Knickerbocker Holiday is a
musicalMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
written by
Kurt WeillKurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
(music) and
Maxwell AndersonJames Maxwell Anderson was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist and lyricist.-Early years:Anderson was born in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to William Lincoln "Link" Anderson, a Baptist minister, and Charlotte Perrimela Stephenson, both of Scots and Irish descent...
(book and lyrics); it was directed by
Joshua LoganJoshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
. Among the songs introduced was the "
September Song"September Song" is an American pop standard composed by Kurt Weill, with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, introduced by Walter Huston in the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday. It has since been recorded by numerous singers and instrumentalists...
", now considered a
pop standardTraditional pop or classic pop or standards music denotes, in general, Western popular music that either wholly predates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s, or to any popular music which exists concurrently to rock and roll but originated in a time before the appearance of rock and roll,...
.
History
Knickerbocker Holiday is both a romantic comedy and a thinly veiled
allegoryAllegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
equating the
New DealThe New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
of
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
(whose ancestor is one of the characters on the corrupt town council) with
fascismFascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
. As is apparent from the preface he wrote for the play, as well as the play and the songs themselves, Maxwell Anderson was a
pacifistPacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
and an individualist
anarchistAnarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
. He saw the New Deal as another example of the corporatism and concentration of political power which had given rise to
NazismNazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and
StalinismStalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
.
His animus toward the state is more soberly revealed in one of his two tragedies about the
Sacco and VanzettiFerdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were anarchists who were convicted of murdering two men during a 1920 armed robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts, United States...
execution,
WintersetWinterset is a play by Maxwell Anderson.A verse drama written largely in poetic form, the tragedy deals indirectly with the famous Sacco-Vanzetti case, in which two Italian immigrants with radical political beliefs were executed...
. That play, coincidentally, starred
Burgess MeredithOliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
, who was originally to star in
Knickerbocker Holiday. Meredith, a friend of Weill's, was to play the romantic young lead Brom Broek, but he left when he saw the villainous
Peter StuyvesantPeter Stuyvesant , served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was renamed New York...
character growing into a more and more lovable and important role, upstaging his.
Story origins
The setting of the musical is
New AmsterdamNew Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
. It is narrated by
Washington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
, who wrote the source material for the musical,
Father Knickerbocker's Stories.
Plot
The time is shortly before the arrival of the new Governor of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant. Broek, an American individualist, cannot take orders. If ever anyone gives him an order, he assaults them. This has made it difficult to court his beloved, Tina Tienhoven, the daughter of the head of the town council.
Stuyvesant arrives just in time to rescue Broek from a hanging engineered by his beloved's father, in order to get the impoverished ne'er do well to make way for the wealthy and powerful Stuyvesant himself as a suitor for the fair Tina. Naturally Broek is grateful: until Stuyvesant quickly asserts what is for all intents and purposes a fascist dictatorship.
Productions
The musical premiered on
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the
Ethel Barrymore TheatreThe Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 243 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan, named for actress Ethel Barrymore....
on October 19, 1938 and closed on March 11, 1939 after 168 performances. The original production starred
Walter HustonWalter Thomas Huston was a Canadian-born American actor. He was the father of actor and director John Huston and the grandfather of actress Anjelica Huston and actor Danny Huston.-Life and career:...
(as Peter Stuyvesant), Jeanne Madden, and
Ray MiddletonRaymond Earl Middleton, Jr. , known and billed as Ray Middleton, was an American character actor.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Middleton was the first actor to play Superman in public, which he did on July 3, 1940, during the 1939 New York World's Fair's "Superman Day"...
.
The musical premiered in Germany on September 25, 1976, at the
Thalia TheaterThe Thalia Theater is one of the three state-owned theatres in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded in 1843 by Charles Maurice Schwartzenberger and named after the muse Thalia...
in Hamburg.
Knickerbocker Holiday made its Canadian premiere on February 20, 2009 at the Jane Mallet Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto, Ontario. It was produced by the Toronto Operetta Theatre, under the direction of Guillermo Silva-Marin. This production featured Curtis Sullivan as Washington Irving, Dale Miller as Brom Broeck, Amy Wallis as Tina Tienhoven, David Ludwig as Governor Peter Stuyvesant and Rejean Cournoyer as Roosevelt. It also featured Jeffery Sanders as Schermerhorn, Greg Finney as Vanderbilt and Ford Roberts as Mr. Tienhoven. It was directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin, musically directed and conducted by David Speers, and featured the TOT Orchestra and vocal ensemble.
In June 2009,
Knickerbocker Holiday was presented by the
York TheatreThe York Theatre is an Off-Broadway theatre at 619 Lexington Avenue at the corner of 54th Street in the East Midtown section of Manhattan, New York City. It is dedicated to the production of new musicals and concert productions of forgotten musicals from the past. Each season consists of three or...
's "Musicals in Mufti" in a staged concert. Directed by Michael Unger, the cast featured
Josh GrisettiJoshua Steven "Josh" Grisetti is an American actor involved in theatre, television and film.- Early life :Grisetti was born in Washington D.C. and grew-up in Rocky Mount, Virginia. He attended Franklin County High School until his junior year, when he transferred to the North Carolina School of...
as Washington Irving, Nick Gaswirth as Brom, Kelli Barrett as Tina,
Martin VidnovicMartin Vidnovic is an American actor and singer.Born in Falls Church, Virginia, Vidnovic made his Broadway debut in the ill-fated Home Sweet Homer which, following a one-year tour, closed on opening night...
as Stuyvesant, William Parry as Roosevelt, and Walter Charles as Tienhoven.
The Collegiate Chorale at
Alice Tully HallAlice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. It is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall...
, New York City, presented a concert version on January 25–26, 2011, with
Kelli O'HaraKelli O'Hara is an American actress, singer, and songwriter.O'Hara has been nominated for three Tony Awards: for her performance as Clara Johnson in The Light in the Piazza; for her performance as Babe Williams in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of The Pajama Game, where she starred...
,
Victor GarberVictor Joseph Garber is a Canadian film, stage and television actor and singer. Garber is known for playing Jesus in Godspell, Jack Bristow in the television series Alias, Max in Lend Me a Tenor, and Thomas Andrews in James Cameron's Titanic.-Early life:Born in London, Ontario, Canada, Garber is...
,
Christopher FitzgeraldChristopher Cantwell Fitzgerald is an American actor, singer, mime, clown, juggler, and acrobat. He is best known for his role as Boq in the musical Wicked and his role of Igor in Young Frankenstein, for which he earned Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award, and Tony Award...
, Ben Davis, Bryce Pinkham and David Garrison, and the
American Symphony OrchestraThe American Symphony Orchestra is a New York-based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski, then aged 80. Following Maestro Stokowski's departure, Kazuyoshi Akiyama was appointed Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra from 1973-1978. Music Directors during the early...
and a chorus of 65. A recording of this performance was released on CD in June 2011 by Sh-k-boom Records.
Film version
The 1944 film version, written by
Thomas L. LennonThomas L. Lennon was a screenwriter who wrote Frank Buck’s film, Jacaré, and a screen adaptation of the Maxwell Anderson play, Knickerbocker Holiday. -Early years:...
, starring
Nelson EddyNelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred...
as Broeck,
Constance DowlingConstance Dowling was an American model turned actress of the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life and career:...
as Tina, and
Charles CoburnCharles Douville Coburn was an American film and theater actor.-Biography:Coburn was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Scots-Irish Americans Emma Louise Sprigman and Moses Douville Coburn. Growing up in Savannah, he started out doing odd jobs at the local Savannah Theater, handing out programs,...
as Stuyvesant, not only removed most of the songs and added new ones not by Weill and Anderson, but watered down the political allegory considerably, despite being released during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Songs
Act I
- Clackety-Clack – Washington Irving and Girls
- It's a Law – Tienhoven and Council
- There's Nowhere to Go But Up – Brom Broeck, Tenpin and Ensemble
- It Never Was You – Brom Broeck and Tina Tienhoven
- How Can You Tell an American? – Brom Broeck and Washington Irving
- Will You Remember Me? – Brom Broeck, Tina Tienhoven and Ensemble
- One Touch of Alchemy – Pieter Stuyvesant and Ensemble
- The One Indispensable Man – Pieter Stuyvesant and Tienhoven
- Young People Think About Love – Tienhoven, Brom Broeck and Ensemble
- September Song – Pieter Stuyvesant
Act II
- Ballad of the Robbers – Washington Irving
- We Are Cut in Twain – Brom Broeck and Tina Tienhoven
- There's Nowhere to Go But Up (Reprise) – Washington Irving
- To War! – Pieter Stuyvesant, Council and Male Ensemble
- Our Ancient Liberties – Tienhoven, Anthony Corlear and Council
- Romance and Musketeer – Ensemble
- The Scars – Pieter Stuyvesant and Ensemble
- Dirge for a Soldier – Ensemble
- Ve Vouldn't Gonto Do It – Ensemble
External links