Musicals on Television

The Museum of Television & Radio will once again participate in the New York Musical Theatre Festival by offering a sampler of musicals from the Museum’s permanent collection.

Schedule of Screenings

Thursday, September 22 at 5:30 p.m.

NBC Opera Theatre: Trouble in Tahiti (1952)

Leonard Bernstein’s jazzy, satiric opera–a crossover work “which seemed designed with television in mind,” according to one critic–offers a glimpse into the lives of an unhappily married suburban couple, played by Beverly Wolff and David Atkinson. Conducted by Bernstein and directed by Kirk Browning.

(45 minutes)

Thursday, September 22 at 6:30 p.m.

Bell Telephone Hour: The Music of Harold Arlen (1965)

Performers include Dinah Shore, Duke Ellington, Gordon MacRae, Leslie Uggams, Gretchen Wyler, and (from the New York City Ballet) Edward Villella and Patricia McBride. In the finale, composer Arlen joins the entire cast for “Over the Rainbow.” (60 minutes)

Friday, September 23 at 1:00 p.m.

Once Upon a Mattress (1964)

The first television production of the 1959 Broadway musical by Mary Rodgers, starring Carol Burnett as Princess Winnifred Woebegone and featuring Joseph Bova, Jane White, Jack Gilford, Bill Hayes, Shani Wallis, and Elliott Gould. (90 minutes)

Friday, September 23 at 2:30 p.m.

Celebrating Sondheim at 75: “Follies” and More

From the 1975 Tony Awards, Alexis Smith sings “The Story of Lucy and Jessie”; Yvonne DeCarlo sings “I’m Still Here” in a 1978 special, Hollywood’s Diamond Jubilee; the cast of the original Broadway production of Follies joins the creative team on The David Frost Show in 1971; and from 1985, Great Performances: Follies in Concert, with Lee Remick, Barbara Cook, Mandy Patinkin, George Hearn, Carol Burnett, and Elaine Stritch. Plus, a 1973 featurette with Sondheim and Anthony Perkins on the making of the feature film The Last of Sheila; and a 2003 Chicago Tonight segment on Bounce. (180 minutes)

Saturday, September 24 to Sunday, October 30 at 1 p.m.

Producers’ Showcase: Our Town (1955)

A musical version of the Thornton Wilder play, with a score by James Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn (with songs including “Love and Marriage” and “Look to Your Heart”); a cast featuring Frank Sinatra, Eva Marie Saint, and Paul Newman; and direction by Delbert Mann. (80 minutes)

Saturday, September 24 to Sunday, October 30 at 2:30 p.m.

Ruggles of Red Gap (1957)

A long-lost live television musical, not seen since its initial airing, with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Leo Robin, about a perfect English butler who finds himself transported to a small American town in the early 1900s. Songs include “A Ride on a Rainbow” and “I’m in Pursuit of Happiness” (which two years later was recycled for Styne’s Broadway musical Gypsy, with a new title–“You’ll Never Get Away from Me”–and new lyrics by Stephen Sondheim). Starring Michael Redgrave (as Ruggles), Jane Powell, David Wayne, Imogene Coca, and Peter Lawford. Staged by Charles Friedman and directed for television by Clark Jones. The program was located and digitally restored by Alexander Kogan, Jr., the owner of Showcase Productions Inc., which produced the original 1957 program. (90 minutes)