One Touch of Venus
The Oxford Companion to American Theatre
|
2004
|
|
© The Oxford Companion to American Theatre 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information)
Copyright
One Touch of Venus (1943), a musical comedy by S. J. Perelman (book), Ogden Nash (book, lyrics), Kurt
Weill (music). [
Imperial Theatre, 567 perf.] When Whitelaw Savory ( John Boles) tells his barber, Rodney Hatch ( Kenny Baker), that Savory's statue of Venus is the most beautiful woman in the world, Hatch disagrees. After all, he is engaged to the most beautiful woman in the world, Gloria Kramer ( Ruth Bond). To prove his point, he places Gloria's engagement ring on the marble statue, which promptly comes to life. The escapades of Venus ( Mary
Martin) and Hatch turn Manhattan upside down, with Savory, Gloria and her mother, and a mad Anatolian all in pursuit. The fling destroys the Hatch‐Kramer romance, so Hatch is especially disconsolate after Venus returns to stone. But just as he is about to walk away from Savory's art school, a young girl appears. She is the image of Venus, and Hatch is certain he has an engagement ring to fit her finger.
Notable songs: Speak Low; That's Him; The Trouble with Women; Foolish Heart; I'm a Stranger Myself Here. With a book and lyrics among the most literate and witty of any American musical comedy, the John Wildberg–Cheryl
Crawford production was also the first musical comedy to use the briefly voguish Agnes
de Mille ballets that
Oklahoma! had popularized fewer than seven months before. As with
Oklahoma!'s dream ballet, the second act, “Venus in Ozone Heights,” contained material that shaped and furthered the action, in this instance convincing Venus that she would be unhappy remaining earthbound.
S[idney] J[oseph]
PERELMAN (1904–79), the noted Brooklyn‐born humorist, rarely had good luck on Broadway. His first efforts were sketches for the revues
The Third Little Show (1931) and
Walk a Little Faster (1932), but his plays
All Good Americans (1933) and
The Night Before Christmas (1941) failed to run. After
One Touch of Venus, Perelman's other major work is the literate farce
The Beauty Part (1962), which opened in the midst of a newspaper strike and could not find an audience.
Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.
|
Biodun Jeyifo, Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics, and Postcolonialism.(Book Review)
Magazine article from: Africa; 9/22/2004; ; 700+ words
; BIODUN JEYIFO, Wole Soyinka: politics, poetics, and postcolonialism...some of the accusations levelled by Wole Soyinka against Jeyifo and his Marxist peers...more than a 'single author' study, Wole Soyinka transforms its central subject into...
|
|
Wole Soyinka: An Appraisal.
Magazine article from: World Literature Today; 3/22/1995; ; 700+ words
; ...in then crisis-ridden Lagos, Wole Soyinka: An Appraisal is more an effort...Osofisan and Osundare, who share Soyinka's Yoruba heritage, the tribute...more serious and eye-opening. Wole Soyinka: An Appraisal is a strong and...
|
 "Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)")
|
PAGE TURNERS: A CONVERSATION WITH WOLE SOYINKA; A voice for a nation: His life woven into Nigeria's struggle.(WORLD)(Interview)
Newspaper article from: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN); 5/25/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...literature, Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka lives a certain dichotomy. He...parents' generation who relied on Wole Soyinka to tell the closest thing to the...exile. "I have always admired Wole Soyinka," novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie...
|
|
Profile: Nigerian author Wole Soyinka's new play, "King Baabu"
Transcript from: NPR Morning Edition; 8/14/2001; ; 700+ words
; ...0000 Profile: Nigerian author Wole Soyinka's new play, King Baabu Host...Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka is premiering his first play since...is not coincidental. Playwright Wole Soyinka fled Abacha's regime in the mid...
|
|
A life shaped by a larger cause; Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka chronicles his adult life in the second half of his memoirs.(FEATURES)(BOOKS)(Book review)
Newspaper article from: The Christian Science Monitor; 4/11/2006; 700+ words
; ...readers may know Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka best as a playwright, author of...is only too easy to understand Soyinka's closing line: "I am back...You Must Set Forth at Dawn By Wole Soyinka Random House 499 pp., $26...
|
|
|
Conversations with Wole Soyinka.
Magazine article from: World Literature Today; 1/1/2002; ; 700+ words
; ...8 paper) CONVERSATIONS WITH WOLE SOYINKA is far more rewarding than I expected...individuals perhaps intimidated by Soyinka's imposing personality. In all...accessible. Conversations with Wole Soyinka doubtless helps us understand more...
|
 "Pretoria News (South Africa)")
|
Wole Soyinka - Africa's own William Shakespeare.(News)
Newspaper article from: Pretoria News (South Africa); 10/30/2006; 700+ words
; ...novelist, memoirist and essayist, Wole Soyinka's life and works defy easy categorisation...recognition of his achievements, Soyinka has received a string of honours...established an endowed chair named the Wole Soyinka Chair in Drama. Soyinka has served...
|
|
Wole Soyinka's Return
Transcript from: NPR All Things Considered; 10/15/1998; ; 700+ words
; ...four and half years in exile. Wole Soyinka, a noble laureate in literature...next to one of Abiola's wives, Soyinka praised the family for surviving...bombardments from any government ever. WOLE SOYINKA, NIGERIAN NOBEL LAUREATE IN LITERATURE...
|
|
Wole Soyinka's "Gulliver": Swift transposed
Magazine article from: Comparative Literature; 1/1/2001; ; 700+ words
; WOLE SOYINKA'S VOLUME of prison poetry, A Shuttle...to dramatise himself" (The Poetry of Wole Soyinka 74). The three other poems are "Joseph...University of Leeds in England in 1957, Wole Soyinka became a play-reader at the avant...
|
 "Daily News (South Africa)")
|
Soyinka, our William Shakespeare; In the coming months we host Wole Soyinka as guest of The Es'kia Institute in the Afrikan Affirmation series. Harry Garuba of the University of Cape Town's Centre for African Studies gives insights into the life of the Nobel Laureate professor.(News)
Newspaper article from: Daily News (South Africa); 5/28/2007; 700+ words
; ...novelist, memoirist and essayist, Wole Soyinka's life and works defy easy categorisation...whose primary medium is drama. Soyinka has received a string of honours...established an endowed chair named the Wole Soyinka Chair in Drama. Soyinka has served...
|
|
Wole Soyinka
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
Wole Soyinka The Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka (born 1935) was one of the few African writers to denounce...black African to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Wole Soyinka was born July 13, 1934 in Abeokuta a village on the banks...
|
|
Soyinka, Wole 1934–
Book article from: Contemporary Black Biography
Wole Soyinka 1934 – Author...Glance … In 1986 Wole Soyinka became the first black African...elders, saw to it that young Wole ’ s early years...steeped in Yoruba mythology. Soyinka has written an anecdotal...
|
|
Soyinka, Wole
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre
Soyinka, Wole [ Akinwande Oluwole ] (1934– ), Nigerian writer...again attack modern African tyrants. Essentially a political satirist, Soyinka fully deserves his international reputation, being a sophisticated craftsman...
|
|
Kongi's Harvest
Dictionary entry from: International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers
...and Lennart Berns; screenplay: Wole Soyinka, from his own play; assistant...and Fadeke Akinwunmi. Cast: Wole Soyinka (Kongi ); Rashidi Onikoyi (Oba...Dende ). Publications Books: Soyinka, Wole, Kongi's Harvest, London...
|
|
Okri, Ben
Book article from: Contemporary Novelists
...in the Work of Rev. Samuel Johnson, Amos Tutuola, Wole Soyinka and Ben Okri by Ato Quayson, Oxford, J. Currey and...degradation is as unflinching and as compassionate as that of Wole Soyinka. Omovo is actually described at one point, reading...
|
