#Deborah Grace Winer

[richardskipper]

Richard Skipper Celebrates Deborah Grace Winer

[notesonfilm1]

The Criterion edition of Swing Tiime is so good I feel the need to publicly voice my appreciation. It´s a new 2K restoration that looks smashing, deep blacks and with a satiny, not to sharp look to the image. It´s gorgeous. But what really made me want to shout from the rooftop were the extras, not just Ginger and Fred talking about their experience of making it, or George Stevens Jr. talking about his father, but the way the disk brings scholarship in to enhance our appreciation of this glorious film.

I´m an admirer of Gary Giddins books on Bing Crosby, and it was a joy to hear him speak about the music. What did Jerome Kern provide, which elements were added in by the rehearsal pianist and orchestrator, how do themes from earlier in the film get repeated in different orchestrations later on and why?  It´s wonderful to hear from someone who really knows their stuff and can help you understand (and admittedly he´s better on the music than on film history. Katharine Hepburn did not become a star with Alice Adams, her billing on Little Women, a box office sensation of two years earlier should be enough to convince anyone (see below)

Likewise do you know about Dorothy Fields? Deborah Grace Viner explains why you should. The only woman to figure amongst Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, the Gershwins and other great writers of the American songbook. She won an Oscar for the score of Swing Time, the first woman to do so, and she´d already had hit tunes in the twenties and continue to do so until the sixties. She wrote the lyrics for Sweet Charity, which Bob Fosse directed, a big hit for Gwen Verdon on state (and a big flop for Shirley McLaine on film)

Brian Siebert made me see things I´d not noticed before, how Astaire picks up on steps, bits of choreography, that get repeated throughout the film, purposefully, like elements of the score, so that Astaire and Hermes Pan not only provide choreography for a particular number but how that choreography is woven through thematically through the whole of the film. He´s brilliant at illustrating and making things clear.

  Gary Giddens is also very good at talking about the problematic Bojangles number and Mia Mask is terrific at explaining the history of blackface, why Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson was such a significant figure historically, and why issues of race should become central to any discussion of the film. It´s a package that really made me see and appreciate the film better, and I´ve still not exhausted the extras.

One of the things it made me see better was the choreography, and I hear want to end with two images from the ´Never Gonna Dance’ number that seem to express the essence of the number (see below)

    The two images are images of loss and dejection, defeat, regret. They´re what the number is about. Lucky has blown it. He knows it. He´s trying to win her back. They dance together so beautifully.  There´s a lyric in ´Never Gonna Dance´where he sings And to heaven, I give a vow To adore you. I’m starting now To be much more positive

But in each instance that positivity returns to dejection, as in Fred´s posture on the image on the left as Penny (Ginger Rogers) walks away; or defeat, sadness, regret, as in the final image of the number on the right. The images are like choreography frozen in time, though that´s a contradiction in terms as choreography is all about movement in time, flow, even a stop in motion has meaning because of the stopping and the duration of that lack of movement.

Really, to get the full effect one has to see the film, the Criterion edition, so that one sees that beautiful restoration and one can watch the extras and understand how the repition in choreography, the re-orchestration and repetition of motifs, recur, evoke, rhyme but also bring meaning and resonance to that number and are an organic part of why we think it so great.

  José Arroyo

    Praise for the Criterion ´Swing Time’ The Criterion edition of Swing Tiime is so good I feel the need to publicly voice my appreciation.

[carolineashleigh]

The Curtain Goes up, and the Lights Come Down when "Salvator Mundi" takes the Stage on Broadway...

The drama and mystery surrounding the world��s most expensive painting is set to take the stage in New York in 2022 as a major Broadway musical. “Salvator Mundi” will chronicle the story of Leonardo da Vinci’s Renaissance-era portrait of Jesus, presumed lost for hundreds of years and only rediscovered this century, and sold for a record-shattering $450.3 million auction price in 2017. 

Deborah Grace Winer, the screenwriter, believes da Vinci’s artwork has all the ingredients needed to make a compelling historical narrative for the stage. “There’s an epic quality about this story. It’s almost Shakespearean and operatic in the sweep of it’s history.” It is a story that poses the question: “What makes art, what gives anything value? It’s the idea of following one object through history. It’s about power and symbols.” 

Yet art history is a rare subject for theater. The saga of “Salvator Mundi” may seem like a niche topic for a stage production, however, Winer believes some of the most popular musicals have succeeded because they are peculiar stories told in a compelling way, such as Lin-Manuel Miranda's rap musical "Hamilton." Winer adds, “The unlikeliest stories find incredible interest from audiences. The more specific it is, sometimes the more universal it becomes.” 

[theaterpizzazzstuff]

Rebecca Luker, Klea Blackhurst, Nicolas King star in Deborah Grace Winer's 'Got Rhythm! Songs of The Gershwin Bros. at 54 Below Mar. 24 at 7 & 9:30 pm

[eyesonworldcultures]

Lyrics & Lyricists

In this Women’s History Month, the Lyrics & Lyricists series of The American Songbook, presented an all-female cast to celebrate the music of Dorothy Fields and many other women who composed music and lyrics.

The evening was hosted by Deborah Grace Winer, artistic director and writer.  Her introductions placed the songs in the context of their time with history about their creators.

John Oddo, music director, arranger & piano, and his orchestra provided the accompaniment.

The piano, bass and sax were outstanding in “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” sung by Emily Skiller.

 Bassist Jay Leonhart joined Nancy Opel, Margo Seibert and Emily for a jazzy rendition of “Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?”  Ms. Winer pointed out that – though “God Bless the Child” was Billie Holiday’s theme song, few knew that she had written it.  Kenita Miller gave a stirring presentation.

With a nod to the often humorous lyrics of Betty Comden, Nancy Opel sang “If You Hadn’t – But You Did.” Margo Seibert, in a poignant duet with the saxophone, sang “The Party’s Over.”

Marilyn Maye, an audience favorite, sang a delightful  “Fever,” the Peggy Lee hit.

The highlight of the evening was just about anything Kenita Miller sang.  In “I’ve Got Your Number,” she slid into some marvelous scat.  What a treat!

Next in the series will be May 6-8 with Songbook Classics by Unsung Lyricists.

[kathrynnewyork]

what’s hot in nyc this weekend (March 18 – 19)

Come in out of the cold, Beauties! Stay warm and dry at one of these events!

The Brooklyn Meatball Takedown

Where: Brooklyn Bazaar (Greenpoint)

When: March 18

30 teams bring their best meatballs to this amateur competition! See the meatball in all its glorious variations – and vote for your favorite! Got a killer meatball recipe? Check the site to see how to compete.

More info.

Tony Danza: Standards and Stories

Where: Feinstein’s/54 Below (Midtown)

When: March 18

Taxi and Who’s the Boss star Tony Danza is a talented, charismatic singer and storyteller! Don’t miss his performance, this is great entertainment!

More info.

National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica

Where: Brooklyn Center

When: March 18 – 19

One of the premier dance companies in the Caribbean comes to Brooklyn to celebrate their 55th anniversary! Two programs combine new work with old favorites.

More info.

Lyrics & Lyricists: Baby, Dream Your Dream—Dorothy Fields and the Women of the American Songbook

Where: 92Y

When: March 18 – 19

Celebrate the female songwriters of the Great American Songbook! Deborah Grace Winer hosts. Featuring Dorothy Fields, Betty Comden, Carolyn Leigh, and Mary Rodgers.

More info.

Stay warm, Beauties! Spring is almost here!

[janareads]

Sing Out, Louise! by Dennis McGovern and Deborah Grace Winer

A bunch of stories about old-school Broadway. Loved it, of course.

[92ny]

On the Magic of Nightclubs

It is the most magical thing because it is completely ephemeral. It exists while you’re watching it. You’re in such close contact. There’s just another live person. They’re not on a screen, they’re not on TV, they’re not on a record, they’re not even on a stage, where you’re separated by a fourth wall and a lot of seats. It’s like talking to people three feet away from you, and you’re sharing this experience together. You’re getting this magic, and then it disappears, it doesn’t exist one second after, it exists in your imagination, and that’s the transitory nature of nightclubs, even more than the theater, its more immediate, it’s more fragile but it’s very powerful, and that’s been lost except in a very few places. --Deborah Grace Winer, artistic director of the upcoming Lyrics & Lyricists™—The Crowd's at El Morocco: The Heyday of the New York Nightclubs, talking about nightclubs as a form of entertainment, in a recent video interview we conducted with her, not yet online. Cue goosebumps.

[theaterpizzazzstuff]

Review by Adam Cohen: Deborah Grace Winer presented Songs from Great Shows Even Encores Won't Do with guest Jack Viertel & Elena Shaddow, Marilyn Maye . . .