Thank you, kieran, for yet another fascinating article you've posted.
Three items in this review are questionable.
As BALLAD OF BABY DOE premiered in 1956 in Colorado, it's extremely doubtful it was "created" for NYCOpera(which, also, was certainly not a new company then). City Opera didn't do it until two years later and in a revised version.
Second is the citing of Latouche's "first musical" being BEGGAR'S HOLIDAY when the reviewer has ALREADY mentioned the three earlier musicals Latouche wrote with Vernon Duke!
Finally, IF Billy Strayhorn indeed wrote the music for this show--and not the always credited Duke Ellington--this is a MAJOR finding that the reviewer(and the biographer?)should have addressed. It certainly warrants more attention than, for example, telling us that Beverly Sills went on to manage City Opera. |
