Tennessee Williams was already a legend when Summer and Smoke premiered on Broadway on October 6, 1948, thanks to the huge success of his play The Glass Menagerie and, more importantly, A Streetcar Named Desire, which had opened the year before Summer and Smoke and become a sensation with critics and audiences and catapulted Williams into the playwriting firmament. Summer and Smoke failed to ignite the same kind of heat as Streetcar and closed after only 102 performances at the Music Box Theatre. However, the play was revived a mere four years later, this time off-Broadway at the then-new Circle In The Square Theater, directed by Jose Quintero and starring Geraldine Page. That production was a big success for Page and Quintero and the play. Nine years later, Summer and Smoke was brought to the screen by Paramount Pictures, with Geraldine Page recreating her stage success as the spinster Alma Winemiller. Peter Glenville directed the film from a screenplay by James Poe and Meade Roberts. Starring opposite Page was Laurence Harvey, along with a wonderful supporting cast that included Rita Moreno, Una Merkel, John McIntire, Thomas Gomez, Pamela Tiffin, and Earl Holliman.
The film received excellent reviews and Page’s brilliant performance was universally praised – she was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Actress category. Una Merkel received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her performance as Page’s dotty mother, and the film also picked up nominations for Best Art Direction – Best Set Decoration, and another for Elmer Bernstein’s incredible score.
Summer and Smoke is one of Bernstein’s greatest scores in a career that is jam-packed with great scores like To Kill a Mockingbird, The Magnificent Seven, Birdman of Alcatraz, Walk on the Wild Side, The Great Escape, Love With the Proper Stranger, Airplane!, Ghostbusters, and so many others. Bernstein captures every emotion, every subtext, every character – the loneliness, the longing, the yearning, the repression – it’s a textbook example of what great film scoring is all about. His main theme is one of his most haunting and beautiful – a swirling, sinuous, delirious melody that recurs throughout the score. His score brilliantly evokes a different time, place, and world, much like his score to To Kill A Mockingbird, which would follow a year later – a world belonging to one of the great poets of American drama – Tennessee Williams. And a world perfectly captured by Elmer Bernstein’s timeless music.
Label: Kritzerland
PRIVATE EARTH An Eclectic, Worldly, And Ethereal New Age Album From Carlos Dengler Out Now
by A.A. Cristi
- June 02, 2023
Carlos Dengler has a strong sense of arrangement and cinematic accomplishment, the spectrum of sounds is balanced and well constructed. The melodies originate in the bass, while the spectrum of instrumental and other sounds gives a rich and peaceful feeling, a lot of natural instrumentation, a lot of acoustic instrumentation. If you like Patrick O'Hearn, Erik Scott, Brian Eno, or Yes, you might enjoy Private Earth.
New Book GAYS ON BROADWAY By Ethan Mordden Out Now
by A.A. Cristi
- June 01, 2023
From early 20th-century legislation that criminalized depictions of homosexuality on stage, to today's leading shows featuring openly gay characters, Gays on Broadway combines preeminent author Ethan Mordden's expertise in both queer studies and musical theatre to create a sweeping history of gay representation on the American stage.
Photos: Broadway Toasts Release of 'I'll Drink to That!' Cocktail Book
by Nicole Rosky
- June 01, 2023
We'd like to propose a toast! Broadway has always raised a glass to celebrate itself, both on-stage and off. I'll Drink to That!, by Laurence Maslon, is a celebration of theatrical tradition, a souvenir of magic moments on stage, and a practical guide to make one-of-a-kind craft cocktail recipes inspired by the best of Broadway. Check out photos from the release party here!
Brandon Seabrook Releases New Album 'BRUTALOVECHAMP'
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 28, 2023
Released on May 26, 2023, brutalovechamp features Seabrook's stunning and malleable octet Epic Proportions, which includes percussionist and vocalist Nava Dunkelman, cellist Marika Hughes, bassists Eivind Opsvik and Henry Fraser, electronic musician and vocalist Chuck Bettis, John McCowen on clarinets and recorders, and Sam Ospovat on drums, vibraphone and percussion.
TALKING IT OUT Virtual Poetry Open-Mic to Be Held Tonight
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 28, 2023
Tonight, Sunday, May 28th at 7pm EST, the Talking It Out Virtual Arts Festival in Support of Mental Health Awareness will host its next monthly Poetry Open-Mic Night for poets and spoken-word artists to come and share their poems, monologues, and other written work virtually across the world, and to watch and support the works of their fellow artists.
Dr. Shashi Tharoor Launches Kamal Shah's New Book SILVER LINING
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 28, 2023
Dr Shashi Tharoor, Indian politician and Member of Parliament (MP) launched a new book titled 'Silver Lining - Overcoming Adversity to Build NephroPlus, India's Largest Dialysis Provider' written by NephroPlus co-founder and author Kamal Shah.
Deborah Martin and Jill Haley Release 'INTO THE QUIET' Album
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 27, 2023
Into The Quiet is the second collaboration between electronic ambient visionary Deborah Martin and renowned English Horn player and Oboist Jill Haley. Their previous album was 2021's The Silence Of Grace, a pastoral collection that received numerous accolades including Zone Music Reporter's list of Top 20 albums of the year.
Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe Release New Album 'RITE OF SPRING - SPECTRE D'UN SONGE'
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 20, 2023
With The Rite of Spring – Spectre d’un songe, two of contemporary music’s most vital and innovative pianists – Sylvie Courvoisier and Cory Smythe – interpret and converse with one of the 20th century’s landmark compositions. On this breathtaking new recording, released May 19, 2023 from Pyroclastic Records, Courvoisier and Smythe perform Igor Stravinsky’s striking two-piano rendition of his iconic Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), followed by a bold new Courvoisier composition that draws inspiration from Stravinsky as a launchpad for investigatory improvisation.
THE GUAVA TREE, A New Bilingual Musical For Young Audiences, Releases Cast Album
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 20, 2023
The official cast album for The Guava Tree / El Guayabo, a new bilingual musical for young audiences, is available digitally on all platforms. With book and lyrics by Diana Grisanti and music by Emiliano Messiez, the musical premiered at the renowned Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado in 2021. It toured across the Southwest and was seen by more than 40,000 students.
Listen: Matthew Scott's THE JESUS YEAR: A LETTER FROM MY DAD Out Now
by Chloe Rabinowitz
- May 19, 2023
PS CLASSICS, the label dedicated to the heritage of Broadway and American popular song, has announced the release of the debut album from actor-singer Matthew Scott, who has been lighting up the Broadway stage since making his debut in Jersey Boys.
Author Mike McHale Launches Monthly #DinoDogzDonates Program
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 13, 2023
Mystery Mike McHale and DinoDogz have announced the launch of their new fundraising program, DinoDogz has previously raised funds for various charities including WORTHY OF LOVE, TUESDAY'S CHILDREN and BELLA AND BUDDIES ANIMAL RESCUE through the sales of their first book DinoDogz: Eggzellent Adventure which is the first in a series.
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