Silk Stockings

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Infobox Musical Silk Stockings is a musical with a book by George S. Kaufman, Leueen MacGrath, and Abe Burrows and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The musical is loosely based on the Melchior Lengyel story Ninotchka and the 1939 film adaptation it inspired.<ref name="Ninotchka">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It ran on Broadway in 1955.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This was the last musical that Porter wrote for the stage.

Production history

Background

During the "severely troubled tryout" George S. Kaufman and his wife Leueen MacGrath were replaced by Abe Burrows. (According to Cecil Michener Smith and Glenn Litton, Kaufman became angry and quit.<ref name=Cecil>Michener Smith, Cecil and Litton, Glenn. "Chapter:The Book Musical Refined" Musical Comedy in America, Psychology Press, 1981, Template:ISBN, p. 220</ref>) Burrows re-wrote most of the book. The producer Cy Feuer took over the direction from Kaufman.<ref>Suskin, Steven. "Cole Porter, 'Silk Stockings'"Show Tunes: the Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers (4 ed.), Oxford University Press US, 2010, Template:ISBN, p. 116</ref> The three leads had not performed in a Broadway musical comedy: Hildegard Knef was a German film and stage actress, Don Ameche never had sung on stage, and Gretchen Wyler was making her Broadway debut. "All three triumphed."<ref name=Cecil/>

Productions

Following tryouts in Philadelphia, Boston, and Detroit, the production opened Broadway on February 24, 1955 at the Imperial Theatre and closed on April 14, 1956 after 478 performances.<ref name=cole>"'Silk Stockings' production, plot and song list" sondheimguide.com, accessed January 10, 2011</ref>

Directed by Cy Feuer and choreographed by Eugene Loring, the cast included Hildegard Knef (Ninotchka), Don Ameche (Steve Canfield), Gretchen Wyler (Janice Dayton), George Tobias, David Opatoshu, Julie Newmar, and Onna White.<ref name=cole/> Jan Sherwood replaced Knef as Ninotchka and portrayed the role for the show's first national tour. Scenic and lighting designs were by Jo Mielziner and costumes were by Lucinda Ballard. The tour played the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, California starting in April 1956,<ref>"'Silk Stockings' National Tour, 1956" broadwayworld.com, accessed January 10, 2011</ref> as well as Los Angeles.<ref>"Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, 1956, 'Silk Stockings'" Template:Webarchive broadwayla.org, accessed January 10, 2011</ref>

The score "played a large part in keeping Silk Stockings running on Broadway for 478 performances and in helping to recoup the immense production expenses for the show (brought in at a cost of $370,000, Silk Stockings was considered one of Broadway's most expensive musicals for its time)...The big hit...was clearly 'All of You'."<ref>Schwartz, Charles. "'Silk Stockings'" Cole Porter: a Biography, Da Capo Press, 1979, Template:ISBN, p. 254</ref>

An original cast recording was released by RCA Victor.

The Lost Musicals staged reading of the musical was held in September 2005 in New York City.<ref>Dale, Michael. "'Silk Stockings': Cole Porter Fights The Cold War" offbroadway.broadwayworld.com, September 15, 2005</ref>

Hildegard Knef (original German spelling) gave a vivid backstage account of the casting, rehearsals, tryouts and Broadway opening of Silk Stockings in her autobiography The Gift Horse: Report on a Life (McGraw Hill, 1971) pages 281 through 342.

Synopsis

The musical involves special envoy Nina Yaschenko, who is dispatched from the Soviet Union to rescue three foolish commissars from the pleasures of Paris. Romanced by theatrical agent Steven Canfield, she eventually comes to recognize the virtues of capitalist indulgence. Other characters include Peter Boroff, Russia's greatest composer, who is being wooed by Janice Dayton, America's swimming sweetheart, to write the score for her first non-aquatic picture, a musical adaptation of War and Peace.

Song list

Act I

• "Too Bad" - Ivanov, Brankov, Bibinski, and Hotel Staff
• "Paris Loves Lovers" - Steve Canfield and Ninotchka
• "Stereophonic Sound" - Janice Dayton
• "It's a Chemical Reaction, That's All" - Ninotchka
• "All of You" - Steve
• "Satin and Silk" - Janice
• "Without Love" - Ninotchka
• "All of You" (Reprise) - Steve

Act II

• "Hail, Bibinski" - Ivanov, Brankov, Bibinski, and Ensemble
• "As On Through the Seasons We Sail" - Steve Canfield and Ninotchka
• "Josephine" - Janice
• "Siberia" - Ivanov, Brankov, Bibinski
• "Silk Stockings" - Steve Canfield
• "The Red Blues" - Ninotchka and Ensemble
• "Too Bad" (Reprise) - Full Company

Film

The film Silk Stockings, based on the stage musical, was released in 1957.

External links

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