Sunday, November 10, 2013

What A Connection, Girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                                             Yesterday, at the Jewish Museum, as we were making our way through the Chagall exhibit, and I kept staring at the cow imagery, and the eyes of the people in his paintings, all of a sudden, the Broadway poster, and cast album cover, of the original Broadway production of "Fiddler On The Roof" popped into my head!  Could there be a connection? I wondered.

                                              Well, girls, there is!  Between 1912 and 1913, Chagall painted an image of a fiddler on the roof,  It was called--what else?--"The Fiddler,"

which came to influence the title and visual concept of the original Broadway musical of that name, back in 1964, with Boris Aronson's set designs, and the poster and logo of Tom Morrow!!!!!!!!!  Which I always thought was a pseudonym  for Aronson, or someone else, considering how close the name is to the word "tomorrow," but Morrow was a real artist, who designed the posters and logos for a number of famous shows, including "Auntie Mame," "She Loves Me!," and, most famously, 'Fiddler!'

                                         As Martha Scott astutely said, in that camp classic, "The Turning Point," "Tradition is continuity, and continuity is tradition!"  Those bon mots  came from Arthur Laurents, who thought he was being profound, but couldn't help, being  past his prime by then,  camping it up, like crazy, which he did, with this 1977 film!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         But my experience yesterday at the Chagall exhibit proves, where art lurks, can musical theater be far behind????  In better cases, no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          So, catch the Chagall exhibit, loves, and then go home and give the Bock-Harnick classic another listen!  With Zero Mostel and Maria Karnilova, of course!

                                           And...........Joanna Merlin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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