![]() At one point, Pascal handed the assignment off to Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Over the next few years, he asked several writers if they could develop a musical adaptation. When Shaw died in 1950, producer Gabriel Pascal held the rights to Pygmalion. RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN TRIED (AND FAILED) TO MAKE A PYGMALION MUSICAL. As Shaw told Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehar, “A Pygmalion operetta is quite out of the question … Pygmalion is my most steady source of income: it saved me from ruin during the war, and still brings in a substantial penny every week.” Having been burned before, Shaw swore he’d never “allow a comic opera to supplant it.” 3. During The Chocolate Soldier’s run, few theaters were willing to produce Arms and the Man-and Shaw’s wallet took a hit.ĭuring his lifetime, several producers and directors told Shaw that Pygmalion might make for a terrific musical, but financial considerations kept him from letting anybody take a crack at converting it into one. But the success of this adaptation ultimately hurt the creator of its source material. In 1908, composer Oscar Straus amazed audiences with The Chocolate Soldier, an operetta based on Shaw’s 1894 play Arms and the Man. ![]() GEORGE BERNARD SHAW DIDN’T WANT PYGMALION TO GET THE MUSICAL THEATER TREATMENT. Similarly, the male lead in Shaw’s Pygmalion-phonetics professor Henry Higgins-tries to “sculpt” a lower-class working girl into a well-spoken English lady. A product of ancient Greek folklore, this character would later be immortalized by the Roman poet Ovid, who wrote about him in Book 10 of The Metamorphoses. Pygmalion is named after a mythical artist who supposedly sculpted an ideal woman-only to fall in love with the statue. Adapted from Shaw’s masterpiece, the new show dazzled critics and audiences alike-and, a few years later, was turned into an award winning movie featuring Audrey Hepburn. Here are a few facts about the crowd pleaser in honor of its birthday. ![]() Sixty years ago today, My Fair Lady made its Broadway debut. ![]() Then, in 1956, it was adapted into the definitive musical. For decades, George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion looked like a play that could never be turned into a musical. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |