The Sound of Music: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical (Applause Libretto Library)
(The final collaboration between Rodgers & Hammerstein was...)
The final collaboration between Rodgers & Hammerstein was destined to become the world's most beloved musical. When a postulant proves too high-spirited for the religious life she is dispatched to serve as governess for the seven children of a widowed naval captain. Her growing rapport with the youngsters coupled with her generosity of spirit gradually captures the heart of the stern captain and they marry. Upon returning from their honeymoon they discover that Austria has been invaded by the Nazis who demand the captain's immediate service in their navy. The family's narrow escape over the mountains to Switzerland on the eve of World War II provides one of the most thrilling and inspirational finales ever presented in the theatre. The motion picture version remains the most popular movie musical of all time.
Arsenic and Old Lace - Acting Edition (Acting Edition for Theater Productions)
(An easy going drama critic discovers that his kind and ge...)
An easy going drama critic discovers that his kind and gentle aunts have a bizarre habit of poisoning gentlemen callers and burying them in the cellar.
(Full Length Comedy // Most of the familiar figures in LIF...)
Full Length Comedy // Most of the familiar figures in LIFE WITH FATHER are here as their characteristic selves: Mother, Father, the children and some others. This play shows the Day family in their summer home entertaining friends and relatives. The basic plot involves Mother's attempt to provide an engagement ring for one of the boys, who wants it for his fiancee. Though it happens that the engagement is of short duration, the desire for a ring is almost irresistible. Mother, never having had an engagement ring of her own, determines to get one. Mrs. Bessie Fuller Logan comes to visit the Days. She was formerly engaged to Father and when the engagement was broken, Father demanded the return of the ring. The former Bessie Fuller peremptorily refused to give it back. When Mother learns this she insists that Father go into action. This puts Father in a spot. Bessie plays a delightful game with him and, in the end, relents. The plot is further enriched by the introduction of cousin Cora's husband, Clyde Miller. Father almost meets his match in Clyde, who is an offensive know-it-all. When these two get in an argument, the sparks fly. Father practically kicks Clyde out of the house when Clyde blames Father because railroad stock Father had bought for Cora happens to decline a few points. Father characteristically explodes at Clyde's reflections upon his honesty, but that is satisfactorily settled when Vinnie buys back Cora's stock at a loss. The play ends when one of the younger boys sets off to Yale, after having been warned by his mother to be sure to put on warm clothes and eat the right food. (Cast: 8 men, 8 women, Total 16)
Howard Lindsay was an American theatrical producer, playwright, director and actor.
Background
Howard Lindsay was born Herman Nelke on March 29, 1889, in Waterford, New York, United States. His stage name was taken from a grandmother. His father, whose first name is unknown, was a German immigrant who was unable to support his family on his income as a traveling salesman. Lindsay's mother, whose name is unknown, divorced his father and took her children to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where she worked as a compositor on her brother's newspaper. When Lindsay was twelve his family moved to Dorchester, now part of Boston, Massachusetts, where his mother had found more regular employment.
Education
As a child Lindsay took elocution lessons from a teacher who had failed to pay her bill for advertising in his uncle's newspaper. He attended the Boston Latin School, graduating in 1907, and then enrolled at Harvard University, intending to become a Unitarian minister. This resolve did not last past his first infatuation with the theater, and he dropped out of college in 1908 to take a six-month course at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
Career
Lindsay's first professional acting job was with a touring company of Polly of the Circus in 1909. During several months of one-night stands, he played bit parts and served as assistant stage manager. Later he toured with other companies and worked briefly in movies. His education in the theater came when he toured from 1913 to 1918 with Margaret Anglin's company. Anglin, a distinguished actress, was known for her extensive repertory of classical and modern drama. Lindsay performed bit parts, substituted for actors who were ill, and served as stage manager.
In 1918 Lindsay joined the army and was assigned to army headquarters in Brest, France, where he directed comic plays to entertain the troops. After the war, Lindsay returned to New York City, where he worked as stage manager, director, and sometime actor for theatrical producer George C. Tyler. Lindsay directed Dulcy (1921), a play that secured the reputation of Marc Connelly and George S. Kaufman as playwrights and Lynn Fontanne as an actress. In the early 1920's Lindsay doctored a few plays and longed to write a full-length drama. He teamed with Bertrand Robinson, and together they wrote three successful plays, Tommy (1927), Your Uncle Dudley (1929), and Oh Promise Me (1930), all of which Lindsay also directed.
Even though he wrote the popular A Slight Case of Murder (1935) with Damon Runyon, Lindsay's most important collaboration was with Russel Crouse. In 1934 he and Crouse began what was to become the longest and most successful joint effort of American playwrights. Their collaboration began after Lindsay wrote the book for a musical comedy about a fire aboard an ocean liner. Just as he completed it a genuine fire aboard the Morro Castle took many lives and, of course, made Lindsay's comedy inappropriate. He sought a collaborator to help him revise the play quickly and happened upon Crouse. They hurriedly composed Anything Goes (1934), and its success assured the continuation of their partnership. Their personalities meshed perfectly. They spent months--even years on occasion--discussing ideas for new plays. One would offer a line; the other would accept or reject it without offending, as though they had only one ego between them. Once the concept was clear, they would begin the actual writing. Crouse sat at the typewriter (a habit left over from his days as a journalist) while Lindsay paced the room. The result was the complete blending of ideas and lines; they claimed that once a play was finished they could not distinguish their contributions.
In 1936 they wrote the book for Red, Hot, and Blue, a Cole Porter musical starring Ethel Merman. This modestly successful play was directed by Lindsay. The team followed with Hooray for What! (1937), also directed by Lindsay. In 1939 Lindsay and Crouse collaborated on the play with which they are most associated, Life with Father. Based on Clarence Day's stories of his Victorian boyhood in New York, which Lindsay had read in the New Yorker, the play took two years to plot and write; the production required the Lindsays to mortgage their house and furniture. Lindsay also played the role of the father, and in the mind of a generation of theatergoers Lindsay was the blustery, hot-tempered, but lovable Victorian. Stickney, Lindsay's wife, took the role of his stage wife, Vinnie, and the couple played opposite each other on Broadway for over five years. The play, the longest running nonmusical in Broadway history, ran for over seven years.
During the run of Life with Father, Lindsay and Crouse produced Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), which starred Josephine Hull and Jean Adair as two eccentric old ladies who murder lonely gentlemen. It ran for over three years in New York and did well in London. Following Strip for Action (1942), which failed, Lindsay and Crouse wrote State of the Union (1945), a political satire. Ralph Bellamy headed the cast as the idealistic man who runs for president. An important characteristic of the play was its timely dialogue, which was constantly updated during the play's run to reflect current events. Life with Mother (1948), the sequel to Life with Father, again starred Lindsay and Stickney, but the play's run was short. Lindsay and Crouse, however, quickly recovered with Call Me Madam (1950), with music by Irving Berlin.
After several plays that were not as well received, the team wrote the book for The Sound of Music (1959), with music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, which became a major hit on both stage and film. The team's last play was Mr. President (1962).
For a decade he served as president of the Players, a theatrical club, where he enjoyed pool, bridge, and comradeship. He was active in the Dramatists Guild and the Authors League, and he helped establish the New Dramatist Committee, which assisted many young playwrights. He also served as an officer of the Committee for Modern Courts, a group of citizens dedicated to improving the grand jury system. He died in New York City.
Lindsay, as an advocate for the arts, lobbied in Washington, D. C. , on behalf of the establishment of a national endowment for the arts and humanities.
Personality
Lindsay was a man of considerable humor and generosity. His well-developed sense of the comic was evident in his private life as well as in his plays, and he was widely respected for never refusing to assist a friend financially.
Connections
On April 29, 1920, Lindsay married Virginia Fralick. They divorced in 1925. On August 13, 1927, he married actress Dorothy Stickney. They had met in New York and courted while in summer stock in Skowhegan, Maine. They had no children. During their long marriage Lindsay and Stickney entertained their friends in style, acted together on the stage, and shared an imposing townhouse on East Ninety-fourth Street in Manhattan.