SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

Musical series featuring classical and Broadway music hosted by Frank Baxter. This episode focuses on dramatic and musical interpretations of Shakespeare’s work. Joan Sutherland makes her television debut singing the ‘Willow Song’ from Verdi’s Otello. Patrice Munsel and Alfred Drake sing songs from the Rodgers and Hart musical The Boys From Syracuse. Jacques D’Amboise and Violette Verdy dance Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette. The programme concludes with John Gielgud reciting passages from Hamlet (II,ii), the sonnet ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?', Lorenzo’s lines to Jessica from the final act of The Merchant of Venice and Prospero’s speech from the end of The Tempest.

Series

Bell Telephone Hour, The

Language

English

Country

United States

Medium

Television

Technical information

Colour / Sound

Transmission details

17 Mar 1961 at 21:00 (Channel: NBC)

Duration

59 mins

Credits

Director

Richard Dunlap

Producer

Burt Shevelove

Writer

Lorentz Hart; Richard Dunlap

Music

Felix Mendelssohn; Giuseppe Verdi; Hector Berlioz; Richard Rodgers

Choreographer

Donald Saddler

Contributor

Frank C. Baxter

Cast

Joan Sutherland	Desdemona
Alfred Drake
Jacques d’Amboise
John Gielgud
Patrice Munsel
Violette Verdy

Additional Details

Production type

Other

Plays

Comedy of Errors, The; Hamlet; Midsummer Night’s Dream, A; Othello; Romeo and Juliet; Tempest, The

Subjects

Music

Keywords

dance; Music; musicals; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Production Company

Name

Henry Jaffe Enterprises

Archive

Name

Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division

Web

http://catalog.loc.gov/ External site opens in new window

Phone

(20) 707-8572

Fax

(20) 707-237’1

Address

Motion Picture & Television Reading Room
James Madison Building, LM 336
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C.
20540-4690
United States

Name

Paley Center for Media

Web

http://www.paleycenter.org/ External site opens in new window

Phone

(212) 621-6600

Address

25 West 52 Street
New York
New York
110019
USA

Notes

Formerly Museum of Television and Radio (MTR). The name changed in 2007.