Learning on ScreenMuch Ado About Nothing
- Synopsis
- A televised adaptation of the New York Shakespeare Festival Production by Joseph Papp, set at the beginning of the 20th century, featuring Teddy Roosevelt roughriders and bicycle-riding women suffragettes. This production originated at the open-air Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, transferred to Broadway, and was perceived as the first successful Shakespeare play to be staged without a major star in Broadway history. According to Radio Times, this "highly successful and highly inventive production sets Shakespeare’s comedy in the small-town America of 1910 - where the characters step into high-button shoes and spats amid such post-Shakespeare innovations as the motor-car, cigarette-puffing symbols of early Women’s Lib - and the Keystone Kops" (14-20 September 1974, p.25).
- Series
- Broadway Classic Collection
- Language
- English
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Television; Video
- Technical information
- Colour / Sound
- Year of release
- 2004
- Transmission details
- 2 Feb 1973 at 20:45 (Channel: CBS)
- Duration
- 160 mins
Credits
- Director
- A.J. Antoon
- Producer
- Joseph Papp
- Writer
- William Shakespeare
- Music
- Peter Link
- Costume
- Theoni V. Aldredge
- Cast
Additional Details
- Production type
- Television and Radio Drama
- Historical period
- Edwardian
- Plays
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Subjects
- Drama
- Keywords
- Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); New York Shakespeare Festival; Shakespeare Marathon (1987-1997)
Notes
- History
- First shown on US television CBS 2 February 1973. IBM, the sponsor, had taken out an advertisement in The New York Times pointing out how much cheaper it was to watch the play on television than to see it on Broadway where it was showing at the Winter Garden. The stage show closed down shortly after the television screening. The production was broadcast in the UK on the BBC 14 September 1974 (20:45-23.25). The production was marketed on video in 2004 as part of the Broadway Classic Collection.
Production Company
- Name
CBS Television
Sponsor
- Name
IBM
Distributor (Sale)
- Name
National Theatre Bookshop
- bookshop@nationaltheatre.org.uk
- Web
- http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/28853/dvds/dvds.html External site opens in new window
- Phone
- 020 7452 3456
- Fax
- 020 7452 33457
- Address
- South Bank
London
SE1 9PX - Notes
- The NT bookshop provides an online service supplying DVDs of stage performances and film or television adaptations of plays.
Online Retailer
- Name
Broadway Theatre Archive
- Web
- http://www.BroadwayArchive.co.uk/ External site opens in new window
Record Stats
This record has been viewed 1102 times.
