Cast & Creative Packet

Directed by Melissa Raine Anderson

Dramaturgs: Annie Dent

annie@dentsoft.com

April 19 23, 2017



Table of Contents


Overview 3

Synopsis 4

Playwright & Composer Bios 7

Glossary 17

Broadways Influence on America 28

Making Broadway Musicals: An Interview 31
with Lisa Lambert

The Immigration Act of 1924 34

The Choreography of Desire 36

Bibliography 41

Overview

This packet is for the Spring 2017 show The Drowsy Chaperone produced by The
Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University. All information has been compiled
by Annie Dent. All researched information is direct from professionals in their field of
study and is cited where required; all citations are located on the bibliography page at
the very end of the packet. If there are any questions regarding this packet or its
contents, please contact Annie Dent at annie@dentsoft.com. Thank you for your
interest in The Drowsy Chaperone.


Synopsis

The Man in Chair listens to the fictional 1928 musical The Drowsy Chaperone, narrating
the story and providing his commentary while the show comes to life in his apartment
living room.

The fictional show takes place on the day of Robert Martin and Janet Van De Graaff,
an oil tycoon and a show girl, respectively. We first meet Mrs. Tottendale and her loyal
employee, Underling, as they are preparing the hotel and venue for the wedding.
Janet has agreed to married and give up her life in the spotlight, which causes her boss,
Feldzieg, to follow her and beg her to not marry Robert. Another show girl, Kitty, traipses
behind Feldzieg in the hopes that he will choose herself as Janets replacement in
Feldziegs Follies. Within the opening song, we also meet two gangsters disguised as
pastry chefs, Roberts best man named George, Latin-lover Aldolpho, The Drowsy
Chaperone who is to serve as Janets companion and keep her away from Robert on
the wedding day, and Trix, an aviatrix.

The two gangsters meet Feldzieg and reveal that their boss has sent them there to
ensure that Janet Van De Graaff does not leave the Follies due to the fact that he has
invested in the show and her leaving will presumably ensure financial loss. Feldzieg is
told that he must sabotage the wedding and that Janet remains in the show. In order
to succeed, Feldzieg recruits the easily manipulated Aldolpho to seduce Janet and
break up her engagement.

Meanwhile, Robert is in his room, nervous about the wedding. To calm his nerves and
cold feets, Robert begins to tap dance; his best friend George enters and joins in.
While dancing, George realizes that tap dancing could cause injury. To avoid this, he
recommends that Robert go roller skating in the garden instead, but to wear a blindfold
so that he cannot see Janet. On the other hand, Janet is having doubts about whether
or not Robert loves her, and she asks the Chaperone for advice. The Chaperone gives a
confusing answer and then says shes going to take a nap, which allows for Janet the
opportunity to sneak out and find Robert. After Janet leaves, Aldolpho enters and
mistakes the Chaperone for Janet. She graciously pretends to be Janet and allows
Aldolpho to seduce her.

In the garden, Janet meets the roller-skating and blindfolded Robert and pretends to
be a French woman, Mimi. She asks how he and Janet met and he describes their first
meeting. As he tells the story, his emotions get the best of him and he kisses Mimi


because she seems so similar to Janet. Janet runs off in a huff because Robert has
kissed another girl.

In the meantime, Kitty is trying to take Janets place in the Follies. She attempts to
demonstrate her mind-reading abilities to Feldzieg, but he is unimpressed. The gangsters
approach Feldzieg and threaten him with a Toledo Surprise if he doesnt accomplish
his task of cancelling the wedding. Feldzieg distracts them by insisting that they have
talent. Aldolpho and the Chaperone enter with Aldolpho claiming that the wedding is
off because he has seduced the bride. Feldzieg becomes very upset and tells Aldolpho
that he seduced the wrong woman. Janet rushes into the room and announces that
she is cancelling the wedding, and Robert protests in vain that he only kissed Mimi
because she reminded him of Janet.

Man in Chair announces that this is the end of the first act and the first record of the
two-record set. He puts on another record, saying that the audience can listen to the
opening of the second act of The Drowsy Chaperone, and leaves for the restroom. A
scene set in an oriental palace appears onstage, with characters in stereotypical
oriental costumes and the chaperone in a King and I style costume. Man in Chair
hurriedly stops the record, explaining to the audience that that was the wrong record
it was the musical The Enchanted Nightingale, not the second act of The Drowsy
Chaperone. He finds the right record, and The Drowsy Chaperone continues.

In a musical dream sequence, Janet laments her lost romance and decides to return to
the stage. Mrs. Tottendale tells Underling that the wedding will proceed as planned
because "Love is Always Lovely" in the end. She reveals to Underling that she is in love
with him. The Chaperone announces that there will be a wedding after all: she and
Aldolpho are getting married. Mrs. Tottendale announces that she and Underling are
getting married as well. Robert tells Janet that he loves her, and she admits that she
was really the French girl and agrees to marry him. To appease the gangsters, Feldzieg
tells them that he has discovered a new star: Kitty. He asks her to demonstrate her mind-
reading talent, and when she "reads Feldzieg's mind", she announces that he is asking
her to marry him.

George, now best man for all four weddings, realizes that he has failed at his most
important task: finding a minister. Trix lands her plane in the garden, announcing she is
about to depart for Rio. Because a captain on board a ship can perform marriages,
everyone rationalizes that Trix, as a pilot, can perform marriages on board a plane, and
she can fly them all to Rio for their honeymoons.


As the record is about to play the show's final chord, the power goes out in Man in
Chair's apartment, and a superintendent arrives to check the circuit breakers. The
power returns, the final chord plays, and the show is over. Alone again, Man in Chair
sadly expresses his deep love for a musical that he has never actually seen. He begins
to sing "As We Stumble Along" and the cast members, for the first time, acknowledge his
presence, join in, and cheer him on.


Playwright and Composer Bios

Lisa Lambert

- Born: 1963
When Lambert agreed to be best man at her friend Bob Martin's 1998 wedding to
fellow actor Janet Van de Graaff, the responsibility for planning the stag-and-doe party
fell to her --- and she decided to take a creative approach. Rounding up Greg Morrison
and Don McKellar, among others, she co-wrote a 40-minute musical comedy
called The Drowsy Chaperone and presented it to Martin and Van de Graaff at the
stag. The money raised by selling tickets to the one-night production at the Rivoli, a bar
on Toronto's trendy Queen Street West, helped pay for the wedding. At the time, no
one knew that the show would take on a life of its own and eventually lead its creators
to Broadway.
Lambert grew up in Toronto and attended Lawrence Park Collegiate, where she
became friends with Martin as well as McKellar, who would go on to become a
celebrated writer, actor and film director. All three attended the University of Toronto,
and although they focused on different creative endeavors --- Lambert on music,
Martin on acting and McKellar on writing --- their shared interest in comedy kept them
together.

After graduating from university, Lambert got into writing music for television and film;
many of her scores were for McKellar's film projects. In 1990, she and Martin joined actor
Jonathan Crombie to present a comedy revue called Mirth at the Fringe of Toronto
Festival, and the next year they added actor Paul O'Sullivan to the group and wrote a
show called Levity, which they combined with Mirth for an evening of humor that
played at Toronto's Poor Alex theatre. In 1992, the group gained a name --- Skippy's
Rangers --- and a musical director, Scott White. They decided to abandon the
alternative-theatre scene to focus on sketch comedy. "We could write a lot more
material by concentrating on sketches than we could producing full-length plays,"
Martin told Eye Weekly in 1994. Skippy's Rangers quickly became one of the most
successful sketch-comedy troupes in Toronto.

In 1995, Lambert collaborated with fellow composer-lyricists John Mitchell and Brock
Simpson to create People Park, a musical sendup of message-based popular musicals
like Hair and Godspell. The three also performed in the show during a run at the Rivoli,
and in 2000, People Park was revived at St. Alban's Square in Toronto.
The trio collaborated again on the musical All Hams on Deck, a parody of old-
fashioned sailor musicals like On the Town. All Hams on Deck was presented at Toronto's
Factory Theatre as part of the 2005 SummerWorks festival. In between, Lambert wrote
the songs for An Awkward Evening with Martin & Johnson, which starred Bob Martin and
Melody Johnson and played at the Tarragon Theatre in 2002. And with Crombie, she


also co-wrote and performed the children's musical Ouch My Toe, "a revue celebrating
toe stubbing," in 2004.

The inspiration for the show came from the joke that had ended Lambert's most recent
comedy show: "Be sure to join us again when we present The Drowsy Chaperone." The
show they came up with to fit the title was more a collection of songs than a full-
fledged musical, but at the same time, it was a funny and loving tribute to silly 1920s
musicals and to the happy couple. The story was about an actress named Janet Van
De Graaff who was leaving the stage to marry the dashing Robert Martin. It played for
one night only at the Rivoli to an audience of 200, but it was so well received that, as
Lambert told the Associated Press, "We all felt, this isn't done yet."

When the wedding was over, Lambert joined Martin, McKellar and Morrison to develop
The Drowsy Chaperone into something they could enter in the 1999 Fringe of Toronto
Festival. They needed a device to link the songs, so they wrote in the character of Man
in Chair to act as a narrator and commentator throughout the show. The obvious
choice to play Man in Chair was Martin himself.

With a cast of 13 and an orchestra of four, The Drowsy Chaperone played at the
George Ignatieff Theatre as part of the 1999 festival. It was a smash, drawing audiences
of all ages and types. "I thought we'd be criticized for being too frivolous," Van De
Graaff later told NOW. "The Fringe has a reputation for being serious and dramatic. I
thought we'd be dismissed outright." And Martin added, "It was a revelation. It was like
a great validation to realize that our sense of humor was shared by strangers."

Roy Miller liked the show so much that he bought the Broadway rights and invited The
Drowsy Chaperone to be part of the 2004 National Alliance for Musical Theatre
workshops festival, a New York City showcase where producers shop for new projects.
Miller invited fellow producers Kevin McCollum and Michael Ritchie to take in the 45-
minute workshop version, and both fell in love with the show. Ritchie, the artistic director
of the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, suggested a tryout staging at L.A.'s
Ahmanson Theatre in December 2005. If the production succeeded there, the plan was
to move on to Broadway.

The producing team hired Broadway star Sutton Foster to play Van De Graaff, and
Casey Nicholaw, the choreographer of the hit musical Spamalot, to direct the show.
Nicholaw worked with the producers and the original creative team to put the finishing
touches on the production, which had already undergone major revisions in each of its
previous incarnations. All but two of the songs that appeared in the original stag-and-


doe-party version had been replaced with new pieces, and the show had gained a
different ending.

While there is not much information recorded of her life, Lisa Lambert is known for her
work with The Drowsy Chaperone and continues to work as a lyricist and composer. A
condensed interview with Lambert regarding the creation of The Drowsy Chaperone
can be found on page ___.

Greg Morrison

Greg Morrison had built a rewarding career and achieved a modest degree of fame in
the small world of the Toronto comedy and alternative-theatre scene. But when
Morrison and some friends put their heads together to devise an original wedding
present for two fellow performers, no one imagined that their little project would take
them all the way to Broadway.

During the early 1990s, Morrison had been musical director of the National Touring
Company of the Second City comedy troupe. It was at Second City that he met
comedian Karen Hines, and the pair began a long and fruitful relationship. Much of
Morrison's work as a theatre composer has been in collaboration with Hines, including
her series of one-woman shows featuring her alter-ego, Pochsy. Morrison co-wrote the
music for Pochsy's Lips and Oh, Baby (Pochsy's Adventures by the Sea), and he also
spent six years composing a musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novella The Picture of
Dorian Gray. The Age of Dorian premiered at Toronto's Artword Theatre in 1997.

In July 1998, Morrison teamed up with friends Don McKellar and Lisa Lambert to create
a wedding gift for Second City alumni Bob Martin and Janet Van De Graaff. They came
up with a 40-minute musical revue called The Drowsy Chaperone, featuring two lead
characters named after the bride and groom. Then, at Martin and Van De Graaff's
stag-and-doe party at the Rivoli, a Toronto bar, they mounted a performance for an
audience of 200. The proceeds from the gate paid for the wedding later that summer.
The little show was a huge hit with the party guests, and its creators figured that it
deserved to be more than a one-night stand. "We all felt, 'This isn't done yet,'" Lambert
later told the Associated Press. Martin got involved as a fourth co-creator and, along
with the first author, Don McKellar, wrote himself into the script, originally as the Creepy
Man and later as Man in Chair. Martin's character narrated the show and commented
on the action, helping to tie the show together.

As co-composers and co-lyricists, Morrison and Lambert developed the songs further.
The Drowsy Chaperone was revived for the Toronto Fringe Festival in the summer of
1999, and audiences proved to be as enthusiastic as the first crowd at the stag-and-


10

doe party. Producers from Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille took in the show at the
Fringe and quickly offered it a three-week run the following November, which played to
sold-out houses.

Morrison had several other projects on the go while polishing The Drowsy Chaperone.
He was co-composer with Hines of Hello... Hello (A Romantic Satire), which premiered in
1999 at Toronto's Factory Theatre and won the pair a Dora Mavor Moore Award
nomination for outstanding composition. Morrison also served as musical director and
on-stage musician for Mump and Smoot in Something Else, the fifth show of Toronto-
based horror clown duo Mump and Smoot. Directed by Hines, the show toured
Canada from 1998 to 2000 and won Morrison a Sterling Award for composition.
After its successful run at Theatre Passe Muraille, The Drowsy Chaperone was picked up
by Toronto's Mirvish Productions and given a seven-week run at the historic Winter
Garden Theatre in 2001 in New York City. Mirvish Productions invested $2 million to stage
the show, more than anyone at the Martin-Van De Graaff wedding party could ever
have imagined would be poured into the little musical, and the company easily
recouped its investment.

In October 2004, The Drowsy Chaperone took another step toward the big leagues
when it was presented as a 45-minute work-in-progress at the National Alliance for
Musical Theatre festival in New York City.

Michael Ritchie was the new artistic director of the Center Theatre Group in Los
Angeles. After seeing the New York workshop presentation, he proposed a full staging
at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. The show was booked for a run at the
Ahmanson in 2005, with the hope that, if it was well received, the production could
transfer to Broadway.

Kevin McCollum and fellow producers hired director and choreographer Casey
Nicholaw, whose recent credits included the Broadway production of Monty Python's
Spamalot. To play the role of the show's ingnue (still named Janet Van De Graaff),
they hired Tony Award winner Sutton Foster. The show's creators were thrilled to have a
genuine Broadway star singing their songs. "That's when we thought, 'Okay, we're a real
Broadway musical,'" McKellar told The National Post.

The four co-creators worked with their director to develop the 45-minute New York
version of the show into a full-blown 90-minute musical. The producers put up $8 million,
determined to make the show the best it could be.

In Los Angeles, The Drowsy Chaperone was a hit with critics as well as audiences. It won
five L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards, including best production. Producer Roy Miller was


11

so enchanted with the show that he and his actress fiance held their wedding on the
stage after a performance --- with Martin, who was ordained by an online service, as
their minister.

The producers lined up a New York theatre for The Drowsy Chaperone the first
Canadian musical to open on Broadway in more than 25 years. The space they
secured was the Marquis Theatre in Times Square, which, by strange coincidence, stood
on the same spot as the old Morosco Theatre, where the last Canadian musical, Billy
Bishop Goes to War, had played in 1980.

Martin was the only member of the original Toronto cast to stay with the show all the
way to New York, and only two songs from the original stag-and-doe revue remained
intact. But the four creators still felt that the show belonged to them and that it
continued to have a distinct Canadian flavor.

The Drowsy Chaperone had its Broadway preview on April 3, 2006, and officially
opened on May 1. That was a Monday, the actors' night off at most theatres in New
York, so cast members from other Broadway shows came to the opening to show their
support. The stars on The Drowsy Chaperone's red carpet included Liza Minnelli, Eartha
Kitt, Jane Krakowski, and cast members of the neighbouring Broadway shows Dirty
Rotten Scoundrels, Tarzan, The Pajama Game and Jersey Boys.

The Drowsy Chaperone opened just in time to be eligible for the New York theatre
scene's annual round of awards. It was nominated for 14 Drama Desk Awards and won
seven the most of any show in 2006 including outstanding musical, outstanding
music and outstanding lyrics. It also won four Outer Critics Circle Awards, including
outstanding new score, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best musical.
But the most important awards on Broadway are the Tonys. On May 16, 2006, The
Drowsy Chaperone's creators were elated to discover that their show was nominated in
each of the 13 categories for which it was eligible.

Bob Martin

- Born: December 08, 1962 in London, United Kingdom

Martin was born December 8, 1962, in London, England, and moved to Toronto with his
family at age four. Determined to bring him out of his shell, his mother sent him to the
Toronto School of Drama for acting lessons. There, he became friends with fellow
student Lisa Lambert. Later, Martin and Lambert attended Lawrence Park Collegiate
together, where they met Don McKellar. All three were interested in working in the


12

theatre. After high school, they attended the University of Toronto, where they
specialized in different areas: Lambert in music, McKellar in writing and Martin in acting.
After graduating from university, Martin enjoyed some success as a television actor, but
he did not enjoy the work. "I got more and more disenchanted, because the material
was often horrendously bad. I was often cast as a computer nerd, which bothered me.
Maybe because I actually was a bit of a nerd at the time, he said. Martin turned away
from television and began to explore sketch comedy.

In 1996, while Martin was with the Second City National Touring Company, an actress
named Janet Van De Graaff was performing in a revue called An American in Harris at
the company's Toronto theatre. Van De Graaff had first noticed Martin when she saw
him perform with Skippy's Rangers.

The two set their wedding date for August 1998, and Martin chose his old friend Lisa
Lambert to be his "best man." Traditionally, the best man is responsible for organizing the
groom's stag party, but Martin told Lambert he did not want strippers. So Lambert
improvised: instead of throwing a stag party, she rented the Rivoli nightclub for a buck-
and-doe affair, and she and their friend Don McKellar, along with Second City musician
Greg Morrison and others, created a little revue called The Drowsy Chaperone.
"It was about 40 minutes long and was a series of songs about a show-girl bride leaving
the business to get married," he said. The tickets Lambert sold to 200 guests helped
defray the costs of the wedding, but that first audience had such a good time that, as
Lambert later said, "We all felt, 'This isn't done yet.'"

Martin teamed up with McKellar as co-author, and they joined co-lyricists Lambert and
Morrison to develop The Drowsy Chaperone into a musical. Their objective was to enter
it in the 1999 Toronto Fringe Festival. To tie the songs together, they added a character
called Man in Chair to narrate the show and comment on the action. The obvious
choice to play Man in Chair was Martin himself.

Producers from Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille caught The Drowsy Chaperone at the
Fringe Festival and immediately scheduled a three-week run for November 1999. In turn,
producers from Mirvish Productions, Toronto's largest theatre company, saw the show at
Passe Muraille and signed it for a seven-week run at the historic Winter Garden Theatre
in 2001. Once again, the production was a huge success, and Mirvish Productions not
only recouped its $2-million investment, but also made a handsome profit.

Roy Miller, a producer with the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, received a faxed
invitation to see The Drowsy Chaperone at the Winter Garden Theatre. "Faxes can sit on
my desk unread," Miller told AP Worldstream. "For some reason, I just happened to pick
it up, and I read it and thought, What's this?" Miller saw the show twice and fell in love


13

with it. He bought the Broadway rights, making it a condition that Martin play the part
of Man in Chair when the show opened on Broadway.

To drum up interest from other producers, Miller invited The Drowsy Chaperone to New
York in 2004 to perform at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre workshops festival.
Kevin McCollum, a Broadway producer whose credits include the hit musicals Avenue
Q and Rent, was in the audience. So was Michael Ritchie, the new artistic director of
the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.

Ritchie suggested mounting a full staging of The Drowsy Chaperone at the Ahmanson
Theatre in Los Angeles, with a view to moving the show to Broadway if the production
went well. The theatre was booked for a December 2005 opening, and the producers
engaged two Broadway stars to participate: director and choreographer Casey
Nicholaw, who had made a splash as the choreographer of Monty Python's Spamalot,
and lead actress Sutton Foster, who had recently won a Tony Award for her
performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Continuing its winning streak, The Drowsy
Chaperone was a hit with L.A. audiences and critics and won five L.A. Drama Critics
Circle Awards. After the run at the Ahmanson Theatre, the team prepared for the move
to Broadway.

By this time, the show had evolved considerably from its humble origins. The budget for
the Broadway production was $8 million, whereas the 1998 wedding-party
performance had no budget at all. Along the way, all but two of the show's original
songs had been replaced, and Martin was the only Canadian actor to be part of the
Broadway cast.

The Drowsy Chaperone moved into its Broadway home, the Marquis Theatre on Times
Square, to rehearse for an April 3, 2006, first-preview date. It was the first Canadian-
created musical to appear on Broadway since the 1980 production of Billy Bishop Goes
to War. And by utter coincidence, it occupied the same point in space Billy Bishop
Goes to War had played in the Morosco Theatre, which had been demolished in 1982
to make way for the Marquis.

The date of the opening allowed The Drowsy Chaperone to slide in under the deadline
for eligibility for the season's various Broadway awards. The show was nominated for 14
Drama Desk Awards (and won seven, the most of any show in the 2006 season) and six
Outer Critics Circle Awards (winning four). It also won Best Musical at the New York
Drama Critics Circle Awards, and Martin received one of the six Theatre World Awards
given to Broadway newcomers each year.


14

But the biggest prizes on Broadway are the Tony Awards, and The Drowsy Chaperone
was nominated in every one of the 13 categories for which it was eligible. Martin was
nominated as best actor for his performance as Man in Chair.

Having participated in The Drowsy Chaperone's transformation from ambitious wedding

gift to Broadway triumph, Martin has found the process illuminating. "If there's any lesson
from all this, it's to write what appeals to you, without an eye on the market. This was
never supposed to be performed for the paying public," he said. "Its motives were pure
from the start. It was written out of love for the musical. And for us."

Don McKellar

- Born: August 17, 1963 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Born August 17, 1963, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; son of John (a lawyer) and Kay (a
teacher) McKellar. Education: Attended Victoria University, Toronto. Avocational
Interests: Painting. Addresses: Agent: Great North Artists Management, 350 Dupont St.,
Toronto, Ontario M5r 1V9, Canada.

Don McKellar is a well-known Canadian writer, actor, and director whose early films
include Roadkill and Highway 61, both directed by Bruce McDonald. McKellar plays a
thoughtful serial killer in Roadkill and he stars as Pokey Jones, a small-town Canadian
barber too shy to play his own trumpet, in Highway 61. Pokey finds a dead body behind
his shop, and when Jackie (Valerie Buhagiar) comes along, pretending that the dead
man is her brother, Pokey agrees to take them both to New Orleans, with the deceased
strapped to the top of his car. Jackie's plan--to smuggle drugs with the body--evolves
into a southbound rock 'n' roll road trip dubbed a "funny, funky, and delightfully oddball
odyssey," by Brian Johnson in Maclean's. "It appeals to the same sense of humor as such
irony-infested TV shows as . . . Twin Peaks and . . . Northern Exposure--both just a loon's
cry from the Canadian border," added Johnson. "Suddenly the north woods are
fashionably weird. The hinterland is hip."

McKellar plays Thomas, a gay pet shop owner, in the Atom Egoyan-directed film
Exotica. Advocate reviewer B. Ruby Rich called McKellar an actor who can "rivet our
attention." Twitch City, a popular Canadian television series, benefitted from the talents
of McKellar, who served as both writer and actor. In the program, he plays the part of
Curtis, an agoraphobic slob and television addict living in Toronto whose favorite show
features a Jerry Springer clone and who shares an apartment with the very neat
Nathan (Daniel MacIvor). According to Joe Chidley in Maclean's, Twitch City "is (like
Seinfeld) a show about nothing--or, more accurately, about a man who does nothing.
And yet its singular achievement is making the life of Curtis seem both plausible and


15

compelling." Chidley noted that while the show "is not for everybody, . . . . as an
homage to television and the post-literate, thirty-something generation raised by it, the
show is a bracing waft of city smog amid the stale flatness of most other TV fare."

McKellar's most critically acclaimed screenwriting efforts include Thirty-two Short Films
about Glenn Gould and The Red Violin, both directed by Franois Girard. The first is, in
fact, comprised of thirty-two short films about the legendary Canadian composer who
died in 1982 at age fifty. The film is modeled after Bach's Goldberg Variations, the
composition with which Gould launched his recording career in the United States in
1955. The film portrays Gould in a variety of everyday situations as well as abstract
sequences. Johnson noted that one scene exposes "the guts of a piano, the hammers
threshing through Bach like an industrial loom. Others include a pharmaceutical
rhapsody of candy-colored pills and X-ray images of the pianist's skeleton as he plays.
Despite its kaleidoscopic diversity, however, Thirty-Two Short Films does not have the
choppy rhythm of a music-video montage. Each segment unfolds at a luxurious pace."

The Red Violin is the story of an instrument's passage through the fingers of generations
of musicians and has an all-star cast that includes actor Samuel L. Jackson in the part of
an appraiser. The story spans 300 years and follows a particular violin's history, beginning
with its crafting in Italy and concluding with Jackson's discovery of this valuable
instrument at an auction. Entertainment Weekly reviewer Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote that
Girard and McKellar "incorporate aspects of musical composition--theme, variation,
exposition, recapitulation--into the film's architecture" and called the structure of the
work "complex."

McKellar directs and stars in Last Night, an end-of-the-world film wherein the Earth is
hurtling toward the sun. New Statesman and Society reviewer Jonathan Romney called
it "the perfect anecdote to those fire-and-fury apocalypse packages in which blazing
portents of destruction streak across the skies only to be halted at the last moment by a
few stout American hearts. . . . McKellar treats Doomsday the smart way--he rules out
salvation from the start, and chooses to treat the biggest topic imaginable in a
scrupulously minor key." Cyril Pearl, who reviewed the film in Video Business, credited
McKellar for "a clever mix of characters." Instead of the cast that typically populates
apocalyptic films, such as the rich, the famous, and the militarily decorated, McKellar
told Variety contributor Brendan Kelly that he features people "who wouldn't be called
into service if the planet was in jeopardy--which is the vast majority of the planet."
McKellar's character, Patrick, wants to spend the time with his memories, while Callum
Keith Rennie's is attempting to realize all of his fantasies, including sex with a virgin, gay
sex, and sex with his former French teacher, Genevieve Bujold. Sandra Oh wants to
share her last meal with her husband, David Cronenberg, a gas company executive


16

who remains in his office, calling everyone in the telephone book to thank them for their
business.

"I always used to sympathize with the characters that were wiped out offscreen,"
commented McKellar of Last Night in Variety. "It's about the people who don't have
nuclear arsenals and aren't generals, and don't have armies at their disposal or aren't
world-famous oil riggers." Pearl wrote that "the human drama of people yearning to be
alive as the end draws near outweighs the bone-dry laughs." A People Weekly reviewer
called Last Night "not quite apocalypse wow, but still affecting." "The underlying content
is serious drama," noted Leonard Klady in Variety, "but McKellar is a keen observer of
human foibles and a social satirist who understands how to leaven the subject and
provide the laugh before the powerful emotional moment. He has sly fun with
everything from the family unit to cell phones, '60s folk music, and pedestrian rage."

A Maclean's contributor praised McKellar as possessing one of Canadian cinema's

"most distinctive personalities. Applying his thoughtful brand of deadpan wit to multiple
roles as screenwriter, actor, and now director, he has forged an idiosyncratic style that
is all his own." His highly praised 1998 directoral effort, Last Night, "unfolds with McKellar's
typically dark, quirky humor. But what is so unexpected is its emotional power. The
comic irony disarms the viewer so surreptitiously that when the tone finally turns serious,
it is tremendously moving."


17

Glossary

Term Page Definition

Dramatic literature or dramatic representation as an art or profession;
Dramatic or theatrical quality or effectiveness, spectacle, or
Theatre 1
entertainment in the form of a dramatic or diverting situation or series
of events
An imaginary wall (as at the opening of a modern stage proscenium)
Fourth Wall 1 that keeps performers from recognizing or directly addressing the
audience.
(September 26, 1898-July 11, 1937) Known as one of the greatest
American composers of all time; producing songs such as Stairway to
Paradise, Do It Again, and Somebody Loves Me. George and his
George Gershwin 1
brother Ira packed houses on Broadway for two decades, with works
such as Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, and Porgy and Bess. He
passed away on July 11, 1937 at age 38 from a brain tumor.
(December 06, 1896-August 17, 1983) Brother of George Gershwin;
musician who helped create music for shows featuring popular
Ira Gershwin 1 performers, especially Fred and Adele Astaire. In 1932, Gershwin shared
a Pulitzer Prize with writers George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind for
the satirical score of the musical comedy Of Thee I Sing.
(June 09, 1891-October 15, 1964) Wrote songs (both words and music)
for over 30 stage and film musicals; notable works include Anything
Cole Porter 1
Goes (1934), Jubilee (1935), Rosalie (1937), Panama Hattie (1940), and
Kiss Me Kate (1948).
(March 25, 1947-Present) Began his musical career in the early 1960s;
Elton John 1 notable works include The Lion King, Aida, Candle in the Wind, Rocket
Man, and Crocodile Rock.
(May 18, 1902-June 15, 1984) American composer, songwriter, and
Meredith Willson 1 playwright best known for creating the book and music for The Music
Man and The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
1957 musical written and composed by Meredith Wilson with the help
of Franklin Lacey; plot focuses on "Professor" Harold Hill as he convinces
the parents of River City to buy instruments and uniforms for their
The Music Man 1
youngsters in order to save them, but chaos ensues as Hill's credentials
are questioned and he is called upon to prove himself to the citizens of
River City.
(March 01, 1954-Present) Winner of the Directors Guild of America
Ronny Howard 1 award for Apollo 13 (2002) and an Academy Award A Beautiful Mind
(2002).
Located on 217 W. 45th Street in New York, NY, The Morosco Theatre
Morosco Theatre 2
was financed and built by Sam and Jacob Shubert in 1917 to give


18

thanks to Oliver Morosco after he helped breaking the Theatrical

Syndicate's monopoly. The theatre had roughly 950 seats and featured
shows such as Beyond the Horizon (1920) by Eugene O'Neill and The Bat
(1920) by Mary Roberts Reinhart while still under Morosco's seven year
job as manager. After Morosco left the theatre, the Shubert brothers
stepped in, staging Thorton Wilder's Our Town (1938) and Tennessee
Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) and The Shadow Box (1977). In
1968, the Morosco theatre was sold to investors affiliated with Bankers
Trust Company and continued producing several noteworthy
performances until 1982. At that time, the Morosco, along with four
other neighboring theatres, were demolished to create space for the
Marriott Marquis Hotel.
City located in South East New York state where the current city
population of 8.491 million people and the metro population is 19.20
million people. It is composed of five boroughs, or counties: Kings
County (Brooklyn), Queens County (Queens), New York County
(Manhattan), Bronx County (The Bronx), Richmond County (Staten
New York 2 Island). The city is currently comprised of citizens who are 44.5% white,
25.1% black/African American, 14.3% other, 12.9% Asian, 0.4%
American Island/Alaska Native, and 0.05% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.
52.5% of residents are female and the largest majority of the population
(66.1%) is between the ages of 15-64. In 1928, the population of New
York City was 6.93 million people.
Pu-pu platter 2 An assortment of appetizers, esp. in Hawaiian or Oriental cuisine
Being rough or noisy in a high-spirited way; given to good-natured
Rollicking 2
joking or teasing.
Confidante 6 A person who has a strong liking for and trust in another.
The forbidding by law of the manufacture, transportation, and sale of
Prohibition 6 alcoholic liquors except for medicinal and sacramental purposes from
1920-1933.
How gay! 6 Phrase meaning "how happy" or "how lively."
Champagne 7 A white sparkling wine made in the old province of Champagne.
A woman who is an aviator; the operator or pilot of an aircraft and
Aviatrix 7
especially an airplane.
A low cloud form extending over a large area at altitudes of usually
Stratus 7
2000 to 7000 feet (600 to 2100 meters).
A set of materials or equipment designed for a particular use; a group
Apparatus 7 of anatomical or cytological parts functioning together; an instrument
or appliance designed for a specific operation
Debonair 8 Gentle, courteous; Suave, urbane; Lighthearted, nonchalant.
Harried 8 Beset by problems; Harassed.
Markedly good-humored especially as evidenced by cheerfulness and
Jovial 8
conviviality.


19

Flaky 8 Markedly odd or unconvential; offbeat, whacky.

Chorine 8 Chorus girl.
Lothario 8 A man whose chief interest is seducing women.
Showgirl 8 A chorus girl in a musical comedy or nightclub show.
Ballet composed by Pytor Illyich Tchaikovsky in 1875-1876. Swan Lake
tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by Von Rothbart,
an evil sorcerer. A prince (Prince Siegfried) finds her in the forest and, as
he is about to shoot a crossbow at Odette, she transforms into her
Swanee Lake human form. The curse can only be broken if one who has never loved
10
(Swan Lake) before swears to love Odette forever. Deception and trickery from Von
Rothbart fool the prince, but it is no match for the two; in the final act,
they jump into the lake, claiming that they would rather die together
than be separated by the curse, in turn breaking Von Rothbart's spell
and killing themselves at the same time.
Petite four (Petit
10 A small cake cut from pound or sponge cake and frosted.
four)
Profiterole 11 A miniature cream puff with a sweet or savory filling.
Nuptials 11 Of or relating to marriage or the marriage ceremony.
A city in northern Ohio, lining the boarder between Ohio and Michigan,
with a current city population of 281,031 people and a metro
population of 650,266 people. 65.9% of the population is white,
followed by 27.2% black/African American, 3.5% two or more races,
Toledo 12
1.9% other, 1.1% Asian, 0.3% American Island/Alaska Native, and 0.06%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. 51.6% of the population is female and 63.8%
of the population is between ages 15-64. There is no documentation of
the population in 1928.
City in northwestern Washington state with a current city population of
668,342 people and a current metro population of 3.5 million people.
With 50.4% of their population being female, Seattle is also comprised
of 70.6% white, 7.8% black/African American, 4.9% two or more
Seattle 12
races,1.5% other, 1.4% Asian, 0.8% American Island/Alaska Native, and
0.4% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. Currently, 73.6% of the population is
between the ages of 15 and 64 years old. In 1928, it is estimated that
350,583 people were living in Seattle.
A usually chocolate-frosted oblong pastry filled with whipped cream or
clair 12
custard.
A deep-fried tube of pastry filled with sweetened and flavored ricotta
Cannoli 12
cheese.
A crisp cookie or biscuit of Italian origin that is flavored usually with
Biscotti 12
anise and filberts or almonds usually used in plural.
A dessert typically consisting of plain or sponge cake often soaked with
Trifle 12 wine or spirits (such as brandy or rum) and topped with layers of
preserves, custard, and cream.


20

A dish baked in a pastry shell; A small pie or pastry shell without a top
Tart 12 containing jelly, custard, or fruit; A small pie made of pastry folded over
a filling.
A sweet creamy chocolate mixture used especially as a filling or
Ganache 12
frosting.
A small cookie composed chiefly of egg whites, sugar, and ground
Macaroon 13
almonds or coconut.
Dated, now sometimes offensive; A member of a race of humankind
Negro 15 native to Africa and classified according to physical features (as dark
skin pigmentation).
Boutonnieres 15 A flower or bouquet worn in a buttonhole.
Of, relating to, or having the characteristics of the grotesque, such as:
Grotesque 16 fanciful, bizarre; absurdly incongruous; departing markedly from the
natural, the expected, or the typical.
Lido deck 19
Built by Chantiers et Ateliers Saint Nazarie, the SS Ile de France was
launched in 1926 and at that time, was the CGTs largest ship and the
sixth largest in the world. Maiden voyage June 22, 1927 from La Havre
to New York. The SS Ile de France returned to France (specifically
Marseilles, France) at the beginning of World War II (May 1940) to serve
on a trooping mission to Indochina. France fell in June 1940 in which
Ile de France 19
the SS Ile de France was taken over by the British and used as a
troopship for the balance of the war. In September 1945, she returned
to France and then moved along to the CGT again in February 1946. In
1956, the Ile de France saved roughly 750 passengers from Andrea
Doria. In 1958, she was put up and sold for scrapping to Japan, which
was completed in 1959.
Shan't 19 Shall not.
Gibson 19 A martini garnished with a cocktail onion.
Grease paint 19 A melted tallow or grease used in theatre makeup; theatre makeup.
Adieu 22 Farewell
A burlesque act in which a performer removes clothing piece by
Striptease 22
piece.
An expression of scorn, derision, or contempt; An object of scorn,
Scoff 22
mockery, or derision.
A feudal castle or fortress in France; A large country house or mansion;
Chateau 24
A French vineyard estate.
A seaside town in southeastern France, Nice is home to 343,304 people
Nice 24 in the immediate city and 973,321 people in the greater metro area.
There are no documented records of population in 1928.
Santa Claus 26 The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a


21

monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born

sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey.
It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the
countryside helping the poor and sick. Over the course of many years,
Nicholass popularity spread and he became known as the protector
of children and sailors. By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most
popular saint in Europe. The name Santa Claus evolved from Nicks
Dutch nickname, Sinter Klaas, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas.
Cat's pajamas 26 Someone or something wonderful or remarkable.
Beginning in October 16, 1923, Disney (The Walt Disney Company) has
been a leader in children and family entertainment. Walt Disney
arrived in California in the summer of 1923 with a cartoon in he had
made Kansas City about a little girl in a cartoon world, called Alices
Wonderland, and he decided that he could use it as his pilot film to
sell a series of these Alice Comedies to a distributor. He was
successful and a distributor from New York contracted to distribute the
"Alice Comedies." Originally known as the Disney Brothers Cartoon
Studio, with Walt Disney and his brother, Roy, as equal partners, the
Disney 27 company soon changed its name, at Roys suggestion, to the Walt
Disney Studio. After losing his first major character, Oswald the Lucky
Rabbit, to his distributor through legal loopholes, Walt Disney created
Mickey Mouse. Steamboat Willie was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon
and opened to rave reviews at the Colony Theater in New York
November 18, 1928. In two years, Mickey Mouse merchandise was
everywhere and his face was on everything. Today, Disney is involved
with four TV stations, eleven parks and resorts, ten studio entertainment
departments, and four Disney consumer products and interactive
medias.
A colorless liquor of neutral spirits distilled from a mash (as of rye or
Vodka 28
wheat).
A drink consisting of sweetened lime juice and gin or vodka and
Gimlet 30
sometimes carbonated or plain water.
The depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to
cause sexual excitement; Material (as books or a photograph) that
Pornography 30 depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement;
The depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick
intense emotional reaction.
Suspicion or fear especially of future evil, foreboding; The act or power
Apprehension 31 of perceiving or comprehending something; The result of
apprehending something mentally, conception.
Rousing 31 Giving rise to excitement, stirring; Brisk, lively; Exceptional, superlative.


22

A set of islands off the southern cost of Argentina with a current

Falklands 31 population of 2,840. The estimated population of the Falkland Islands
(the Falklands) was 2,340.
Stupefy 32 To make stupid, groggy, or insensible; Astonish, astound.
To subdue or reduce in intensity or severity, alleviate; To make quiet or
Allay 32
calm.
Forte 32 One's strong point.
Blunder; Specifically: to speak ineptly in a stuttering and faltering
Bumble 32
manner; To proceed unsteadily or stumble.
Any of three small North American thrushes (Sialia currucoides, S.
Bluebird 32 Mexicana, and S. sails) that are blue above and reddish brown or pale
blue below.
An iced drink containing liquor (as whiskey) and water or a
Highball 32
carbonated beverage (as ginger ale) and served in a tall glass.
Morning star 32 A bright planet (as Venus) seen in the eastern sky before or at sunrise.
Bridal suite 35 A special set of rooms for a couple who have just been married.
A state of being beyond reason and self-control; Archaic, swoon; A
Ecstasy 35 state of overwhelming emotion; especially : rapturous delight; Trance,
especially a mystic or prophetic trance.
Ruse 35 A trick or act that is used to fool someone.
A ballroom dance of Latin American origin in 24 time with a basic
Tangoing 37 pattern of step-step-step-step-close and characterized by long pauses
and stylized body positions.
Non 38 French translation: "No."
Oui 38 French translation: "Yes."
Fianc 39 A man engaged to be married.
Keister 39 Buttocks.
A refraining from the enforcement of something (as a debt, right, or
Forbearance 39 obligation) that is due; The act of forbearing, patience; The quality of
being forbearing, leniency.
Ensue 40 To take place afterward or as a result.
To have casual or illicit sex with a woman or with many women;
Philandering 42
Especially to be sexually unfaithful to one's wife.
Instinctual psychic energy that in psychoanalytic theory is derived from
Libido 46 primitive biological urges (as for sexual pleasure or self-preservation)
and that is expressed in conscious activity; Sexual drive.
Nattering 51 Chatter.
Of, relating to, or constituting the biogeographic region that includes
Oriental 52 Asia south and southeast of the Himalayas and the Malay Archipelago
west of Wallace's line; Now considered offensive especially when used


23

to describe a person.
Courtesan 52 A prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele.
An Old World thrush (Luscinia megarhynchos synonym Erithacus
megarhynchos) noted for the sweet usually nocturnal song of the male;
Nightingale 52
also : any of various other birds noted for their sweet song or for singing
at night.
A ruler with absolute power and authority; One exercising power
Despot 52 tyrannically : a person exercising absolute power in a brutal or
oppressive way.
Of, relating to, or characteristic of Edward VII of England or his age;
Edwardian gown 52 especially, of clothing: marked by the hourglass silhouette for women
and long narrow fitted suits and high collars for men; a woman's dress.
Won tons 52 Filled pockets of noodle dough served boiled in soup or fried.
A thin egg-dough casing filled with minced vegetables and often bits
Egg rolls 52
of meat (as shrimp or chicken) and usually deep-fried.
A Buddha is a person who is completely free from all faults and mental
obstructions. The Buddha who is the founder of the Buddhist religion is
called Buddha Shakyamuni Shakya is the name of the royal family
Buddha 52
into which he was born, and Muni means Able One. Buddha
Shakyamuni was born as a royal prince in 624 BC in a place called
Lumbini, in what is now Nepal.
Confucius (or Kongzi) was a Chinese philosopher who lived in the 6th
century BCE and whose thoughts, expressed in the philosophy of
Confucianism, have influenced Chinese culture right up to the present
day. He is considered the first teacher and his teachings are usually
expressed in short phrases which are open to various interpretations.
Confucius 52
Chief among his philosophical ideas is the importance of a virtuous life,
filial piety and ancestor worship. Also emphasized is the necessity for
benevolent and frugal rulers, the importance of inner moral harmony
and its direct connection with harmony in the physical world and that
rulers and teachers are important role models for wider society.
A style in art (as in decoration) reflecting Chinese qualities or motifs; an
Chinoiserie 54
object or decoration in this style.
A style of speaking especially in public; One who knows and practices
Elocutionist 54
the art of effective public speaking.
Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China, ordered that a
number of existing walls along the northern border be joined into a
Great Wall of single system that would extend for more than 10,000 li (a li is about
54
China one-third of a mile) and protect China against attacks from the north.
This was finished around 212 bc. It has rarely been successful in keeping
enemies out of the heart of China.
Sigmund Freud 56 (May 06, 1856-September 23, 1939) Known as the Austrian founder of


24

psychoanalysis, marked the beginning of a modern, dynamic

psychology by providing the first systematic explanation of the inner
mental forces determining human behavior. In the late 1890s, Freud
began a unique undertaking, his own self-analysis, which he pursued
primarily by analyzing his dreams. As he proceeded, his personality
changed. He developed a greater inner security while his at times
impulsive emotional responses decreased. Freud also developed the 5
psychosexual stages as a form of psychological development; they are
oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stage. Freud died after 33
surgeries and a 16 year battle with cancer in his mouth.
(February 03, 1874-July 27, 1946) Stein was a powerful literary force in
the period around World War I. Although the ultimate value of her
writing was a matter of debate, in its time it profoundly affected the
work of a generation of American writers. Stein studied medicine for 4
Gertrude Stein 56 years at Johns Hopkins and Radcliffe, but did not take a degree from
either. In 1903, she moved to Paris from east coast United States, where
she met Alice B. Toklas, who would be her life long companion and
secretary. Some of her most notable works are books Three Lives (1909)
and Tender Buttons (1915), and opera Four Saints in Three Acts (1928).
Mirth 56 Gladness or gaiety as shown by or accompanied with laughter.
(November 29, 1895-March 14, 1976) Berkley pioneered the use of
dynamic angles in the art of filmmaking. He is most widely recognized
Busby Berkley 59 as the man who orchestrated the magnificent dance extravaganzas
that characterized Hollywood musicals between 1930 and 1960.
Berkley directed 42nd Street in 1932 staring Dick Powell and Ruby Keller.
(April 03, 1934-Present) Goodall was a pioneering English primatologist
in her day. Her holistic methods of fieldwork, which emphasized patient
observation over long periods of time of social groups and individual
Jane Goodall 59 animals, transformed not only how chimpanzees as a species are
understood but also how studies of many different kinds of animals are
carried out. Initially, Goodall believed that her initial expedition would
take three years; she stayed in the forest for over two decades.
One of Shakespeare's most well-known tragedies; the story of Romeo
Romeo & Juliet 61 Montague and Juliet Capulet, two star-crossed lovers who fall in love,
marry, and die over a three-day period.
(June 28, 1491-January 28, 1547) King of England from 1509 to 1547;
second son of Henry VII. As a consequence of the Pope's refusal to
nullify his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry withdrew from
the Roman Church and created the Church of England. Married his
Hank the Eight second wife, Anne Boleyn on January 25, 1533 after the
61
(Henry the VIII) announcement of her pregnancy weeks earlier. He brought charges of
treason against Anne for alleged adultery and incest; she was
executed on May 19, 1536. He was betrothed to Jane Seymour eleven
days later, who passed away during childbirth the following year. On
January 12, 1540, Henry VIII married Anne of Cleves in hopes of saving


25

England from an attack/invasion from Charles V; their marriage was

annulled in July of that year. He married 19 year-old Catherine Howard
in August 1540, 3 weeks after his previous annulment; she was executed
February 15, 1542 for sexual misdemeanors and indiscretions as queen
consort. Henry married the twice-widowed Catherine Parr on July 12,
1543. He died in 1547.
(c. 1504-May 19, 1536) Anne Boleyn was a central reason for the split
between England and the Roman Catholic Church. She was also the
mother of Elizabeth I, who was considered one of the greatest English
rulers. One of Henry VIII's men, Thomas Cromwell, decided he needed
to prove that Boleyn had committed adultery after she had a
Anne Boleyn 61
daughter, miscarried another child, and then gave birth to a stillborn
baby boy. For the Queen to commit such an offense was treason, and
she'd be put to death. Boleyn and five other accused men all denied
the charges, but all were held in the Tower of London until tried and
put to death.
In the Christian story, Adam was the first man that God created, and
he was very special. He was created "in the image" of God Himself.
Adam was all alone in the garden with no one to help him. So, God put
Adam into a deep sleep and took one of his ribs and formed it into a
woman to be Adam's wife. Adam named her "Eve." A serpent told Eve
to eat from the forbidden tree, to which she obliged and ate the fruit
Eve and Adam 61 with Adam. God punished Adam and Eve, and all their descendants,
by making their lives hard. No longer could they live in the perfect
world of the Garden of Eden. Men would have to struggle and sweat
for their existence. Women would have to bear children in pain. Adam
and Eve were thrown out of the beautiful Garden of Eden forever. They
are told to have at least three children (Cain, Able, and Seth) as well as
other daughters and sons.
Samson is a biblical character noted for the strength that came from
his long hair. After having his wife taking from him, Samson vowed to do
harm to the citizens of the Philistines because they had cheated him. In
the capital of the Philistines, Gaza, the men of the city closed the gates
to the wall and held him captive. In response, Samson got up in the
night, ripped the gate posts out of the ground, and carried them to the
nearby city of Hebron. He fell in love with Delilah while in the Philistines;
rulers of the Philistines came to Delilah and promised to pay her if she
Samson & Delilah 61 told them what made Samson strong. After tricking Delilah multiple
times with tales that new ropes and specific vines can hold Samson
back, he told her that it was in fact the length of his hair. She chopped
it off and he was arrested by the Philistine government. In jail, his hair
grew back and he was as strong as he was before. He was brought
before the members of the government, claimed that he was still very
weak and asked to be leaned against the two tall pillars. Instead,
Samson pulled the two pillars down, killing himself and every man in the
building.


26

Of or relating to beasts; Inanimate; Characteristic of an animal in

Brute 62 quality, action, or instinct, such as cruel, savage, or not working by
reason; Purely physical; Unrelievedly harsh.
Coot 62 A harmless simple person.
The suggesting of a meaning by a word apart from the thing it explicitly
Connotation 63 names or describe; Something suggested by a word or thing,
implication; The signification of something.
Marked by unaffected simplicity; Deficient in worldly wisdom or
Naive 63 informed judgment; Not previously subjected to experimentation or a
particular experimental situation.
Cockamamie 65 Ridiculous, incredible.
Having or showing the attitude or temper of a cynic, such as
contemptuously distrustful of human nature and motives; Based on or
Cynical 66
reflecting a belief that human conduct is motivated primarily by self-
interest.
Zoloft 67 Used for a preparation of the hydrochloride of sertraline.
1959 musical by Stephen Sondheim, Jule Styne, and Arther Laurents.
Story: Mama Rose is determined that her younger daughter June will
Gypsy 67 have a successful career, but after June elopes, Mama turns all her
attention on her older, less talented daughter, Loise, who eventually
becomes a burlesque stripper named Gypsy Rose Lee.
A candy made of chocolate, butter, sugar, and sometimes liqueur
Truffle 67
shaped into balls and often coated with cocoa.
A quick bread made of batter containing egg and baked in a pan
Muffin 67
having cuplike molds.
A state located in the western United States of America. Currently, Utah
has 2.996 million people, of which 89.1% of residents are white, 3.4% are
other, 2.3% are two or more races, 2% are Asian, 1.1% are American
Indian/Alaska native, 1.1% are black/African American, and 0.9% are
Utah 68
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. Of the total population, 50.2% of the
population is male and 49.8% is female. The largest majority of people
(59.5%) are between the ages of 15 to 64. It is estimated that 496,150
people were living in Utah in 1928.
City located along the southeast coast of Brazil, Rio de Janerio is home
Rio (Rio de to 5.94 million people within the city limits and 11.98 million people in
69
Janerio) the greater metro area. There is no record of the population size from
1928.
Wending 69 To direct one's course.
Carnival festivities in Brazil date back to 1723 with the Portuguese
immigrants from the islands of Aores, Madeira and Cabo Verde
Carnival 70
introducing the Entrudo. People went out onto the streets soaking each
other with buckets of water and threw mud and food, which often


27

ended up in street brawls and riots. Towards the end of the century, the
carnival became a working class festivity where people wore costumes
and joined the parade accompanied by musicians playing string
instruments and flutes. Carnival was also used during the years of
military censorship to express political dissatisfaction.
1991 musical by Claude-Michel, Schnberg, Alain Boubill, and Richard
Maltby, Jr. Story: The Vietnam War is in its final days, and American
soldiers are celebrating in careless escapades with Saigons prostitutes.
Chris, a sergeant with a distaste for the club scene, is coerced to spend
Miss Saigon 74 the night with a new bargirl, Kim. When they quickly fall in love and
Chris bargains for her freedom from the bar owner, named the
Engineer, a love saga begins that puts the characters moral
convictions and honor codes to the test. Will be performing at the
Broadway Theatre beginning in mid March 2017.
1982 musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber, T.S. Elliot, Trevor Nunn, and
Richard Stilgoe. Story: It is the night of the Jellicle Ball, during which Old
Deuteronomy will select the cat to go to the Heaviside Layer and be
Cats 74 reborn to a new Jellicle life. Over the course of the evening, the cats of
the tribe step forward to introduce themselves and audition for the
chance to be selected. Currently performing at the Neil Simon Theatre
in New York City.
1987 musical by Claude-Michel Schnberg, Herbert Kretzmer, and Alain
Boubill. Story: Jean Valjean, a French peasant and convicted thief, is
freed from jail by a kind bishop and makes the most of the opportunity,
changing his name and eventually becoming a factory owner and
Les Miz (Les Mayor. When Valjeans criminal past is resurrected and the Chief of
74
Miserables) Police, Javert, vows to bring him to justice, Valjean promises Fantine, a
former worker on her death-bed, that hell find and care for her
daughter Cosette. Years later, Valjean has cared for Cosette as a
father, Javert seeks him still, and the city of Paris is torn by
revolutionaries.
1999 musical by The Bee Gees and Nik Cohn. Story: Tony Manero is a
Saturday Night Brooklyn youth who goes to the discotheque, where he is admired by
74
Fever Stephanie Mangano and rest of the disco's patrons and while escaping
his worries.


28

Broadways Influence on America

Theatre has been a part of Americas culture since its inception, providing platforms for
individuals to share their stories and speak their minds.

While many shows are reflecting societal standards, new musical and story concepts as
well as the ever-growing technological activities contribute to an increasing popularity
of Broadway not only in New York, but across the United States. Today, some of the
most popular and highest grossing shows on Broadway are Hamilton: An American
Musical, The Lion King, and Wicked as of February 5, 2017 (Broadway Grosses). 21
Broadway shows totaled in $19,874,003.02 as of February 5, 2017 as well (Broadway
Grosses. For the 2015-2016 season, audience members surpassed thirteen million and
Broadway as a whole grossed over one billion dollars (Broadway Grosses).

A number of noteworthy productions have grabbed the attention of press and

audience member, holding them captive long after the curtain closes. A basic Google
search Lin-Manuel Mirandas Hamilton: An American Musical results in over 6 million
results relating to those basic words. High schools have broken copyright laws by
performing songs in efforts to encourage for the rights to be available as soon as legally
possible. #Ham4Ham, which originally started out as a fun way for the Hamilton cast to
entertain the crowds of people waiting outside of the Richard Rogers Theatre, has
turned into a platform in which they showcase the talent and community of Broadway
to people worldwide (Hamilton Official Site). Many of the #Ham4Ham experiences
have been filmed and are on Hamiltons website for view (Hamilton Official Site).
The original cast recording album went double platinum in October 2016, selling over 2
million copies with numbers still rising (Viagras). Members of the media have featured
exposure to the hit musical and it continues to sell out seats eight times a week.
Teachers and parents have praised Hamilton, saying that this it is an opportunity for
children and teens to learn about Alexander Hamilton as the first treasurer of the United
States.

Dear Evan Hansen is a new show that is taking Broadway by storm. The show promotes
the concept and practice of inclusion for a high school student, while showing the
aftermath of telling a lie in todays technologically-crazed society, and has had so
many people relating and emotionally reacting to the performance. A review from The
New York Times said, Rarely scratch that never have I heard so many stifled sobs
and sniffles in the theaterthe musical finds endless nuances in the relationships among
its characters, and makes room for some leavening humor, too. It is also the rare
Broadway musical not derived from or inspired by some other source, which is refreshing
in itself (Isherwood). Further along, critic Charles Isherwood says, The musical is ideal
for families looking for something yeastier and more complex than the usual sugary


29

diversions. But then it should also appeal to just about anyone who has ever felt, at
some point in life, that he or she was trapped on the outside looking in, as one lyric
has it. Which is just about everybody with a beating heart (Isherwood). Visually, Dear
Evan Hansens set is very basic, but has large screens showing the spread of stories and
messages on the internet, much like the posts with the statements Spread this message
so that which so many of us see on Facebook and Twitter (Isherwood). This show
brings a new story to the stage that has content which millions of people can relate to
across the country and around the world, reaches out to individuals who feel lost or
confused as to where they should go in life, and utilizes the technological world in
which we live to its advantage.

However, while the attention given to shows like Hamilton: An American Musical and
Dear Evan Hansen prove that Broadway and the arts have an impact on the lives of
the American people, educators disagree. In 2014, a study found that more than eighty
percent of United States school districts had cut funds since 2008 and the first disciplines
to go are music, art, and foreign language (Boyd). There are some who find this
concerning, especially given the fact that the arts help with cognitive functions. If a
child is to take lessons, for example in music, the connection between the left and right
hemispheres in their brain is stronger, which helps improve the ability to listen and
communicate as an adult (Boyd). Sometimes, the athletic department is the first to go;
however, many members of the community voice their opinions when this happens.
Yet, when the arts and foreign language programs are at risk, there is statistically a
smaller level of outcry by members of the community (Dickson).

While this is an issue that many school districts have faced and will continue to face for
a number of years to come, theatre and the arts still live in American schools. The
Educational Theatre Association, which is responsible for the International Thespian
Festival, provides an annual report on the top ten full-length musicals and plays
performed by high schools each academic year. Below are the results for the 2015-2016
academic year (Play Survey). Approximately 5,200 member schools received an
invitation to participate and roughly 1,200 schools responded (Play Survey). This
survey has been administered since 1938 and showcases the importance of both
classic and modern classic works (Play Survey). While some of these works are chosen
based on the amount of students participating or on the amount of audience members
they can attract, these prove that shows like Hamilton: An American Musical and Dear
Evan Hansen are connecting now and will be pushing for more theatre opportunities in
the future.

Full-length musicals
1. The Addams Family, Andrew Lippa, Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice, TRW
2. Mary Poppins, Sherman Brothers, George Stiles, Anthony Drewe, Julian


30

Fellowes, Music Theatre International (MTI)

3. Seussical, Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens, Music Theatre International (MTI)
4. (tie) Cinderella, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Douglas Carter Beane, R&H
Theatricals
4. (tie) The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, William Finn, Rachel
Sheinkin, Music Theatre International (MTI)
5. (tie) Legally Blonde, Nell Benjamin, Laurence OKeefe, Heather Hach, Music Theatre
International (MTI)
5. (tie) Grease, Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey, John Farrar, Samuel French, Inc., TRW
6. (tie) The Little Mermaid, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Glenn Slater, Doug
Wright, Music Theatre International (MTI)
6. (tie) Shrek, David Lindsay-Abaire, Jeanine Tesori, Music Theatre International (MTI)
7. (tie) Into the Woods, Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine, Music Theatre International
(MTI)
7. (tie) Little Shop of Horrors, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Music Theatre International
(MTI)
8. Beauty and the Beast, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, Linda
Woolverton, Music Theatre International (MTI)
9. Once Upon a Mattress, Mary Rodgers, Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, Marshall
Barer, R&H Theatricals
10. High School Musical, various writers, Music Theatre International (MTI)

Full-length plays
1. Almost, Maine, John Cariani, Dramatists Play Service
2. A Midsummer Nights Dream, William Shakespeare
3. Our Town, Thornton Wilder, Samuel French, Inc.
4. 12 Angry Jurors, Reginald Rose, Dramatic Publishing
5. You Cant Take It with You, George S. Kaufman, Moss Hart, Dramatists Play Service
6. The Odd Couple, Neil Simon, Samuel French, Inc.
7. Arsenic and Old Lace, Joseph Kesselring, Dramatists Play Service
8. Alice in Wonderland, various
9. Noises Off, Michael Frayn, Samuel French, Inc.
10. (tie) The Crucible, Arthur Miller, Dramatists Play Service
10. (tie) The Diary of Anne Frank, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Dramatists Play
Service
10. (tie) The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon, Don Zolidis, Playscripts, Inc.


31

Making Broadway Musicals: An Interview with Lisa Lambert

Abstract
Lisa Lambert is an award-winning actress, comedy writer, composer and lyricist. She
won a Tony Award for Best Original Score and two Drama Desk awards for Outstanding
Music and Outstanding Lyrics in 2006 for her work on The Drowsy Chaperone, an original
Broadway musical. Below are excerpts from a conversation among Princeton University
undergraduate students, Sandy Fong (SF), Caitlin Lansing (CL) and Carly Robbins (CR),
Lisa Lambert (LL), and members of a general public audience about the genesis of The
Drowsy Chaperone and Lamberts creative process. This conversation took place as
part of the Making Broadway Musicals: Artists and Scholars in Conversation symposium
at Princeton University on 21 April 2012.

CR: What was your inspiration for The Drowsy Chaperone?

LL: The show was written with friends of mine; people Ive known since high school. We
used to watch all the Marx Brothers movies, and all the Fred [Astaire] and Ginger
[Rogers] movies, and a lot of film from the very early 30s that would give us hints of that
[era]. The show takes place in 1928, supposedly. I also grew up with my mothers
collection of Broadway cast recordings. I used to sneak from her collection and take
them up to my room. And I just became obsessed with those. It just came naturally.
Thats always what I liked most in life: musicals, especially really vintage ones.

CL: Could you take us through the journey of The Drowsy Chaperone?
LL: It was really bizarre, actually. The show was originally performed for the first time at
my friend Bob Martins bachelor party. I was the best man at his wedding, and my job
was to organize the bachelor party. I thought it would be fun to put on a show in the
nightclub where a group of us had done a lot of sketch comedy. We had the title of
The Drowsy Chaperone Im not sure where it came from and we had song titles, and
we kept saying, We should do this show, we should do this show. We had all these
scattered fragments and I thought, For the bachelor party, it would be interesting if he
(my friend Bob) came to it and suddenly all this stuff we had been talking about for
years had been written and done.

The show is about a fictional 1928 musical, being narrated by a man in his apartment.
He puts on the record of the show and talks about it. When we first did the show at the
bachelor party, we didnt have a narrator, we just had this strange little fictional vintage
show, with all these songs and all these things we had been storing up. It completely
horrified Bob, in a good way.

So we put it together at the party, and a year later, the group of us got into the Toronto
Fringe Festival, which is this fantastic theatre festival in Toronto. A lot of stuff starts there.


32

We thought it would be great to take this show that we had done at the party and
really work on it and figure out what it was. Thats when we added our narrator
character, and it just grew from there. It did really well at the festival because the right
people saw it. Mirvish Productions in Toronto, who put on all the musicals there, came to
see this show in this little festival and decided that they wanted to put it in their season.
So they gave us a tryout in an off-Broadway equivalent in Toronto, the Theater Passe
Muraille. We did it there, and it went on to the Winter Garden [Theatre] in Toronto as
part of the Mirvish season. Every time it moved on to another level or stage, we would
think, Thats great, and wed think it was sort of the end. Then somebody else would
come and see it. The luck was incredible. When we finally did it at the Winter Garden in
Toronto, producers from New York happened to be there and optioned the show.
A few years after that, we got into the National Alliance [for] Musical Theatre in New
York City, which is a yearly festival where different shows have 45 minutes to showcase
their show in front of industry people. Kevin McCollum, who at that time had produced
Rent and Avenue Q, happened to see it and said, I like this. So we ended up having
an off-Broadway tryout in Los Angeles, and then came to Broadway. It was just the right
people every step of the way. The show worked, but the luck element was huge. Every
time we did it, we thought, That was great, we didnt expect this. Its still happening.
There was a production in Japan, in Japanese, a couple of years ago. How did this
happen? So it just has a very, very interesting history. What started out as a party show
grew from there.

CL: You originated the role of the drowsy chaperone. What was that process like, giving
the role up?
LL: The drowsy chaperone is basically a drunk. When I played the part in Toronto, this
character didnt have a big song. Mostly it was just a silly character. Then when we
started developing it for Broadway, we realized This is the title character, she is going to
have to have a big song. By the time we did that, I was already removed as a
performer from the whole process. That was the big challenge: to figure out what this
lead character is going to sing that some- how would justify the fact that weve named
the show The Drowsy Chaperone even though she doesnt really do that much in the
show. We were working with Beth Leavel, who had never originated a part on
Broadway before. But she had this energy, and we were writing the song right around
the time that we met her, and again, it just worked itself out pretty organically. The song
that she sings has a wide range; its a massive song. I would not have been pleasant if I
had tried to do that.

SF: How did you develop the characters?

LL: Thats a good question. When we first wrote the show for the bachelor party, we had
a general plot in our heads. We knew who was going to be at the party and who was
going to be in the show. So that was the starting ground. We had a friend of mine,


33

Jennifer, who ended up playing Kitty, the ditzy chorus girl. That part was conceived
because we knew she could do a part like that really well. So casting, in a way, was the
beginning of the process. It makes a difference with writing if you know who youre
writing for. You have their voice in your head. The word muse comes to mind. We had a
lot of muses involved with the process. Also, too, a lot of the people in Toronto were
Second City performers, so they had a lot of improvisation experience. They were willing
to play when we werent totally sure how the whole thing should go. The actors were so
helpful in just making it come alive.

SF: Was the process the same for the music as well?
LL: That was more songs that had been going through my head for years, titles, and a
line here or there, or a tune. So a lot of it was just bringing together everything that was
already percolating. Even though our first performance of [The Drowsy Chaperone] was
in 1998, it feels like weve been writing it since the late 1970s. We were in that world so
much, Marx Brothers and Fred Astaire and all that. It felt like we just had to get it out
somehow.

SF: How did the Man In Chair develop as a character?

LL: The way the show works is that theres a man who plays this record and makes
comments. Throughout the show you start to learn more about this man. At first it seems
just like a narrator, then you realize The Drowsy Chaperone is really about that man, not
about the musical hes listening to. Every time we did the show, we would just delve a
little bit more into it. You find out that hes been married, you get little hints of his life. It
was a juggling act: how much do you reveal? Originally it was just a guy sitting there
going, Hello, welcome. And then he would put the show on. We thought, You need
to know a little bit. At times he would give too much, and then we would have to cut
back. He would start talking about something too specific. People who watch the show
identify with that character, and if youre too specific, itll alienate people. So you have
to make it as general as possible.

SF: Was it hard to feel how much he should or should not interject?
LL: Yes, it is tricky to decide how much he should come in, how much he should not. A
lot of the songs are structured so that you hear the whole song, and you know that
theres going to be one interjection thats really the laugh of the song. Thats the climax.
Its like song writing knowing theres a joke coming. So a lot of it was geared towards an
interruption. There were times when Bob [Martin] would interrupt the song and say, Im
going to upset everyone if I interrupt right here, so we played back and forth. But as I
was saying, a lot of the songs started to get written for the interruptions. In other words,
we knew we needed a joke somewhere, so wed write a song heading towards a joke
from him. It was like a little puzzle. Sometimes you approach the song and put him in,
sometimes he knew he had to do something and youd write the song around him.


34

The Immigration Act of 1924(The Johnson-Reed Act)

Introduction
The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the
United States through a national origins quota. The quota provided immigration visas to
two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States as of
the 1890 national census. It completely excluded immigrants from Asia.
Literacy Tests and Asiatic Barred Zone
In 1917, the U.S. Congress enacted the first widely restrictive immigration law. The
uncertainty generated over national security during World War I made it possible for
Congress to pass this legislation, and it included several important provisions that paved
the way for the 1924 Act. The 1917 Act implemented a literacy test that required
immigrants over 16 years old to demonstrate basic reading comprehension in any
language. It also increased the tax paid by new immigrants upon arrival and allowed
immigration officials to exercise more discretion in making decisions over whom to
exclude. Finally, the Act excluded from entry anyone born in a geographically defined
Asiatic Barred Zone except for Japanese and Filipinos. In 1907, the Japanese
Government had voluntarily limited Japanese immigration to the United States in the
Gentlemens Agreement. The Philippines was a U.S. colony, so its citizens were U.S.
nationals and could travel freely to the United States. China was not included in the
Barred Zone, but the Chinese were already denied immigration visas under the Chinese
Exclusion Act.
Immigration Quotas
The literacy test alone was not enough to prevent most potential immigrants from
entering, so members of Congress sought a new way to restrict immigration in the 1920s.
Immigration expert and Republican Senator from Vermont William P.
Dillingham introduced a measure to create immigration quotas, which he set at three
percent of the total population of the foreign-born of each nationality in the United
States as recorded in the 1910 census. This put the total number of visas available each
year to new immigrants at 350,000. It did not, however, establish quotas of any kind for
residents of the Western Hemisphere. President Wilson opposed the restrictive act,
preferring a more liberal immigration policy, so he used the pocket veto to prevent its
passage. In early 1921, the newly inaugurated President Warren Harding called
Congress back to a special session to pass the law. In 1922, the act was renewed for
another two years.

When the congressional debate over immigration began in 1924, the quota system was
so well-established that no one questioned whether to maintain it, but rather discussed
how to adjust it. Though there were advocates for raising quotas and allowing more
people to enter, the champions of restriction triumphed. They created a plan that
lowered the existing quota from three to two percent of the foreign-born population.
They also pushed back the year on which quota calculations were based from 1910 to
1890.


35

Another change to the quota altered the basis of the quota calculations. The quota
had been based on the number of people born outside of the United States, or the
number of immigrants in the United States. The new law traced the origins of the whole
of the U.S. population, including natural-born citizens. The new quota calculations
included large numbers of people of British descent whose families had long resided in
the United States. As a result, the percentage of visas available to individuals from the
British Isles and Western Europe increased, but newer immigration from other areas like
Southern and Eastern Europe was limited.
The 1924 Immigration Act also included a provision excluding from entry any alien who
by virtue of race or nationality was ineligible for citizenship. Existing nationality laws
dating from 1790 and 1870 excluded people of Asian lineage from naturalizing. As a
result, the 1924 Act meant that even Asians not previously prevented from immigrating
the Japanese in particular would no longer be admitted to the United States. Many in
Japan were very offended by the new law, which was a violation of the Gentlemens
Agreement. The Japanese government protested, but the law remained, resulting in an
increase in existing tensions between the two nations. Despite the increased tensions, it
appeared that the U.S. Congress had decided that preserving the racial composition of
the country was more important than promoting good ties with Japan.
The restrictive principles of the Act could have resulted in strained relations with some
European countries as well, but these potential problems did not appear for several
reasons. The global depression of the 1930s, World War II, and stricter enforcement of
U.S. immigration policy served to curtail European emigration. When these crises had
passed, emergency provisions for the resettlement of displaced persons in 1948 and
1950 helped the United States avoid conflict over its new immigration laws.
In all of its parts, the most basic purpose of the 1924 Immigration Act was to preserve
the ideal of U.S. homogeneity. Congress revised the Act in 1952.


36

The Choreography of Desire: Former Ziegfeld Follies Girl Recalls the Glory Days

By Douglas Martin

Florenz Ziegfeld interviewd 15,000 beautiful women a year for a quarter of a century
and a total of 3,000 were selected as Ziegfeld Girls, his idea of the most glorious
specimens of American womanhood. Floating across the stage to Berlins wistful,
haunting tune, they were choreographed to convey desire just being (slightly) too
strong a word in chiffon and silk, feathers and lace.

For those with the right stuff (36-26-38 was Mr. Ziegfelds preference) and a willingness to
strut I, the stage of the New Amsterdam Theater was the place to be in Jazz Age
Manhattan. Diamond Jim Bradly would lay down $750 to snap up 10 opening night
seats for the legendary Ziegfeld Follies, and admirers would indicate their appreciation
of particular showgirls by sending precious jewels to their dressing room, ensconced in
bouquets of long-stemmed roses.

All I had to do was say I was in the Ziegfeld Follies and everything was fine, said
Eleanor Dana OConnell, who became a Ziegfeld Girl in 1921 at the age of 17. Girls in
no other show got the attention.

Seventy-five years have passed, and Mrs. OConnell, now 92, seems not to have missed
a beat. At a time men anguish over what to call a woman, she is unabashedly and
forever a girl.

But she is much more than that. She is the new president of the National Ziegfeld Club,
an organization of former Ziegfeld performers, of whom there are a dozen left, she said.
A widow for 25 years, she is on the lookout for a light love affair, though she doubts
the, ahem, agility of gentlemen her age. Two months ago, she spent $4,000 to have her
eyes touched up by a plastic surgeon.

If I only live two years, so what? said Mrs. OConnell, her blue eyes dancing
mischievously. Ive had two years of joy.

Or as her doctor, Victor I. Rosenberg, director of cosmetic surgery at New York

Downtown Hospital, put it, You have to look your best.

Mr. Ziegfelds point exactly. If he has shown silk for his dancers costumes at $5 a yard,
and another roll at $30, he would invariable pick the $30 variety. He had three gold
phones on his desk and traveled in a private rail car, not only with a chef, but
sometimes also with an extra chef adept at preparing the liver and onions he
particularly savored.


37

His theatrical home was the opulent New Amsterdam, a magical dreamland of luscious
ornament, including 16 five-foot-high peacock sculptures and sinuously spilling floral
exclamations.

His signature production was the Ziegfeld Follies, presented from 1907 to 1927, and for
one last time in 1931. Then Mr. Ziegfelds spending and the Depression coalesced to
force him to Hollywood to hire himself out as an adviser to Sam Goldwyn.

But the Follies, dedicated to glorifying the American girl, lived on in memory, not least
because of the other talent: the 1918 Follies season featured Eddie Cantor, W.C. Fields
and Will Rogers, in addition to Jessica Reed, the highest-paid showgirl on the planet at
$125 a week.

Now, 59 years after the New Amsterdam became the last legitimate theater on 42nd
Street to close, the Disney Company is resurrecting it for live productions, beginning in
May. Disneys hope, in the phrase of an executive, is to take the theatergoing
experience beyond expectations.

Mrs. OConnell hopes only not to be left out. She demands the Ziegfeld girls be
prominently included in opening festivities, and be granted an exhibited area and a
small office in the theater. She has written Michael D. Eisner, chairman of Disney, but
has yet to hear back.

Showgirls dont mean a thing to him, she said. There should be showgirls in an area
of theatricality.

Well, maybe. Michael Paris, a Disney spokesman, said the company hopes to do
something with the Ziegfeld Girls. As to what degree, its too early, he said curtly.

The larger danger is that it may be too late. The remaining Ziegfeld girls are drifting
offstage and now get together mostly for memorials to those gone. Just a few can still
tell their stories.

One is Nona Otero Friedman, 88, whose middle name is the stage name she stole from
a European ballerina. In one Ziegfled production, she danced with Betty Compton,
Jimmy Walkers girlfriend. She tells of riding the Ziegfeld train on tours; being required by
Mr. Ziegfeld to wear hat and gloves even when not at work, and then meeting Mr.
Right, with whom she spent 58 years until he died last year.

She is considering some plastic surgery herself. Im still vain, you see, she said. You
never get over that.


38

Another is Lucile Layton, 93, who chose her last name for its alliteration. She then
dropped an l from her first name because it otherwise would have had 13 letters. She
remembers going to fancy restaurants with a couple of Ziegfeld girls and always getting
the best table. People would come up to me and say, May I have the pleasure of
shaking your hand?

She left the Follies to go to secretarial school, married a stockbroker a week after the
market crashed in 1929, and has been a widow for 25 years. She perfectly remembers
the old Ziegfeld feelings. It made you hold your nose up high, she said.

Mrs. OConnell was born in London on Sept. 21, 1904. Her father was in charge of
advertising for the Barnum & Bailey Circus, which was on a European tour. She spent her
early years in Greenwich Village going to dance classes on Saturdays.

At 15 she tried out at the old Hippodrome at 44th Street and Sixth Avenue, where she
was put in an act with another young girl and a baby elephant. All but the elephant
danced in pajamas and held candles. I get hysterical thinking about it, she said over
a vodka and tomato juice at Sardis, one of her hangouts for more than 70 years.

She answered a call for the George White Scandals of 1920, a popular revue with music
composed by Gershwin, among others.

I was dancing on Broadway, Mrs. OConnell said. I had to keep pinching myself.

The show when on the road, and her parents reluctantly let their 16-year-old daughter
go. Her boyfriend, 10 years older, followed her to Chicago and the two promptly went
to a judge and got married. The girls furious parents immediately ordered the marriage
annulled, a process that took seven years and $10,000.

Mrs. OConnell saw the man once more in her life. She met him walking up Broadway
five years later. They started strolling together. He told her he had named a race horse
for her. A few steps later, he dropped dead of a heart attack.

I liked him very much, Mrs. OConnell said. Then she added, You name it, and I have
a place in my life for it.

Next the dancer answered a call for the Midnight Frolics, a more intimate version of the
Follies held on the roof of the New Amsterdam. She was accepted as a Ziegfeld girl,
and found herself in a fairy-tale world in which the Duke of Windsor would appear one
night and Jack Dempsey the next. She was a special girl, because she got to do


39

special numbers. The audience, she recalls, seemed like a colony of penguins because
everyone wore formal evening attire.

Then, at 18, she auditioned for the 1992 Follies and was accepted. But after the New
York season, the show was going on the road. Her parents didnt make the same
mistake twice. So she resigned.

Can you imagine I quit Ziegfeld? she said. Nobody ever resigned from Florenz
Ziegfeld.

A couple of other dancing jobs followed. She went to Hollywood and found the people
boring and backstabbing. She decided to give Mr. Ziegfeld another try. She was
admitted to his office, she thinks, because nobody else had even spurned him.

Can you learn the entire show in two days? he growled.

She did and danced several more seasons. There was endless chain of admirers.

We used to party and we used to do a little bouncing around, she said. You know
those places.

She also began dating one of the J.P. Morgans lawyers, whom she wouldnt name. She
said he was tall, handsome and commanded attention with the money to back it up.
She also found him boring, describing a typical meal: He and his friends would just sit
and wait to be served, she said. Then they ate, and sat and waited for the next
course.

The lawyer was dumped when she met Jack OConnell, an entirely different kettle of
fish. A bartender who owned a couple of bars, he took her to a club on Long Island hill
on their first date. Onstage was a six-piece band exceptionally zaftig German women
bellowing away, a sight that greatly amused her.

He kept me laughing for 21 years, thats all I can tell you, Mrs. OConnell said.

These days, she spends her time trying to clear up the tangled finances of the Ziegfeld
Club, which raises money for performers in financial trouble. The club has a small office
in the Presbyterian Church on Park Avenue at 63rd Street, filled with pictures of long-ago
flamboyance.

She lives alone in a studio apartment in Rego Park, Queens, near the house where she
lived for years. She has no children and no relatives. But she has friends, who gave her a


40

swell birthday party at London Lennys, the Queens restaurant where her husband was
headwaiter for many years.

And Eleanor Dana OConnell has some fine memories. Asked to describe them, she
sipped her second vodka and tomato juice and thought, Oh boy, she finally
answered smiling ever so sweetly. Oh boy.


41

Bibliography

"About Buddha." Life of Buddha - Siddhartha Is Born | About Buddha. About

Buddha, 2017. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.
"Anne Boleyn." Encyclopedia of World Biography, vol. 18, Gale, 1998. Biography in
Context. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
Baber, Mark. "S.S. Ile de France." Great Ships: The Postcard and Ephemera
Collection of Jeff Newman, PBS. Accessed 24 Jan. 2017.
"Bob Martin." Gale Biography in Context, Gale, 2007. Biography in Context. Accessed 11
Feb. 2017.
Boyd, Stacey. "Extracurriculars Are Central to Learning." U.S. News & World Report. U.S.
News & World Report, 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.
"Broadway Grosses." Playbill. Playbill, 6 Feb. 2017. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.
Broadway Musical Home, Broadway Musical Home, 2016. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
"Busby Berkeley." Encyclopedia of World Biography, vol. 20, Gale, 2000. Biography in
Context. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
"Cole Albert Porter." Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale, 1998. Biography in
Context. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
"Confucius." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2017.
Web. 23 Jan. 2017.
Das, Joanna. "Making Broadway Musicals: An interview with Lisa Lambert." Studies in
Musical Theatre, vol. 7, no. 2, June 2013. International Bibliography of Theatre
and Dance. Accessed 2 Feb. 2017.
Dickson, Dave. "Fine Arts Should Be Spared from School Districts Budget Cuts." NFHS.
National Federation of State High Schools Associations, 13 Oct. 2015. Web. 11
Feb. 2017.
Dictionary, Dictionary, 2017, www.dictionary.com/. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
"Disney History." D23. The Walt Disney Company, 2016. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.
"Don McKellar." Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2014. Biography in Context.
Accessed 11 Feb. 2017.
"Elton John." Encyclopedia of World Biography, vol. 18, Gale, 1998. Biography in


42

Context. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.

"George Gershwin." Authors and Artists for Young Adults, vol. 62, Gale, 2005. Biography
in Context. Accessed 21 Jan. 2017.
"Greg Morrison." Gale Biography in Context, Gale, 2007. Biography in Context.
Accessed 11 Feb. 2017.
"Gertrude Stein." Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale, 1998. Biography in
Context. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
"Hamilton Official Site." Hamilton. Hamilton: An American Musical, 2017. Web. 11 Feb.
2017.
"Henry, VIII." Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale, 1998. Biography in Context.
Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
"History of Carnival." RIO.com. Rio De Janerio, 2016. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.
History.com Staff. "Great Wall of China." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010.
Web. 23 Jan. 2017.
History.com Staff. "Santa Claus." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 23
Jan. 2017.
"Ira Gershwin." Encyclopedia of World Biography, vol. 20, Gale, 2000. Biography in
Context. Accessed 22 Jan. 2017.
Isherwood, Charles. "Review: In "Dear Evan Hansen," a Lonely Teenager, a Viral Lie, and
a Breakout Star." The New York Times. The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2016. Web. 11
Feb. 2017.
"Jane Goodall." Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale, 1998. Biography in
Context. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
"Lisa Lambert." Gale Biography in Context, Gale, 2007. Biography in Context. Accessed
11 Feb. 2017.
Martin, Douglas. "The Choreography of Desire: Former Ziegfeld Follies Girls Recalls the
Glory Days." New York Times, 18 Oct. 1996. Accessed 18 Feb. 2017.
"Meredith Wilson." Masterworks Broadway, Masterworks Broadway, 2015. Accessed
23 Jan. 2017.
Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, 2017, https://www.merriam-webster.com/.
Accessed 19 Jan. 2017.
"Morosco Theatre." Playbill, edited by Mark Peikert, Playbill, 2017. Accessed 23 Jan.


43

2017.; Morrison, William. Broadway Theatres: History and Architecture.

Mineola, Dover Publication, Inc., 1999, pp. 100-101.
"Play Survey." Play Survey - EdTA - Educational Theatre Association. Educational Theatre
Association, 9 Nov. 2016. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.
"Ron Howard." Encyclopedia of World Biography, vol. 19, Gale, 1999. Biography in
Context, Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
"Sigmund Freud." Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale, 1998. Biography in Context.
Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
Shakespeare, William. "Romeo and Juliet Synopsis." Romeo and Juliet Synopsis. Play
Shakespeare, 2005. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.
"Slang of the 1920s." Citrus County School District, Citrus County School Distric, 2010.
Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
"Swan Lake." Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation, 2017. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.
"The Story of Samson, the Strong Man." The Story of Samson, the Strong Man. Bible
Hub, 2004. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.
Viagas, Robert. "Hamilton Cast Album Certified Double Platinum." Playbill. PLAYBILL INC.,
27 Oct. 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.
Wolfram Alpha, Wolfram Alpha, https://www.wolframalpha.com/. Accessed 23 Jan.
2017.
"WordReference.com." Word Reference. Word Reference, 2017. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.