| Knickerbocker Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Poster for original Broadway production | |
| Music | Kurt Weill |
| Lyrics | Maxwell Anderson |
| Book | Maxwell Anderson |
| Basis | Washington Irving's Father Knickerbocker's Stories |
| Productions | 1938 – 1939Broadway 1944 Film |
Knickerbocker Holiday is a 1938musical written byKurt Weill (music) andMaxwell Anderson (book and lyrics), based loosely onWashington Irving'sKnickerbocker's History of New York about life in 17th-centuryNew Netherland (old New York). The musical numbers include "September Song", now considered apop standard.
The musical is set in 1647Manhattan, at the time of the arrival ofPeter Stuyvesant, the newDirector-General of New Netherland. The local politician Tienhoven is sellingbrandy and firearms to theIndians, and his prospective son-in-law Brom Broeck is aware of hispolitical corruption. Tienhoven arranges for Broeck to be executed byhanging, but Stuyvesant pardons the young man. Broeck and his new patron are both planning to marry the same woman.
The action is narrated by 19th-century author Washington Irving, who announces his intent to write a history of the original Dutch settlement ofNew Amsterdam. The story opens inManhattan in 1647, where the colony awaits the arrival of its new Governor from Holland,Peter Stuyvesant. Irving selects the young Brom Broeck as his hero. Broeck is a brave but impulsive fellow who becomes enraged if anyone tries to give him orders. The narrator and his character reflect that this independent streak is characteristic of American citizens.
Brom is in love with Tina Tienhoven, whose father heads the corrupt town council. Brom knows that Tienhoven is sellingbrandy and firearms to theIndians—a criminal offense. Tienhoven, with the support of his cronies, arranges to have Brom convicted and hanged. Brom survives by putting the noose around his waist instead of his neck just as Stuyvesant arrives on the scene. Impressed by the young man's ingenuity, the Governor pardons him.
Stuyvesant plans to marry Tina and to declare war as his first official act of governance. After many mishaps and recriminations, all ends happily when the narrator reminds Stuyvesant that history will not remember him kindly if he persists in his dictatorial actions. Brom and Tina are free to marry, and the musical ends as Stuyvesant reflects that perhaps he will make a good American, given his own independence and resistance to authority.
Knickerbocker Holiday is both a romantic comedy and a thinly veiledallegory equating theNew Deal ofFranklin D. Roosevelt withfascism. (A Roosevelt ancestor is one of the characters on the corruptNew Amsterdam council in the play.) Playwright Anderson believed that government was necessary in society, but that it must always be watched because it is swayed by the self-interests of those in power. He saw FDR's New Deal as an American version of the corporatism and concentration of political power which had given rise toNazism andStalinism.
The musical premiered onBroadway at theEthel Barrymore Theatre on October 19, 1938 and closed on March 11, 1939 after 168 performances. It was produced by thePlaywrights' Company and directed byJoshua Logan. The original production starredWalter Huston (as Peter Stuyvesant),Richard Kollmar (as Brom Broeck),Jeanne Madden (as Tina),Ray Middleton (as Washington Irving), andMark Smith (as Tienhoven).[1]Burgess Meredith, a friend of Weill's, was originally set to play the romantic young lead Brom Broek, but he left when he saw the villainousPeter Stuyvesant character growing into a more and more lovable and important role, upstaging his.[citation needed]
Burt Lancaster starred in a revival production of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center, L.A in June, 1971. The cast also included Anita Gillette, David Holliday and Jack Collins.
The musical premiered in Germany on September 25, 1976, at theThalia Theater in Hamburg.
Light Opera Works of Evanston, IL mounted a major revival of the work in December 1992 with artistic direction by Philip Kraus, stage direction by Seth Reines and conducted by Peter Lipari.[2]
Knickerbocker Holiday made its Canadian premiere on February 20, 2009 at the Jane Mallet Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto, Ontario. It was produced by the Toronto Operetta Theatre, under the direction of Guillermo Silva-Marin. This production featured Curtis Sullivan as Washington Irving, Dale Miller as Brom Broeck, Amy Wallis as Tina Tienhoven, David Ludwig as Governor Peter Stuyvesant and Rejean Cournoyer as Roosevelt. It also featured Jeffrey Sanders as Schermerhorn, Greg Finney as Vanderbilt and Ford Roberts as Mr. Tienhoven. It was directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin, musically directed and conducted by David Speers, and featured the TOT Orchestra and vocal ensemble.
In June 2009,Knickerbocker Holiday was presented by theYork Theatre's "Musicals in Mufti" in a staged concert. Directed by Michael Unger, the cast featuredJosh Grisetti as Washington Irving, Nick Gaswirth as Brom,Kelli Barrett as Tina,Martin Vidnovic as Stuyvesant, William Parry as Roosevelt, and Walter Charles as Tienhoven.[3][4]
The Collegiate Chorale atAlice Tully Hall, New York City, presented a concert version on January 25–26, 2011, withKelli O'Hara,Victor Garber,Christopher Fitzgerald, Ben Davis,Bryce Pinkham and David Garrison, and theAmerican Symphony Orchestra and a chorus of 65.[5] A recording of this performance was released on CD in June 2011 by Sh-k-boom Records.[6]
The 1944 film version, written byThomas L. Lennon, starringNelson Eddy as Broeck,Constance Dowling as Tina, andCharles Coburn as Stuyvesant, not only removed most of the songs and added new ones not by Weill and Anderson, but watered down the political allegory considerably, having been released duringWorld War II.
In "Previews", the Season 1/Episode 14 of the TV seriesSmash, the character of producer Eileen Rand sings a version of "September Song".Anjelica Huston, who played Eileen Rand, is the granddaughter of Walter Huston, who introduced the song in the original production ofKnickerbocker Holiday.[7]
Act I[edit]
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