Dear Vocalisters;
"Ice Cream" as has been stated is from the Musical "She Loves Me".
The musical was written by the same team that created "Fiddler on the
Roof", Jerry Bock and Shelden Harnick. It opened on Broadway at the
Eugene O'Neill theatre on April 21, 1963 and was revived by the
Roundabout Theatre Company, again on Broadway, 30 years later in
1993. The original cast included Barbara Cook, Barbara Baxley,
Daniel Massey and Ralph Williams from the 7 named leads. The story
is based on a play by Miklos Laslo (Parfumerie) and "provided the
premise for two American films: Ernst lubitsch's "The Shop Around the
corner (1940), with Jimmy Steward and Margaret Sullavan , and Vicente
Minelli's "In the Good Old Summertime (1949) starring Judy Garland
and Van Johnson. It also was the inspiration for the more recent
movie "You've Got Mail" with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.
An interesting note by Todd Haimes, the Artistic Director of the
Roudabout includes, "I also find it a little ironic, since at the
time we began working on this project I was apparently one of the few
people in the world who didn't know that "She Love Me" was one of the
greatest musicals ever written."
This pretty much sums up the history of this wonder work. It has
become an afficianados musical is is much loved but little known. I
have produced and staged it and, for me, it is one of the finest
works available for college production. Each of the leads has solo
numbers and, as in "Fiddler' all of the numbers have substance. The
secondary leads all of the opportunity to be heard and seen to good
advantage. There are dance scenes that are very accessible and can
be achieved with a good choreographer. It is truly an ensemble piece
and the audiences love it . The only problem with it is its
obscurity. It must be heavily advertised and promoted.
Here is an interesting URL that describes it well:
http://www.shawfest.com/playbill/esslovesme.html
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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