What brought me to this page was the announcement that L. Frank Baum would soon arrive in New York to present his “Fairy Logue and Radio Plays,” starting with a Monday matinee.
But I was immediately struck by all the other offerings, including others with Oz connections:
- David Montgomery and Fred Stone; having become stars playing the Tin Woodman and Scarecrow in the 1902 Wizard of Oz musical extravaganza, they were back on Broadway in The Red Mill.
- Bessie Wynn; having played Sir Dashemoff Daily in that show, she was featured comedienne at Hammerstein’s theater.
- Billie Burke; she would play Glinda in the 1939 MGM musical of The Wizard of Oz (which borrowed one episode from the stage show rather than Baum’s books).
- a show based on Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo. (Baum at one point suggested trying to recruit McCay to illustrate the Oz books instead of John R. Neill.)
- Musical readings of Henry W. Longfellow’s Tales of a Wayside Inn, no doubt including “Paul Revere’s Ride.”
- Lew Fields as performer and producer (with former partner Joe Weber presenting a rival play).
- Ethel Barrymore.
- Douglas Fairbanks.
- Maude Adams.
- William Gillette.
- Anna Held.
- Harry Lauder.
- George Arliss.
- Eugenie Blair, who reportedly gave her life playing Anna Christie fourteen years later.
No comments:
Post a Comment