The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 is a musical revue

Revue

A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...

 with lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Ira Gershwin

Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....

, music by Vernon Duke

Vernon Duke

Vernon Duke was a Russian-American composer/songwriter, who also wrote under his original name Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for "Taking a Chance on Love" with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche, "I Can't Get Started" with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, "April in Paris" with lyrics by E. Y...

 and sketches by Gershwin and David Freedman

David Freedman

David Freedman was a Romanian-born American playwright and biographer who became known as the "King of the Gag-writers" in the early days of radio....

. The Ziegfeld Follies

Ziegfeld Follies

The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....

 were a series of revues presented from 1907 through 1931, 1934, 1936, 1943, and 1957.

Productions and background

Original 1936
The musical premiered on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway 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 Winter Garden Theatre

Winter Garden Theatre

The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1634 Broadway in midtown Manhattan.-History:The structure was built by William Kissam Vanderbilt in 1896 to be the American Horse Exchange....

 on January 30, 1936 and closed on May 9, 1936 after 115 performances. Produced by Billie Burke

Billie Burke

Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live...

 Ziegfeld and Lee Shubert

Lee Shubert

Levi "Lee" Shubert was a Polish-born American theatre owner/operator and producer and the oldest of seven siblings of the theatrical Shubert family....

 and J. J. Shubert, it was directed by John Murray Anderson

John Murray Anderson

John Murray Anderson was a theatre director and producer, songwriter, actor, screenwriter, and lighting designer. He worked almost every genre of show business, including vaudeville, Broadway, and film....

 and Edward Clarke Lilley, choreographed by Robert Alton

Robert Alton

Robert Alton was an American dancer and choreographer, a major figure in dance choreography of Broadway and Hollywood musicals from the 1930s through to the early 1950s...

, sketches directed by Edward D. Dowling, and ballets directed by George Balanchine

George Balanchine

George Balanchine , born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet...

. Scenic design and costumes were by Vincente Minnelli

Vincente Minnelli

Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director, famous for directing such classic movie musicals as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon, and An American in Paris. In addition to having directed some of the most famous and well-remembered musicals of his time, Minnelli made...

, with additional costumes by Raoul Pène Du Bois

Raoul Pene Du Bois

Raoul Pene Du Bois was an American costume designer and scenic designer for the stage and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Career:...

, and original orchestrations were by Robert Russell Bennett

Robert Russell Bennett

Robert Russell Bennett was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received Tony Awards...

, Conrad Salinger

Conrad Salinger

Conrad Salinger was an American arranger, orchestrator and composer, who studied classical composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He is credited with orchestrating nine productions on Broadway from 1931 to 1938, and over seventy-five motion pictures from 1931 to 1962...

, Hans Spialek and Don Walker

Don Walker (orchestrator)

Don Walker was a prolific Broadway orchestrator, who also composed music for musicals and one film and worked as a conductor in television.-Biography:...

. The cast starred Fannie Brice, Bob Hope

Bob Hope

Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

, Eve Arden

Eve Arden

Eve Arden was an American actress. Her almost 60-year career crossed most media frontiers with supporting and leading roles, but she may be best-remembered for playing the sardonic but engaging title character, a high school teacher, on Our Miss Brooks, and as the Rydell High School principal in...

, Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....

, Judy Canova

Judy Canova

Judy Canova , born Juliette Canova, was an American comedienne, actress, singer and radio personality. She appeared on Broadway and in films...

, and the Nicholas Brothers

Nicholas Brothers

The Nicholas Brothers were a famous African American team of dancing brothers, Fayard and Harold . With their highly acrobatic technique , high level of artistry and daring innovations, they were considered by many the greatest tap dancers of their day...

.

The musical had a return engagement on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 14, 1936, and closed on December 19, 1936 after 112 performances. Brice reprised her role, with the additional cast of Bobby Clark

Bobby Clark (comedian)

Robert Edwin Clark , known as Bobby Clark, was a minstrel, vaudevillian, performer on stage, film, television and the circus....

, Gypsy Rose Lee

Gypsy Rose Lee

Gypsy Rose Lee was an American burlesque entertainer famous for her striptease act. She was also an actress, author, and playwright whose 1957 memoir was made into the stage musical and film Gypsy.-Early life:...

, and Jane Pickens.

Fanny Brice was the star of the Follies and dominated the show, so much so that when she became ill in May 1936, the production closed.

1999 Encores!
The Follies were presented as a staged concert in 1999 as part of City Center

New York City Center

New York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...

's Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert

Encores!

Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...

with musical director Rob Fisher and the Coffee Club Orchestra. The revival was directed by Mark Waldrop who also adapted the book, choreographed by Thommie Walsh

Thommie Walsh

Thomas Joseph “Thommie” Walsh III was an American dancer, choreographer, and director.-Biography:Born in Auburn, New York, Walsh was interested in dance from the age of five, but seriously considered foregoing it as a career when he was rejected by Juilliard...

, the ballet sequence choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon

Christopher Wheeldon

Christopher Wheeldon is an international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Born in Somerset, England, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at the age of 8. He attended the Royal Ballet School between the ages of 11 and 18...

. The scenic consultant was John Lee Beatty

John Lee Beatty

John Lee Beatty is an American scenic designer. He was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Claremont. His father was dean of students at Pomona College and his mother had also work in academia. While he was English major at Brown University, he also directed, wrote, acted and drew posters...

; costume coordinator, Gregg Barnes

Gregg Barnes

Gregg Barnes is an American costume designer for stage and film. Barnes won the Tony Award for Best Costume Design, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design and the Outer Critics Circle Award for his work on the 2006 production of The Drowsy Chaperone.-Career:Barnes grew up in the San...

; lighting by Peter Kaczorowski

Peter Kaczorowski

Peter Kaczorowski in Buffalo, New York is a lighting designer. He is credited with lighting designs for Broadway and off-Broadway shows, as well extensive work in opera. He has been nominated three times for Tony Awards and won the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for The Producers and the...

, sound by Scott Lehrer and projections by Eyewash, Inc.

It starred:Christine Ebersole

Christine Ebersole

Christine Ebersole is an American actress and singer.-Early life:Ebersole was born in Winnetka, Illinois, where she attended New Trier High School...

, Ruthie Henshall

Ruthie Henshall

Valentine Ruth Henshall , better known as Ruthie Henshall, is an English singer, dancer, and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Henshall attended the Laine Theatre Arts school in Epsom, Surrey before making her first professional appearance on stage in 1986...

, Peter Scolari

Peter Scolari

Peter Scolari is an American television, film and stage actor best known for his roles in the television shows Newhart, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, and Bosom Buddies.-Career:...

, Howard McGillin

Howard McGillin

Howard McGillin is a Tony-nominated stage, screen and television actor, perhaps best-known for being the world's longest running Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera....

, Stephanie Pope, Mary Testa

Mary Testa

Mary Testa is an American stage actress. She is a two-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town and 42nd Street ....

, Karen Ziemba

Karen Ziemba

Karen Ziemba is an American actress, singer and dancer, best known for her work in musical theatre.-Biography:Ziemba was born in St. Joseph, Michigan, and went on to attend the University of Akron , where she studied dance and joined the Ohio Ballet in her sophomore year.Her Broadway debut was in...

, Bob Walton

Bob Walton

Robert Charles Walton is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played 4 games in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens.-External links:...

, Jim Walton

Jim Walton

James Carr Walton is the youngest son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and the Chairman of Arvest Bank.With an estimated net worth of around US$21.3 billion, Walton is currently ranked by Forbes as the 20th-richest person in the world....

, Stanley Bojarski Kevin Chamberlin

Kevin Chamberlin

- Life :Chamberlin was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in Moorestown Township, New Jersey, moving there as a nine-year old. Chamberlin graduated from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting.- Career :...

, Jock Soto

Jock Soto

Jock Soto is a former American ballet dancer and current ballet instructor.-Career:Soto danced featured roles in over 40 ballets, of which more than 35 were created for him....

, Jenifer Ringer, and Jonathan Sharp.

Sketches

In the opening number Brice mocks her famous song ("My Man") in "He Hasn't a Thing Except Me", standing against a lamp-post. In "The Sweepstakes Taker" Brice portrays a Jewish Bronx housewife who wins the Irish sweepstakes. In "Fancy Free' she becomes the affected and bored British "Zuleika" as she exchanges witty remarks with her husband Sir Robert, and, leaving behind elegance, burps in his face and utters a trade-mark "Denk you." As Baby Snooks, Brice stars with popular stars of the day (such as Clark Gable).

Songs

Gershwin and Duke wrote 28 songs and special material, but almost half were cut. The only song to become popular was "I Can't Get Started (With You)

I Can't Get Started

"I Can't Get Started" is a popular song, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by Vernon Duke, that was first heard in the theatrical production Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 where it was sung by Bob Hope...

", helped by an early recording by Bunny Berigan

Bunny Berigan

Rowland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan was an American jazz trumpeter who rose to fame during the swing era, but whose virtuosity and influence were shortened by a losing battle with alcoholism that ended in his early death at age 33. He composed the jazz instrumentals "Chicken and Waffles" and "Blues"...

. The song was sung by Bob Hope to Eve Arden

Eve Arden

Eve Arden was an American actress. Her almost 60-year career crossed most media frontiers with supporting and leading roles, but she may be best-remembered for playing the sardonic but engaging title character, a high school teacher, on Our Miss Brooks, and as the Rydell High School principal in...

. The Berigan recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Act 1

• Time Marches On
• He Hasn't a Thing Except Me
• (My) Red Letter Day
• (Island in the) West Indies
• Words Without Music (Staged by George Balanchine)
• The Economic Situation (Aren't You Wonderful)
• Fancy! Fancy!
• Night Flight (Staged by George Balanchine)
• Maharanee (At the Night Races in Paris)
• The Gazooka

Act 2

• (That) Moment of Moments
• Sentimental Weather
• 5 A.M. (Staged by George Balanchine)
• I Can't Get Started With You
• Modernistic Moe
• Dancing to Our Score

External links

• Internet Broadway Database entry, 1st edition
• Internet Broadway Database entry, 2nd edition
• New York City Center webpage for Encores! previous seasons