Iolanthe Revival 1955

Opened: October 24, 1955

Iolanthe - 1955 - Broadway History , Info & More

Shubert Theatre (Broadway)
225 West 44th St. New York, NY

Strephon, an Arcadian shepherd, wants to marry Phyllis, a ward of the Court of Chancery. Phyllis does not know that Strephon is half fairy - down to the waist. When Phyllis sees Strephon kissing an apparently young woman, she assumes the worst. But her "rival" turns out to be none other than Strephon's own mother, Iolanthe, a fairy - fairies never grow old. But Phyllis' guardian, the Lord Chancellor of England, and half the peers in the House of Lords are sighing after her. Soon the peers and the fairies are virtually at war, and long friendships are nearly torn asunder.

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The Orchestra Now Announces 2022-23 Season
by A.A. Cristi - Sep 1, 2022


The Orchestra Now, the visionary orchestra and master’s degree program founded by Bard College president, conductor, educator, and music historian Leon Botstein, returns to the stage for its eighth season on September 10, 2022.

Berkeley Playhouse Opens 5th Season with THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Now thru 12/2
by BWW News Desk - Oct 27, 2012


Berkeley Playhouse opens its fifth season with Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved final collaboration, THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Berkeley Playhouse founding Artistic Director Elizabeth McKoy helms this endearing family classic, featuring a cast of 40, with musical direction by Greg Mason and choreography by Staci Arriaga. THE SOUND OF MUSIC plays tonight, October 27 through December 2 (Press opening: October 27) at the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley.

Berkeley Playhouse Opens 5th Season with THE SOUND OF MUSIC, 10/27-12/2
by BWW News Desk - Sep 15, 2012


Berkeley Playhouse opens its fifth season with Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved final collaboration, THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Berkeley Playhouse founding Artistic Director Elizabeth McKoy helms this endearing family classic, featuring a cast of 40, with musical direction by Greg Mason and choreography by Staci Arriaga. THE SOUND OF MUSIC plays October 27 through December 2 (Press opening: October 27) at the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley.

Finborough Theatre's GAY'S THE WORD Closes
by BWW News Desk - Feb 20, 2012


The Finborough Theatre's 'Celebrating British Music Theatre' series follows Perchance to Dream with Ivor Novello's last musical.

Frank Barrie, James Bentham Lead Finborough Theatre's GAY'S THE WORD
by Gabrielle Sierra - Jan 27, 2012


The Finborough Theatre's 'Celebrating British Music Theatre' series follows Perchance to Dream with Ivor Novello's last musical.

Finborough Theatre Announces Cast for PERCHANCE TO DREAM
by Nicole Rosky - Aug 10, 2011


Part of the Finborough Theatre's Celebrating British Music Theatre series Blue Shale Theatre in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre by arrangement with Samuel French Limited presents PERCHANCE TO DREAM 'A Musical Romance' Devised, Written and Composed by Ivor Novello. Directed by Max Pappenheim. Musical Direction by Ross Leadbeater. Designed by Gregor Donnelly. Sound by Edward Lewis. Cast: Taube Brahms. Michael Burgen. Clare Louise Connolly. Laura Hanna. Amanda Hootman. Annabel Leventon. James Marchant. Rachael McCormick. Martin Milnes. Kelly Price. Claire Redcliffe. Robert Rees. James Russell. Gemma Sandzer. Katy Treharne. Details of the cast for PERCHANCE TO DREAM are below. Please also note the correct date for the press night of LULLABIES OF BROADMOOR which also plays during September. The press night is Venus At Broadmoor and The Demon Box - FRIDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2011 AT 3.00PM The Murder Club and Wilderness - FRIDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2011 AT 7.30PM and not Friday 1st September as previously stated. The Finborough Theatre's acclaimed 'Celebrating British Music Theatre' series continues with Ivor Novello's most romantic musical, Perchance to Dream, opening at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of eight Sunday and Monday performances on Sunday, 4 September 2011 (Press Night: Monday, 5 September 2011 at 7.30pm). This rediscovery is the first professional London production in more than 25 years, and also commemorates the 60th anniversary of the death of composer Ivor Novello. Spanning the Regency, Victorian and post-war eras, and featuring a score filled with some of Novello's most ravishing songs including Love is My Reason, When I Curtsied to the King, A Woman's Heart and the classic We'll Gather Lilacs, Perchance to Dream is a classic Novello musical - an escapist 'musical romance' whose original 1945 run in the West End played for 1,022 performances. In 1818, Sir Graham Rodney, an impoverished womaniser, is the owner of Huntersmoon, a magnificent old country house, but seeks relief from his life of leisure by masquerading as the dread highwayman "Frenchy". Just at the moment when he finally finds love, the law runs him to ground with tragic results. A generation later, his estate has passed to the wrong side of the family and tragedy strikes a second time. More than a century must go by before the ghosts of Huntersmoon can finally be laid to rest... Welsh-born composer, author and actor Ivor Novello (1893-1951) was one of the most eminent British entertainers of the 20th century. As a composer, he trained in Cardiff, Gloucester (alongside eminent British composers - Ivor Gurney and Herbert Howells) and at Magdalen College School, Oxford. His musicals include Glamorous Night, Careless Rapture, Crest of the Wave, The Dancing Years, Gay's the Word and King's Rhapsody; his more than 250 songs include Keep the Home Fires Burning, I Can Give You the Starlight, Waltz of My Heart, And Her Mother Came Too, The Land of Might-Have-Been, Why Isn't It You and Primrose. His plays include Symphony in Two Flats, I Lived With You and The Truth Game. As an actor, he was one of Britain's first major film stars, appearing in over twenty films including The Call of the Blood and playing the title role in the original silent version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger; while his long stage career included many of his own plays and musicals. Novello's musical legacy is commemorated in the Ivor Novello Awards, established in 1955 to honour excellence in British music writing. This production commemorates the 60th anniversary of his death. Director Max Pappenheim recently assisted on Beating Heart Cadaver and The Goodnight Bird at the Finborough Theatre. Directing includes The Charmed Life (King's Head Theatre), An Evening With Opera (Southwark Cathedral), Arcadia and Sweeney Todd (Rugby School), and, as Musical Director for Open Door Opera, The Enchanted Child (Edinburgh Festival and St John's, Smith Square). The cast includes Taube Brahms Kindertransport, The Way Of The World, Redemption Over Hammersmith Broadway, A Woman Of No Importance (LAMDA); Michael Burgen All Male Iolanthe (Union Theatre and Wilton's Music Hall), Alice in Wonderland (Erasmus International Theatre), Zaide (Sadler's Wells), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (New Vic Theatre), Sweeney Todd (Union Theatre); Clare Louise Connolly Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Next Door's Baby (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), Six Characters In Search Of An Author (Headlong), The Crimson Petal And The White; Laura Hanna A Short History of the Royal Court (Royal Court Theatre), Into the Woods, Hedda Gabler, Romeo and Juliet (LAMDA); Amanda Hootman Epsom Downs, Her Naked Skin (Guildford School of Acting); Annabel Leventon The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night (Royal Shakespeare Company), Pillars Of The Community (National Theatre), Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell (Old Vic and Apollo Theatre), New Tricks; James Marchant The Same...But Different (Pleasance Islington), The Straits (Paines Plough), Waking The Dead (BBC); Rachael McCormick Oliver! (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); Martin Milnes Utopia Limited (Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Festival, Buxton), The Yeoman Of The Guard (Tower of London), Promises And Lies (Birmingham Rep), The Andrew Marr Show (BBC); Kelly Price Zack (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), The Misanthrope (Ambassadors Theatre), A Little Night Music (Menier Chocolate Factory and Garrick Theatre), Chicago (Cambridge Theatre), Guys and Dolls (Donmar Warehouse and Piccadilly Theatre), Desperately Seeking Susan (Novello Theatre), Waterloo Road, Doctors; Claire Redcliffe When We Are Married (Garrick Theatre), Great Expectations, Tom's Midnight Garden (Library Theatre, Manchester), Question Time (Arcola Theatre), EastEnders (BBC); Robert Rees Peter Pan (New Wimbledon Theatre), All the Fun of the Fair (Garrick Theatre), State Fair (Finborough Theatre and Trafalgar Studios), Shakespeare Sonnet Walk (Shakespeare's Globe); James Russell Namaskar, Quality Street, Miss Lily Gets Boned (Finborough Theatre), Lewis (ITV); Gemma Sandzer Les Miserables (Palace Theatre), HMS Pinafore (King's Head Theatre), Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone; Katy Treharne The Phantom Of The Opera (Her Majesty's Theatre). The Celebrating British Music Theatre series at the Finborough Theatre In 2006, the Finborough Theatre began the Celebrating British Music Theatre series with a sell-out production of Leslie Stuart's Florodora. Productions since then have included sell-our rediscoveries of Lionel Monckton's Our Miss Gibbs, Harold Fraser-Simson's operetta The Maid of the Mountains, A 'Gilbert and Sullivan' Double Bill featuring Gilbert's play Sweethearts and Sullivan's opera The Zoo, Dame Ethel Smyth's opera The Boatswain's Mate, Sandy Wilson's The Buccaneer, Oscar Asche's Chu Chin Chow, and Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd.

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