Producer: Anu Krishnan
Art Director: Sabina Daley
Designer & Flash Programmer: Karen Mattson
Graphic Art: Karen Mattson
Technical Director: Brian Lee
PHP Scripting: Ben Chappel
Production Assistant: Diana Cofresí-Terrero
Copy Editor: Leslie Kriesel
HTML Implementation Assistance: Brian Santalone
Writer: John Ardoin

Multimedia Presentation: Encyclopedia of Composers & Songwriters
Biographies
Used by kind permission of the Gale Group (http://www.galegroup.com/)and the American Council of Learned Societies (http://www.acls.org/).
Photo Credits
Harold Arlen (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten collection, [Reproduction number: LC-USZ62-103724 DLC])
“We’re Off To See The Wizard (the Wonderful Wizard of Oz)” sheet music cover. New York: Leo Feist, Inc., 1939. (Music Division, Library of Congress)
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band, 1911.” (Historic American Sheet Music, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band, 1911.” Music A-5378, Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library)
George M. Cohan (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten collection, [Reproduction number: LC-USZ62-126361 DLC])
“Over There, 1917.” (Historic American Sheet Music, “Over There, 1917.” Music #1170, Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library)
Fred Ebb (Photo courtesy of International Creative Management)
Detail from Bob Fosse directing Liza Minnelli in the filming of CABARET. (Fosse-Verdon Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. Photograph by Lars Looschen)
George Gershwin (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten collection, [Reproduction number: LC-USZ62-42534 DLC])
Ira Gershwin (Photofest)
Oscar Hammerstein II (Richard Rodgers Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress)
John Kander (Photo courtesy of International Creative Management)
Detail from Bob Fosse directing Liza Minnelli in the filming of CABARET. (Fosse-Verdon Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. Photograph by Lars Looschen)
“Oh Lady! Lady!!, 1918.” (Historic American Sheet Music, “Oh Lady! Lady!!, 1918.” Music #628, Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library)
Stephen Sondheim (Photo by Jerry Jackson, © 2000)

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About the Writer

We are deeply saddened to report that John Ardoin, who has been a writer and contributor to GREAT PERFORMANCES Online since its inception in 1997, died on Sunday, March 18, 2001, in Costa Rica, from complications of lymphoma. Well known and admired for his expertise in opera and classical music, he was the music critic of THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS until 1998 and music consultant for GREAT PERFORMANCES for 20 years, as well as a writer for many of its presentations. He authored six books, including THE CALLAS LEGACY, CALLAS AT JUILLIARD, THE STAGES OF MENOTTI, and THE FURTWAENGLER RECORD.

About the Expert

Thomas Hischak is the author of 13 books on theater, film, and Tin Pan Alley, including THE OXFORD COMPANION TO AMERICAN THEATRE (Oxford University Press), THROUGH THE SCREEN DOOR: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BROADWAY MUSICAL WHEN IT WENT TO HOLLYWOOD (Scarecrow Press), THE TIN PAN ALLEY SONG ENCYCLOPEDIA (Greenwood Press), BOY LOSES GIRL: BROADWAY’S LIBRETTISTS (Scarecrow Press), and WORD CRAZY: BROADWAY LYRICISTS FROM COHAN TO SONDHEIM (Praeger Press). He is Professor of Theatre at the State University of New York College at Cortland and the author of 18 published plays.

Television Credits

Produced by
Stephen Netburn

Co-Producer
Michael J. Shapiro

Edited by
Dirk Meenen
Michael J. Shapiro

Written by
Joe Gilford
Mary Cleere Haran

Additional Narration Written by
Scott McIsaac
Frederick Green

Creative Consultants
Susan B. Landau
George Feltenstein

Cinematographer
Jose Luis Mignone

Main Title Design
Bruce Schluter

Hair and Makeup
Jan Arcaro

Special Thanks
Robert Harper

Production Credits

Segment Producer
Scott McIsaac

Production Coordinator
Marianne Fennell Mooradian

First Assistant Camera Operator
Mary Gonzales

Second Assistant Camera Operator
Alex Noble

Boom Operator
Joel Schbyack

Gaffer
Pat Kirkwood

Best Boy Electric
Dave Sexton

Electrician
Don Clark

Key Grip
Don Vos

Best Boy Grip
Ricky Brochardt

Teleprompter Operator
Patrick Orvonio

Sound Mixer
David Ronne

Video Playback
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Script
Tracy Young

Wardrobe Stylist
Terrence Stephen

Production Assistants
Anthony Richards
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Craft Service
Katy Cornelius

Piano Tuner
Keith Albright

Film, Photographs, and Memorabilia Courtesy of:

American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP)
Army Emergency Relief
Avalon Archives, Ltd.
Bettmann/CORBIS
Billy Rose Theatre Collection, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
Budget Films Stock Footage
Cole Porter Estate
CORBIS
CRDPHOTO/CORBIS
Desert Island Films
Eileen Darby/Timepix
Fox Movietone News
Gus Kahn Company
Harry Warren Estate
Historic Film Archives
Holton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS
Kay Duke Engalls
Michael Feinstein
National Archives
New Orleans Historic Collection
Photofest, N.Y.C.
Producers Library Service
Ralph Morse/Pix Inc./Timepix
Samuel Goldwyn Films, LLC
The Doutis Foundation
The Library of Congress
Turner Entertainment Co.
Twentieth-Century Fox Film Corporation
UCLA Film and Television Archive
Universal Studios Licensing LLLP
Variety Magazine
Walter Sanders/Timepix
Warner Bros.
Yale University Music Library

Mr. Feinstein performs on Baldwin, a division of Gibson Musical Instruments

Director of Post-Production
Benjamin Arnold

On-Line Editor
Ellias Chalhub

Chyron Editor
Andrew Ganas

Sound Editor
Scott Moore

Re-Recording Pre-Mixer
Ruben Gomez

Color Correction
Mark Beutel

Re-Recording Mixer
Steve Howe

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For GREAT PERFORMANCES

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Producer
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Executive Producer
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Not many people may know that for a short, precarious time, “Porgy,” the opera by Gershwin, nearly became “Porgy,” the musical comedy by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. This renowned Broadway team was eager to convert the play, adapted by Dorothy and DuBose Heyward from his book, as a musical for Al Jolson. As fate would have it, the project floundered when Jolson lost interest.

When Gershwin finally acquired the rights to the play, Heyward worked closely with the composer on creating the opera, and, in a letter to Gershwin in November 1933, he outlined the opera’s opening as he had reconceived it: “The play opened with a regular riot of color. What I have in mind [for the opera] is to let the scene … merge with the overture … giving the added force of sight and sound. I think it would be very effective to have the lights go out during [the] overture, so that the curtain rises in darkness … as the music takes up the theme of jazz from the dance-hall piano.”

Gershwin liked the idea and produced the riveting “Jazzbo Brown” sequence, one of the significant stretches of music that is reinstated when “Porgy” is heard in its original version. Heyward also invited Gershwin to Charleston to absorb local color. Later he recalled their time together:

“Under the baking suns of July and August we established ourselves on Folly Island, a small barrier island ten miles from Charleston. James Island, with its large population of primitive Gullah Negroes, lay adjacent and furnished us with a laboratory in which to test our theories as well as an inexhaustible source of folk material … to George it was more like a homecoming than an exploration. The quality in him which had produced the ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ in the most sophisticated city in America found its Counterpart in the impulse behind the Music and bodily rhythms of the Simple Negro of the South.”

The sole disagreement between the two collaborators in shaping the opera was that Heyward wanted the musical numbers linked by spoken dialogue. Gershwin insisted on sung recitatives. The difference is crucial. Heyward’s way would have produced musical comedy. Gershwin, who won out, was committed to a true opera from the beginning. And it is as an opera — the best of all American operas — that “Porgy” lives today and commands our attention, respect, and affection.

–John Ardoin

In 1938, TIME magazine wrote these prophetic words: “As Rodgers and Hart see it, what was killing music comedy was its sameness, its tameness, its eternal rhyming of June with moon. They decided it was not enough to be just good at the job; they had to be constantly different also. The one possible formula was: Don’t have a formula; the one rule for success: Don’t follow it up.”

That concisely sums up the phenomenon of two Broadway giants who came to symbolize “Mr. Music” and “Mr. Words.” Although in later years Rodgers produced words of his own and collaborated as well with Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents, in his peak years he had only two partners — Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. So close were these partnerships that no one ever spoke of a “Rodgers musical.” It was always a “Rodgers and Hart” or a “Rodgers and Hammerstein” show.

Rodgers met Hart in 1918 at New York’s Columbia University. Both were aching to break into the theater, and they found themselves in immediate agreement that poetry and wit were needed to replace the banalities of the musicals of the time. One of their first efforts — and their first published song — was “Any Old Place with You,” which was used in the 1919 show “A Lonely Romeo.” Rodgers was only 17; Hart was 24.

Although they contributed more songs to other shows and revues, the first musical that was truly all their own came in 1925. In “Dearest Enemy,” they abandoned the standard song-and-dance format and came up with what could only be called “a musical play,” one in which song and drama were integrated into a cohesive whole and combined with a serious subject — the American Revolution — and a set of believable characters. One wise critic at the time said: “We have a glimmering notion that someday [Rodgers, Hart, and Herbert Fields, who provided the book] will form the American counterpoint of the once great triumvirate of [Guy] Bolton, [P. G.] Wodehouse and [Jerome] Kern.”

There would be several other shows before Rodgers and Hart left Broadway to spend four years in Hollywood writing songs for films such as LOVE ME TONIGHT, with Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier; HALLELUJAH, I’M A BUM!, with Al Jolson; and THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT, with the legendary Broadway actor-singer-composer George M. Cohan.

They returned East in 1935 to create songs for Billy Rose’s mammoth Broadway musical “Jumbo,” described by one critic as an “exciting compound of opera, animal show, folk drama, Harlequinade, carnival, circus, extravaganza and spectacle.” Although Hollywood and Billy Rose sidetracked Rodgers and Hart from their determination to revamp the Broadway musical, the team got back on track in 1936 with their first enduring show, “On Your Toes.” It launched a golden era on Broadway.

“On Your Toes” was followed by “Babes in Arms” (1937), “I Married an Angel,” “The Boys from Syracuse” (1938), and climaxed with Rodgers and Hart’s masterpiece, “Pal Joey” (1940). From these musical comedies came a flood of hit songs — too many to list — but which included such American classics as “There’s a Small Hotel,” “My Funny Valentine,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “Falling in Love with Love,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.” Hart’s words were a glorious combination of wit, sentiment, and charm, and Rodgers’ music was a seamless stream of lilting melody. These elements combined to form a trademark style for these two creative men.

In 1943, there was a break in their partnership when Rodgers teamed for the first time with Oscar Hammerstein II, a union that began with one of the most beloved and influential of all musical comedies — “Oklahoma!” But there would be a final reunion in 1943, when Rodgers and Hart revised one of their early shows, “A Connecticut Yankee.” For the new version, six songs were added, including “To Keep My Love Alive,” which turned out to be Hart’s last lyric. Already ill, he died only five days after “A Connecticut Yankee” opened triumphantly on Broadway.

–John Ardoin

Throughout a long golden era, the American movie musical transformed Hollywood into a Mecca for the biggest singing stars and leading songwriters of the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s. Hosted by Michael Feinstein, THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK offers a dazzling parade of American popular songs as seen and heard in some of the most beloved films ever made. With stars ranging from Al Jolson to Judy Garland to Frank Sinatra, and sounds from the Gilded Age to New Orleans jazz to Broadway musicals, THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK tells the story of the first 50 years of American popular music. Whether it was from the vaudeville stage or Tin Pan Alley, on the radio or the record player, it all found its way to the silver screen. This treasure trove of musical clips overflows with the very best of George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, and many more artists.

Additional funding for this program was provided by the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust.

Many local PBS stations are offering THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK videocassette, DVD, and its companion CD, SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW: THE GOLDEN AGE OF HOLLYWOOD MUSICALS, as Pledge gifts. To order these items, pledge now. Or you may purchase the VHS or DVD of the program from Shop Thirteen.

“Another Op’nin’, Another Show”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Kaye E. Brown, Company

“Why Can’t You Behave?”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Nancy Anderson, Michael Berresse

“Wunderbar”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Brent Barrett, Rachel York

“So in Love”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Rachel York

“We Open in Venice”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Brent Barrett, Rachel York, Nancy Anderson, Michael Berresse

“Tom, Dick or Harry”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Nancy Anderson, Michael Berresse, Nick Winston, Barry McNeill

“I’ve Come to Wive It Wealthily in Padua”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Brent Barrett

“I Hate Men”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Rachel York

“Were Thine That Special Face”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Brent Barrett

“Cantiamo d’Amore” (”We Sing of Love”)
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Ensemble

“Kiss Me, Kate”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Brent Barrett, Rachel York, Ensemble

“Too Darn Hot”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Nolan Frederick, Ensemble

“Where Is the Life That Late I Led?”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Brent Barrett

“Always True to You in My Fashion”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Nancy Anderson

“From This Moment On”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Nicolas Colicos, Rachel York

“Bianca”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Michael Berresse, Ensemble

“So in Love” (Reprise)
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Brent Barrett

“Brush Up Your Shakespeare”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Teddy Kempner, Jack Chissick

“Pavane”
Music by Cole Porter
Nancy Anderson, Michael Berresse, Ensemble

“I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple”
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Rachel York

“Kiss Me, Kate” (Finale)
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Company

Cole Porter’s 1948 score was his major effort at an “integrated” musical in the wake of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” and “Carousel.” So the story hangs together and the songs all have their place. But here is the achievement of Blakemore and his team: they go beyond that, so the breadth of Porter’s musical genius — the vaudeville, jazz, operatic lyricism, and comic patter — seems a natural expression of the drama, much more so, certainly, than it does in the 1953 film version.

Michael Blakemore deservedly won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Director (Musical Revival) for “Kiss Me, Kate.” In fact, he won a second Tony for directing the straight play by Michael Frayn, “Copenhagen.” This unprecedented double triumph alerted all Broadway to the talents of the 72-year-old Australian-born British resident whose career has included directing plays by Arthur Miller, Anton Chekhov, and Peter Shaffer.

The range of his interests is reflected in this double whammy, at the helm of the revival of one of America’s greatest musicals and the intellectually challenging Michael Frayn play about nuclear physicists and the uncertainty principle. In fact, Blakemore nearly achieved a similar same-season feat ten years earlier, when he was nominated for the Tony for directing both “City of Angels,” a brilliantly clever new thriller musical, and Maggie Smith in Peter Shaffer’s “Lettice and Lovage.”

Blakemore started out as an actor and was a star associate during Laurence Olivier’s reign at the National Theatre in London, where he directed Olivier in an unforgettable production of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” Since then, he has directed six plays by Michael Frayn and several films, and memorialized a vanished era of English repertory theater in a classic theatrical novel, NEXT SEASON.

So this serious, cultivated man — he was the son of an eye surgeon and enrolled in medical school before sitting guiltily in cinemas and discovering his true passion — has the acting life embedded in his character. Which is why, no doubt, he produced such a definitive version of “Kiss Me, Kate.”

A great Broadway show was restored and the compliment was returned in the bestowing of the Tony Award. At the ceremony in Radio City Music Hall, Blakemore simply said, “All I can say is, thank you, America. And when I say ‘America,’ of course, I mean New York. And when I say ‘New York,’ I mean Broadway.”

Later, he expressed surprise that anyone should think that directing a musical is a less serious business than directing a play: “You simply try to understand the material and tell the story in the terms the musical demands.” The added bonus of a show like “Kiss Me, Kate” is that there are huge technical challenges, which, if met, ensure a spectacular treat alongside the emotional pleasure. And that’s what Mr. Blakemore has provided, to resounding, unforgettable effect.

–Michael Coveney

The first Broadway revival in nearly 50 years of the musical comedy masterpiece by composer Cole Porter and authors Sam and Bella Spewack not only enchanted critics and delighted audiences, but also went on to triumph as one of the biggest prize-winners of the 2000 season. Taking its inspiration from Shakespeare, “Kiss Me, Kate” recounts the backstage and onstage antics of two feuding romantic couples during a touring production of “The Taming of the Shrew.” Sparkling with 18 classic Cole Porter songs — including “Another Op’nin’, Another Show,” “Wunderbar,” “So in Love,” “Always True to You in My Fashion,” “Too Darn Hot,” and “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” — “Kiss Me, Kate” epitomizes the Broadway musical comedy at its irresistible best. Directed by Michael Blakemore, this 2000 Tony-winner for Best Revival stars Brent Barrett, Rachel York, Nancy Anderson, and Michael Berresse as the bickering couples whose offstage disputes ultimately entangle them with a pair of unexpectedly erudite gangsters and a megalomaniacal U.S. Army general.

Cole Porter’s most successful musical, the original production of “Kiss Me, Kate” opened on Broadway at the New Century Theatre on December 30, 1948 and ran for 1,077 performances. It garnered five Tony Awards in 1949, the same number the revival claimed in 2000. Learn more about the revival, which was taped during its run at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre, and its celebrated director, Michael Blakemore, in an essay by writer Michael Coveney. Read an extensive biography of Cole Porter as well as many other American composers and songwriters whose music is featured this season on GREAT PERFORMANCES in the Encyclopedia of Composers & Songwriters; browse the Q&A with Professor Thomas Hischak, author of numerous books on American film and stage musicals, in Ask the Expert; and watch extended video excerpts from the program in the Video Jukebox. Lastly, see the complete list of songs and photos from the production in the “Kiss Me, Kate” Slideshow.

Special funding for this program was provided by the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust and the Irene Diamond Fund.

The “KISS ME, KATE” DVD can be purchased from Shop Thirteen.