Big-Time Broadway Musical comes to Pinedale!
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes April 5
by Pinedale Fine Arts Council
March 13, 2006
(Pinedale) The Pinedale Fine Arts Council presents ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ on Wednesday, April 5th in the Pinedale Auditorium at 7:30 pm. This zany musical follows the mad-cap adventures of chorus girl Lorelei Lee, a role made famous on Broadway by Carol Channing in 1949 and on screen by Marilyn Monroe in 1953. Set in the roaring '20's, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes tells the story of a fun-loving gold-digger Lorelei Lee and her whacky cruise to Paris with chum Dorothy Shaw.
The score is packed with lively, chipper melodies neatly evoking the fancy-free age of the late twenties. Tuneful melodies like "A Little Girl From Little Rock", "I Love What I'm Doing", "Just A Kiss Apart", "Bye Bye Baby", "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", "I'm A Tingle, I'm Aglow" and, of course, "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" are just a few of the gems from the collaboration of Jule Styne (Gypsy, Funny Girl, Sugar) and lyricist Leo Robin (Lorelei).
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is produced by Windwood Theatricals, of New York. The show has a long history. Originally written as a short story in the 1920's, the film rights were acquired by Paramount Pictures who gave the key role of Lorelei to actress Ruth Taylor. The studio chose Alice White, a popular comedienne in the 1920s, to portray Dorothy. So, by the time the musical version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York, on December 8, 1949, the story and its main characters were already quite familiar to Broadway audiences.
Even though Gentlemen Prefer Blondes had a successful run of over 749 performances, it failed to capture any Tony Awards at that time, no doubt because it came into competition with one of the musical theater's all-time blockbusters, South Pacific. In 1953, it was turned into a splendid screen musical, starring Marilyn Monroe as Lorelei and Jane Russell as Dorothy.
The show was never revived on Broadway, but its popularity continues to endure to this day, primarily through its best-known musical numbers. Its influence can be seen in pop-icon Madonna's video of "Material Girl," which was a direct steal from Marilyn Monroe's film version rendition of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best fiend."
This is the full-scale Broadway-style production, with a cast of 40 and live orchestra. Tickets are only $12 for Adults and $7 for Students. This will be the final performance in PFAC's 2005/2006 season series, with support from the Sublette County Recreation Board, the Wyoming Arts Council, VSA Arts of Wyoming, and local donors. For more information call 367-7322, www.pinedalefinearts.com.
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