| Author | Message | ||
     Extuscan |
In searching Ebay, an item came across .. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1464942619 It is Porgy and Bess Playbill from the "Maplewood Theater" from the 1940's autographed by Ira Gershwin. It doesn't mention MAplewood NJ, but I have an un-autographed Playbill from Porgy and Bess at the MAplewood so I suspect it is if someone is looking for something cool. I bring this up because I have several Playbill from the Maplewood Theater, all framed and hanging over the piano, and I wanted to note that the MAplewood Theater was once quite a place for shows... The three playbills I have are all sealed up in the frames... and one doesnt' even show the title of the play... but the two that do were "Porgy and Bess" with the "Original Theatre Cast Guild" and "George Washington Slept Here" with Charles Butterworth. Other names listed were "Cheryl Crawford, Producuer" on all three and "Alexander Smallens" as conductor. I don tknow any of these names but if anyone can shed some light ... local residents? (Butterworth was someoen famous, wasn't he?) If anyone remembers the Maplewood's vaudville days... memories, anyone? John | ||
| Dpc |
My wife's grandfather was a theater press agent in the 40's - late 70's. He's 90 now and when we said we were moving to Maplewood he said he remembered staging Porgy and Bess here. If you post the cast(s) I am sure we find out some info - probably a lot more than you wish to know. dpc | ||
| Extuscan |
I wish I could post the cast! But my flyer is all sealed up in one of those professional frames (paper on the back) and all that. So can't really say... But it says "Original Theater Cast Guild" whoever they were. John | ||
| Bobk |
Very interesting, I never thought of the Maplewood theater as anything other than a movie house, although I remember reading that before it was broken up into a multiplex it was the second largest movie theater in NJ. | ||
| Galileo |
As a chid I saw the operetta "Hansel and Gretel" at the Maplewood Theater. I also know Ethel Barrymore played there in "The Corn is Green". | ||
| Mtierney |
A good source of info on who played at the Maplewood Theatre when it was on the vaudeville circuit would be our former mayor Bob Grasmere. He's lives in town and I know he gives very interesting lectures on a number of topics. I have heard him speak of the big names that played in town and it was amazing! | ||
| randee Citizen Username: Randee Post Number: 9 Registered: 1-2002 |
Not only that..... I took art/drama lessons above the theatre from Mrs. Rudolph in the 60's. We use to crawl out of the window and sit on the marquee between classes on Saturday. One year I got to play Bob Cratchit in The Christmas Carol in the Christmas Village across from the theatre.... Thought I'd add this bit of history to the old girl!  | ||
| Dicksson Citizen Username: Dicksson Post Number: 6 Registered: 2-2004 |
I doubt if anyone will catch this thread, as it was started so long ago, but... Recently, when Porgy celebrated its 70th anniversary, there was a lot of media attention about its various productions, and I heard an interview on NPR with a theater historian. I couldn't believe that I was hearing that it was a Maplewood production that made Porgy a true hit. So, I started researching. The Maplewood Theatre was a professional stock company started by the famous Broadway producer (Brigadoon, many Tenneseee Williams plays, and others) and co-founder of the extremely influential Group Theatre, Cheryl Crawford. According to her autobiography, One Naked Individual, Crawford ran the company in 1940, 1941, and 1942. In '42, she knew that she would have to curtail the season because of gas rationing, as most of her audience came to the theater by car. Luckily, her revival of Porgy and Bess by the Shuberts, who snapped it up for a production on Broadway, so she was able to leave Maplewood with some money in her pocket. This production was much more successful than the 1935 original (few critics "got" what the Gerswhins and Dubose Hayward were trying to accomplish), and put Porgy on the way to musical theater immortality. This was capped off by the international traveling production that starred Leontyne Price and William Warfield (among others who rotated in the parts) in the early 1950s. The Maplewood cast was the original stars of the Theater Guild production, including Todd Duncan and Anne Brown, who can also be found singing on the LP/CD of the original 1942 B'way cast. There is an list of the Maplewood productions in Crawford's book, and some of the standouts include The Emperor Jones with Robeson, The Little Foxes with Tallulah, Pal Joey with Vivienne Segal, Anna Christie with Ingrid Bergman (wow), Charlie's Aunt with Jose Ferrer, and Ah, Wilderness with Sinclair Lewis (!). |
