Today's Birthdays 12/16
Today's Birthdays 12/16
#1Today's Birthdays 12/16
Posted: 12/15/06 at 10:39pm
Ludwig van Beethoven 12/16/1770 - 3/26/1827 composer [1 of THE all-time greats]: although totally deaf, led orchestra in premiere performance of his Ninth Symphony; Fidelio - Back From Broadway (James Barbour)
Jane Austen 12/16/1775 - 7/18/1817 English novelist - Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility - Pride and Prejudice (Lucile Watson); First Impressions (Polly Bergen, Hermione Gingold, Farley Granger, James Mitchell, Phyllis Newman); The Hollow Crown
Sir Noel Coward 12/16/1899 - 3/26/1973 Godfather of Daniel Massey, partner of Graham Payn; Knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1970; Producer, Writer, Lyricist, Composer, Source Material, Director, Performer - actor: The Italian Job, Paris When It Sizzles, Hearts of the World; actor, director, composer, playwright: In Which We Serve; playwright: Brief Encounter, Bitter Sweet, Private Lives (I'm so happy I got to see Lindsay Duncan & Alan Rickman in this!)
Nancy Andrews 12/16/1920 - Jul 29, 1989 performer - origs Touch & Go (Helen Gallagher, Peggy Cass [debut]); Call Me Madam; Plain and Fancy; Pipe Dream; Christine; Little Me; 70, Girls, 70
George Schaefer 12/16/1920 - 9/10/1997 director: The Man Upstairs, Children in the Crossfire, Deadly Game, Doctors’ Wives, The Tempest, Victoria Regina
James McCracken 12/16/1926 - 4/29/1988 helden tenor, married to Sandra Warfield; performer - Tannhäuser; Samson & Delilia; Aida; Turandot; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Shirley Booth); Two on the Aisle; Of Thee I Sing; Maggie
Liv Ullmann 12/16/1939 performer - The Ox, The Rose Garden, Dangerous Moves, A Bridge Too Far, Scenes from a Marriage, The Emigrants, Persona
Benny Andersson 12/16/1946 Producer, Lyricist, Composer, Orchestrator - Chess; Mamma Mia
Ben Cross (Harry Bernard Cross) 12/16/1947 performer - tv's & film's First Knight, The Criminal Mind, The Unholy, The Far Pavilions, Chariots of Fire, Dark Shadows
Stephanie Lawrence 12/16/1949 - Nov 4, 2000 performer; died way too young, was wonderful in Blood Brothers - Blood Brothers [Con O'Neill, James Clow, Barbara Walsh, Kerry Butler] loved this show...; tv's & film's Oh Lucky Man! (Helen Mirren, Malcolm McDowell); 1989 The Phantom of the Opera (Jill Schoelen, Robert Englund)
Sam Robards 12/16/1961 performer - grandson of Jason Robards Sr.; husband of Suzy Amis (1986 - 1994) divorced, 1 son; husband of Sidsel Jensen (1997 - present), 2 children; son of Lauren Bacall & Jason Robards Jr. - Absurd Person Singular (Paxton Whitehead); The Man Who Had All The Luck (Chris O'Donnell); tv's & film's Artificial Intelligence: AI, Fandango, Spin City, American Beauty, Life as a House; Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle; Obsessed
SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:
1936 Eddie Albert and Jose Ferrer are featured in Brother Rat, a comedy by John Monk, Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe, which runs 577 performances at the Biltmore Theatre. It's about cadets at the Virginia Military Academy who try to keep the secret that one of them has gotten married. Albert recreated his role for the 1938 film, which co-starred Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman.
1948 Carol Channing, Gene Nelson, and Yvonne Adair Lend and Earin this revue at the National Theatre in New York. Gower Champion and Hal Gerson direct the 460 performances.
1954 Agatha Christie returns to Broadway with her third, and most successful, thriller: Witness for the Prosecution, about an attorney who has survived a near-fatal heart attack only to take on a murder case that turns up the pressure when his client's wife becomes a witness against him. Francis L. Sullivan plays the stressed-out attorney.
1959 When a deceased womanizer comes back to life in the body of Lauren Bacall, co-star Sidney Chaplin says Goodbye, Charlie. Written and directed by George Axelrod.
1960 - Lucille Ball took a respite from her weekly TV series to star in the Broadway production of Wildcat, which opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York City. Michael Kidd hat-tricks by producing, directing and choreographing this N. Richard Nash (book), Cy Coleman (in his Broadway debut) and Carolyn Leigh (music and lyrics) tuner. Lucy will leave after 171 performances and the show will close.
1984 - Diamonds, opened in the Circle-in-the-Square in New York City. Critics were not kind, panning the outdoor play by predicting an early shower for the show; meaning, it would fold quickly. And it did.
1993 Composing great Jule Styne gives Broadway his final score in the musical adaptation of the ballet classic The Red Shoes. But it flops after just 5 performances, and the ailing composer dies 10 months later. Lyrics are by Pulitzer-winner Marsha Norman. Staging is by Stanley Donen. Roger Rees plays the imperious dance master Boris Lermontov.
1999 Noel Coward's Waiting in the Wings gets its posthumous Broadway debut, with a cast of great doyennes, including Rosemary Harris, Lauren Bacall, Dana Ivey, Elizabeth Wilson, and many more. Sadly, it's also the last of more than 100 Broadway shows produced by titan Alexander H. Cohen, who dies the following April while the show is still running. It ends up playing 198 performances.
ON THIS DAY IN:
1653 Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1773 The Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists boarded a British ship and dumped more than 300 chests of tea overboard to protest tea taxes.
1809 Napoleon Bonaparte was divorced from the Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate.
1916 Gregory Rasputin, the monk who had wielded powerful influence over the Russian court, was murdered by a group of noblemen.
1903 - Women ushers were employed for the first time at the Majestic Theatre in New York City.
1905 - Sime Silverman published the first issue of Variety, the weekly show biz magazine. The first issue was 16 pages in length and sold for a nickel. Variety and Daily Variety are still going strong.
1985 Reputed organized-crime chief Paul Castellano was shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.
1987 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, a program designed to help fight the threat of the AIDS virus, is launched on this day.
(sources: IBDB, IMDB, NYT's ON THIS DAY, 440.com’s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com)
Milla
