The Dancing Years

Summary: BBC production of Ivor Novello’s musical play The Dancing Years, the first presentation in the Musical Playhouse series.
Theatre play: The Dancing Years by Ivor Novello [more information]
Play synopsis: 'The story, set in Vienna in pre-1914, shifting to 1938, follows the life of a penniless composer and his love for two women. The women are completely different in their social classes, one being an innkeeper’s daughter and the other an opera singer. The background of Nazi persecution was very topical in 1939 when the musical was first played’ (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dancing_Years).
Production history: 'The opening night was 23 March 1939 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. After a closure at the start of the Second World War in September 1939, it reopened at the Adelphi Theatre on 14 March 1942 and ran there until July 1944, for a total of 969 performances’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dancing_Years).
Date of transmission: Wednesday 11 February 1959
Time: 8.30pm
Series: Musical Playhouse
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producer

Graeme Muir

Jack Carter (credited with ‘Production scenes staged by’)

Adapted for Television by

Book by

Composer

Lyrics

Musical Direction

Eric Robinson

Orchestra Directed by

David McCallum (and the George Mitchell Singers)

Sets / Settings

Dancer

Dancer

Dancer

Dancer

Dancer

Dancer

Cast

Leslie Baker	An Officer
Sari Barabas	Maria Zeigler
Nancy Evans	Cacille Kurt
Charmian Eyre	Countess Lotte
Nora Gordon	Hattie Watney
Joyce Gregg	Second Reporter
Stewart Guidotti	Carl
Philip Howard	Footman / Third Reporter
June Laverick	Grete Schone
Graham Leaman	Dock Official / Joseph
Patricia Mort	Lilli / Kathie
Laurence Payne	Rudi Kleber
Janek Smigielski	Otto
John Stoddart	A Nightwatchman / Ceruti
Peter Tuddenham	Franzel
Malcolm Watson	Oscar
Frederick Wheldon	Stage-Decor Keeper / First Reporter
Dennis Wood	Prince Charles Metterling

Extant status: No archival copy is known to exist.
Play tags: Austria, as theme or setting; class issues / differences; music drama

Title: Dancing Years in a New Medium: Dim Reflection of Novello’s Style (Newspaper review)
Reference: The Times, 12 February 1959, p. 5

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