 (9)
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| M'El Dowd, Michael Shannon. |
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| Carmen Mathews, David Sabin. |
The American-written show had premiered in London,
where it flopped, and was confronted in New York by unanimously negative
reviews. Neither its stars, who were generally considered effective, nor its
lyrics book, or music could stir up much interest. Douglas Watt said, “there is
nothing very right about it”; Richard Watts remarked that “it never comes to
interesting dramatic life”; John Simon was bored by “the plain dullness of it
all”: Brendan Gill thought it “mere twaddle”; and Clive Barnes noted that “it
was not a disgrace, merely a pity.”
Well-known names in the supporting cast included M’El
Dowd, Carmen Mathews, and Andrea Marcovicci.
Previous entries:
Abelard and
Heloise
Absurd Person
Singular
AC/DC
“Acrobats”
and “Line”
The Advertisement
Aesop’s Fables; T
Alice in
Wonderland
All God’s Chillun
Got Wings
All My Sons
All Over
All Over Town
All the Girls Came
Out to Play
Alpha Beta
L’Amante Anglais