The critics were even less kind this time around, and the show closed after just three performances. Ellington was not tempted to return to Broadway until 1966, when he contributed the score to Pousse-Café, which transplanted the story of the Marlene Dietrich film The Blue Angel to 1920s New Orleans. The reviews were mixed, and Beggar’s Holiday folded after a three-month run. It starred the Oklahoma! leading man Alfred Drake and an up-and-coming Zero Mostel, and featured a racially integrated cast, uncommon for the time. A modern American spin on John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (which also inspired Brecht and Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, a piece virtually unknown at the time in America), the show boasted book and lyrics by perennial cult favorite John Latouche. The first, 1946’s Beggar’s Holiday, has a fascinating pedigree. He wrote two Broadway shows, neither one a hit. He was also a ubiquitous presence on radio, reaching millions of listeners across the world.ĭespite the artistic heights he attained as a composer, he never stopped being a great and beloved popular entertainer, delighting his fans as much with his suave and genial persona as with his virtual hit parade of standards including “Satin Doll,” “Sophisticated Lady” and “Mood Indigo.” Both Broadway attempts fizzleīut success in the musical theater eluded him. In the course of a 50-year career, he gave more than 20,000 performances. As a bandleader and pianist, he brought his boldly original and sophisticated brand of jazz to every corner of the country (as well as to Europe, South American, Asia and the Middle East), keeping up a grueling touring schedule for decades. It is hard to overstate the influence Ellington had on virtually every aspect of American music. Even so, we are not going to let that get in the way of what is sure to be a fabulous concert.Įdward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was the greatest jazz composer of the 20th century, though he preferred to call what he wrote “American music.” Indeed, his compositions blurred the boundaries between the dance hall and the concert hall, and opened a world of possibilities for generations of musicians to follow. The only trouble is, Duke Ellington never was a Broadway legend! If there was a Great American Songbook Mount Rushmore, he would claim a prominent place…but success in the musical theater was the one thing he did not achieve.
When MUSIC THEATER WORKS presents Duke Ellington’s Greatest Hits this October, Ellington will take his place alongside other Broadway legends featured in previous concerts, including George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Jule Styne. Duke Ellington: a legend in many ways but one
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