MY TOP TENS (OVER THE FIFTY YEARS)

TOP TEN PLAYS - Auntie Mame, Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Death of a Saleman, Look Homeward Angel, Member of the Wedding, On Golden Pond, Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Streetcar Named Desire, View From the Bridge, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

TOP TEN MUSICALS - A Chorus Line, Gone With the Wind, Gypsy, Man of La Mancha, Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Robert and Elizabeth, Showboat, West Side Story

TOP TEN OPERAS - Aida, Lakme, Macbeth, Nabucco, Norma, Othello, Parsifal, Pearl Fishers, Porgy and Bess, Turandot

TOP TEN DANCERS - Alvin Ailey, Maurice Bejart, Bob Fosse, Robert Joffrey, Donna McKechnie, Rudolf Nureyev, Chita Rivera, Paul Taylor, Tommy Tune, Gwen Verdon

TOP TEN ACTORS - Zoe Caldwell, Barbara Harris, Julie Harris, Hal Holbrook, Frances Hyland, Raul Julia, Geraldine Page, Maggie Smith, Frances Sternhagen, Jessica Tandy

My book with a very extensive bibliography and autographs of many greats like Katherine Hepburn, Yul Brynner, Raul Julia, Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick, Julie Harris, etc., (258 pages total) is available for 49.95 plus 8.00 shipping and handling. Cheques or money orders made payable to: Clair Sedore, 811-85 The Esplanade, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5E 1Y8

This is pre-publication price. When published it will probably be around $75.00





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And now we will discuss some of New York's leading stage designers. The playwrights and composers/lyricists write the show but it is the design team that brings the "Razzle Dazzle" or "magic" to the theatre

Sean Kenny - England's most recognized set designer who changed the West End with Oliver, Maggie May, Juno and the Paycock, and Roar of the Greasepaint

Florence Klotz - costumer of Take Her She's Mine, Owl and the Pussycat, Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, On the Twentieth Century and the revival of Little Foxes

Santo Loquasto - designer of King of Hearts, Murder Among Friends, That Championship Season, and Ragtime

Jo Mielziner - has done more than 400 shows including the King and I, My Sweet Charlie, Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, 1776, South Pacific, Sugar, Tea and Sympathy and Gypsy

Motley - three designers, now working in London, who did such shows as Man For All Seasons, Most Happy Fella, Look Homeward Angel, Kwamina, Becket, 110 Degrees in the Shade, and Baker Street

Tharon Musser - lighting genius for the likes of Five Finger Exercise, Lion in Winter, Delicate Balance, Everything in the Garden, Applause, Little Night Music, Wiz, Chorus Line, Pacific Overtures, Ballroom and Two Pianos Four Hands

Raoul Pene du Bois - costumer and set designer for usic Man, Gypsy, No No Nanette, Irene and Sugar Babies

Jean Rosenthal - lighting designer for Destry Rides Again, Odd Couple, Taste of Honey, Showboat and all of Martha Graham's works

Thomas Skelton - lighting for Oh Dad Poor Dad, Your Own Thing, Mame, Come Summer, Coco, Purlie, Shenandoah, Matter of Gravity, Peter Pan, Oklahoma and Musical Jubilee

Oliver Smith - multi talented and probably one of the most prolific and recognized talents of the American theatre whose sets include Auntie Mame, Candide, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Sound of Music, Camelot, Mary Mary, Barefoot in the Park, Hello Dolly, Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, Royal Family, Becket, Come on Strong, Destry Rides Again, Do You Turn Somersaults, Dylan, Five Finger Exercise, Gay Life, Gigi, Golden Age, How Now Dow Jones, I Do I Do, Illya Darling, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Lunch Hour, Luv, Married Alive, On a Clear Day, 110 Degrees in the Shade, and Showboat

Rouben Ter-Arutunian - designer of Hot Spot, Ivanov, All Over Town, Goodtime Charley and Lady From the Sea

Robin Wagner - set designer for Dreamgirls and On the Twentieth Century

Tony Walton - creator of Pippin, Sophisticated Ladies and Streamers

Freddy Wittop - designer of Carnival, Hello Dolly, Roar of the Greasepaint, On a Clear Day, I Do I Do, Happy Time, George M and Dear World

Patricia Zipprodt - costumer of the original 1776

Nudity on stage became very prevalent in the 1960s and early 1970s. Before that its beginnings were in ancient Rome, in the pantomimes, the strip tease in Paris in places like the Moulin Rouge, the small intimate theatre in Montmartre.

In 1912 there was a naked dancer at the Folies Bergere and that started a trend with their stage shows, which continue to this day.

In the United States, Sally Rand did her exotic fan dance at the Chicago Exposition in 1933, and later Gypsy Rose Lee and Ann Corio brought their talents to the burlesque houses.

In the U.S. nudity came into being with Hair which made it acceptable as it was the hippie era.

Under the auspices of Tom O'Horgan, captured the audience with male and female nudity in "Tom Paine" and "Hair," and because this created a trend there was a mini explosion of nudity to follow.

Off-Broadway got on the bandwagon with "Geese," and "Sweet Eros," as well as "The Beard," and the Living Theatre troupe were arrested in San Francisco, for their nude performances, and it then became more legitimate with the likes of "Oh Calcutta," and "The Dirtiest Show in Town." The novelty seemed to wear off when Hollywood started showing more nudity in films.

Gay theatre is a fairly recent phenomenon to the theatre. Mae West was probably first with "The Drag," and "Pleasure Man," in the late twenties, followed by "The Green Bay Tree," "The Children's Hour,""Tea and Sympathy,"View From the Bridge. In 1968, "The Boys in the Band," brought homosexuality to straight audiences. Broadway took centre stage again in 1981 with "Torch Song Trilogy," "Bent," and then in 1981 AIDS took centre stage.






I do not know what Hollywood would do without the Broadway stage. Although Hollywood copies the Broadway musical format, most times the end product is nowhere near the original show. That happens frequently due to the "star" system that Hollywood feels it has. They have to have a name star or stars do the show as they feel the "originals" would be too hard a sell, i.e. Lucille Ball in Mame,Shirley MacLaine in Sweet Charity,Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady etc. Who is Julie Andrews? At the time of My Fair Lady she was known only to Broadway audiences and West End audiences.

Firstly, I will talk about musicals from the stage to film:

Anna Christie, a reversal from the stage to a Broadway musical, with Liv Ullman; also Anne of Green Gables, a product of Charlottetown Festival, from the films to the stage; Annie (why not Dorothy Loudon?); Annie Get Your Gun (Ethel who?); Bells Are Ringing (a chance with Judy Holliday paid off); Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Burt Reynolds, I mean really); Boy Friend (Twiggy, what was wrong with Julie Andrews); Brigadoon; Bye Bye Birdie (Chita Who?); Cabaret (finally a success because they kept Joel Gray); Cage aux Folles, a reversal film to stage; Call Me Madam (with the legendary Ethel Merman, you can't go wrong); Camelot (what dreadful casting, all non singers - Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave - why not Julie Andrews, Richard Burton and Robert Goulet); Can Can (not a great show no matter who starred); Carmen Jones (Dorothy Dandridge?); Lili to Carnival, both wonderful (Leslie Caron to Anna Maria Alberghetti - both wonderful); Carousel (worked because both Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae could sing); A Chorus Line (what a disaster - a brilliant show into an insipid film - Michael Douglas???)

Cyrano (a wonderful musical with a non-singer, Christopher Plummer, but unfortunately Broadway audiences did not like it); Damn Yankees (brilliant casting with Gwen Verdon, and noone questioned who she was); Desert Song; Evita (Patti who? I enjoyed the film in spite of everything, although it became a biography with music rather than a musical); Fanny, a delightful musical on stage and a wonderful film as well; Fiddler on the Roof (music was great but the direction was terrible, the film could have been shot anywhere, it was so BROWN); Finian's Rainbow, what terrible casting, Fred Astaire and Petula Clark; Flower Drum Song; 42nd Street; Funny Girl, I'm surprised they kept Barbra; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, as much as I adore Marilyn, she was NO Carol Channing

Gigi; Girl Who Came to Supper (they took out the music and made it The Prince and the Showgirl, what a waste of Monroe and Sir Laurence); Godspell, what can I say; Gone With the Wind, the musical, I am only sorry North Americans didn't get a chance to see what was one of the greatest musicals I have ever seen. I saw it three times in London, prior to its opening; Good News (resurrecting this tired chestnut to the stage was not a good move); Grease, worked both on stage and as a film as it was not reliant on stars; Guys and Dolls, again what a waste of Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons and Frank Sinatra, the only saving grace was Stubby Kaye; Gypsy (I adore Natalie Wood, but she was not right for the part, Sandra Church??);

Hair, I will not even discuss, what a disaster; Half a Sixpence, merely a recreation of the Broadway show; Hello Dolly (I love Barbra but it should have been Carol Channing); Hobson's Choice into a wonderful musical called Walking Happy; Breakfast at Tiffanys into Holly Golightly with Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain should have worked but it didn't; How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was wonderful because they kept Robert Morse. I can't imagine anyone else in the part.

I Remember Mama from the film with Liv Ullman, who does not sing, but it did have a score by Richard Rodgers; Irma La Douce with Shirley MacLaine and it became a non-musical, where was Elizabeth Seal and the great Keith Michell; Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, just a copy of the stage performances; Jesus Christ Superstar, what a disaster, shot in Israel, could have been Death Valley, and starred who??Can't remember; Johnny Belinda, another success of the Charlottetown Festival,a musical made from the great film with Jane Wyman; King and I, what a coo with casting, even if Deborah doesn't sing, there is always Marni Nixon (I do not know what Hollywood would have done without Ms. Nixon); King of Hearts, the brilliant Alan Bates replaced by Don Scardino? Who?; Kismet; Kiss Me Kate; L'il Abner (just a filmed version of the stage hit); Little Night Music (Elizabeth Taylor?????); Little Shop of Horrors, what a great transition from film to stage, and I adore Ellen Greene; Mame, I will not discuss; Man of La Mancha, I will also not discuss - what an awful film musical

Merry Widow (Lana Turner?); Music Man, not the greatest singer of them all Barbara Cook, but the likeable Shirley Jones and the wonderful Robert Preston; My Fair Lady (what a piece of miscasting - Audrey Hepburn, I adore but?); New Faces of 1952 (just a copy of the show introducing Eartha Kitt); No No Nanette; Of Thee I Sing; Oh What a Lovely War; Oklahoma; Oliver; On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (they just picked the wrong Barbara - it should have been the multi talented Barbara Harris); 110 Degrees in the Shade (the Rainmaker translated to stage as a musical); On the Town (the great Bernstein's musical); Paint Your Wagon (another Hollywood disaster - Clint Eastwood? Lee Marvin?;

Pajama Game was okay with Doris Day; Pal Joey, one of the great non-musicals, I don't like it on stage or film, and Livent are redoing it; Peter Pan, what a wonderful, charming score; Phantom of the Opera, from many film versions to a classic hit musical; La Plume de ma Tante; Porgy and Bess; Roar of the Greasepaint the Smell of the Crowd; Rocky Horror Picture Show, a cult classic; Rose Marie; Seesaw based on the play Two for the Seesaw; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, one of a handful of great film musicals, recreated for the stage with a long in the tooth cast; She Loves Me (based on Little Shop Around the Corner); Shenandoah, a film made into a good musical; Showboat, a good film, a great musical and a tremendous recreation by Livent; Silk Stockings, just another vehicle for the non-singer Fred Astaire; Song of Norway (a multimillion Toddao bore); Sound of Music (a sappy Broadway show into a more sugary film - but we have Julie Andrews, now a recognized talent);

South Pacific, no Mary Martin, but Mitzi Gaynor, who did okay; Stop the World I Want to Get Off; Student Prince; Sweeney Todd, from the straight film to a brilliant Sondheim musical; Sweet Charity, again without Gwen Verdon, but Shirley MacLaine; Kiss Me Kate; Threepenny Opera with the great Raul Julia and the great Ellen Greene; Tom Brown's Schooldays, taken from the film and made into a musical with RRoy Dotrice; Tommy (I don't know what the film is supposed to be); Unsinkable Molly Brown, without Tammy Grimes, but Debbie Reynolds did an admirable job on it;

West Side Story (Natalie Wood I adore but not in a singing vehicle, and Richard Beymer, who was he sleeping with???? - a great Bernstein musical made into an often laughable film); Wiz (who cares?); Woman of the Year based on a film with Lauren Bacall in the Rosalind Russell part; Wonderful Town with the great Rosalind Russell; Yentl with a wonderful performance by Barbra Streisand in the Tovah Feldshuh part; and Zorba, a musical, based on the great film with Alan Bates and Anthony Quinn

Robert Anderson - Tea and Sympathy, I Never Sang For My Father

James Baldwin - Amen Corner

Robert Bolt - Man For All Seasons

Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill - Threepenny Opera

Sir Noel Coward - Blithe Spirit, Private Lives

Jean Genet - Balcony, Blacks

William Inge - Bus Stop, Picnic, Dark at the Top of the Stairs

Albert Innaurato - Gemini

Arthur Kopit - Oh Dad Poor Dad, Nine

David Mamet - Glengarry Glen Ross

Arthur Miller - Crucible, Death of a Salesman, View From the Bridge

Eugene O'Neill - Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra, Long Day's Journey into Night, Touch of the Poet

Joe Orton - Entertaining Mr. Sloane

John Osborne - Entertainer, Luther

Harold Pinter- Caretaker, Butley,Homecoming

Peter Shaffer - Amadeus, Equus, Five Finger Exercise, Royal Hunt of the Sun

William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw - most of what they wrote

Sam Shepard - Buried Child, Curse of the Starving Class

Neil Simon - Odd Couple, Sweet Charity, Plaza Suite, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound

Bernard Slade - Same Time Next Year

Tom Stoppard - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Michel Tremblay - Hosanna, Les Belles Soeurs

Oscar Wilde - Importance of Being Earnest

Thornton Wilder- Matchmaker, Skin of Our Teeth, Our Town

Tennessee Williams - Glass Menagerie, Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth

Landford Wilson - Hot L Baltimore, Fifth of July, Talley's Folly

Paul Zindel - Effect of the Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little

GIVE 'EM THE OLD RAZZLE DAZZLE
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(Fifty Years of Theatre and Footlights)
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	Thank you for visiting my web page. My name is Clair Sedore and I am the author of "Give 'Em The Old Razzle Dazzle (50 Years of Theatre and Footlights)," which deals with my years of theatregoing in Toronto, New York and London. BORDER=0 HEIGHT=133 WIDTH=348> BORDER=0 HEIGHT=133 WIDTH=348> MY TOP TENS (OVER THE FIFTY YEARS) TOP TEN PLAYS - Auntie Mame, Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Death of a Saleman, Look Homeward Angel, Member of the Wedding, On Golden Pond, Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Streetcar Named Desire, View From the Bridge, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf TOP TEN MUSICALS - A Chorus Line, Gone With the Wind, Gypsy, Man of La Mancha, Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Robert and Elizabeth, Showboat, West Side Story TOP TEN OPERAS - Aida, Lakme, Macbeth, Nabucco, Norma, Othello, Parsifal, Pearl Fishers, Porgy and Bess, Turandot TOP TEN DANCERS - Alvin Ailey, Maurice Bejart, Bob Fosse, Robert Joffrey, Donna McKechnie, Rudolf Nureyev, Chita Rivera, Paul Taylor, Tommy Tune, Gwen Verdon TOP TEN ACTORS - Zoe Caldwell, Barbara Harris, Julie Harris, Hal Holbrook, Frances Hyland, Raul Julia, Geraldine Page, Maggie Smith, Frances Sternhagen, Jessica Tandy My book with a very extensive bibliography and autographs of many greats like Katherine Hepburn, Yul Brynner, Raul Julia, Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick, Julie Harris, etc., (258 pages total) is available for 49.95 plus 8.00 shipping and handling. Cheques or money orders made payable to: Clair Sedore, 810-85 The Esplanade, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5E 1Y8 This is pre-publication price. When published it will probably be around $75.00
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NUDITY AND GAY THEATRE ON STAGE
	I have a number of homepages and each deal with a different aspect of theatre. These pages deal with stage nudity. Nudity on stage became very prevalent in the 1960s and early 1970s. Before that its beginnings were in ancient Rome, in the pantomimes, the strip tease in Paris in places like the Moulin Rouge, the small intimate theatre in Montmartre. In 1912 there was a naked dancer at the Folies Bergere and that started a trend with their stage shows, which continue to this day. In the United States, Sally Rand did her exotic fan dance at the Chicago Exposition in 1933, and later Gypsy Rose Lee and Ann Corio brought their talents to the burlesque houses. In the U.S. nudity came into being with Hair which made it acceptable as it was the hippie era. Under the auspices of Tom O'Horgan, captured the audience with male and female nudity in "Tom Paine" and "Hair," and because this created a trend there was a mini explosion of nudity to follow. Off-Broadway got on the bandwagon with "Geese," and "Sweet Eros," as well as "The Beard," and the Living Theatre troupe were arrested in San Francisco, for their nude performances, and it then became more legitimate with the likes of "Oh Calcutta," and "The Dirtiest Show in Town." The novelty seemed to wear off when Hollywood started showing more nudity in films. Gay theatre is a fairly recent phenomenon to the theatre. Mae West was probably first with "The Drag," and "Pleasure Man," in the late twenties, followed by "The Green Bay Tree," "The Children's Hour,""Tea and Sympathy,"View From the Bridge. In 1968, "The Boys in the Band," brought homosexuality to straight audiences. Broadway took centre stage again in 1981 with "Torch Song Trilogy," "Bent," and then in 1981 AIDS took centre stage.
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BROADWAY'S GREAT PLAYWRIGHTS
	Broadway's Greatest Playwrights and their best example of plays: Robert Anderson - Tea and Sympathy, I Never Sang For My Father James Baldwin - Amen Corner Robert Bolt - Man For All Seasons Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill - Threepenny Opera Sir Noel Coward - Blithe Spirit, Private Lives Jean Genet - Balcony, Blacks William Inge - Bus Stop, Picnic, Dark at the Top of the Stairs Albert Innaurato - Gemini Arthur Kopit - Oh Dad Poor Dad, Nine David Mamet - Glengarry Glen Ross Arthur Miller - Crucible, Death of a Salesman, View From the Bridge Eugene O'Neill - Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra, Long Day's Journey into Night, Touch of the Poet Joe Orton - Entertaining Mr. Sloane John Osborne - Entertainer, Luther Harold Pinter- Caretaker, Butley,Homecoming Peter Shaffer - Amadeus, Equus, Five Finger Exercise, Royal Hunt of the Sun William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw - most of what they wrote Sam Shepard - Buried Child, Curse of the Starving Class Neil Simon - Odd Couple, Sweet Charity, Plaza Suite, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound Bernard Slade - Same Time Next Year Tom Stoppard - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Michel Tremblay - Hosanna, Les Belles Soeurs Oscar Wilde - Importance of Being Earnest Thornton Wilder- Matchmaker, Skin of Our Teeth, Our Town Tenn
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