Song of Norway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Song of Norway | |
| Music | Edvard Grieg adapted by: Robert Wright George Forrest |
|---|---|
| Lyrics | Robert Wright George Forrest |
| Book | Milton Lazarus |
| Productions | 1944 Broadway 1945 West End 1970 Film |
Song of Norway is a musical written in 1944 by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Edvard Grieg and the book by Milton Lazarus.
Song of Norway was originally developed and presented in Los Angeles by Edwin Lester's LA Civic Light Opera Association in 1944, with essentially the same cast as seen later on Broadway. After successful runs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the show opened at the Imperial Theater in New York on August 21, 1944, and ran for 860 performances. It was also popular in London running for 526 performances at the Palace Theatre, the first Broadway show to cross the Atlantic after the end of the Second World War.
The show is set in Troldhaugen & Bergen, Norway; Copenhagen, and Rome in and after 1860 and follows the fictionalized lives of three childhood friends: Edvard Grieg (played in New York by Lawrence Brooks), Nina Hagerup (Helena Bliss) and Rikard Nordraak (Robert Shafer). Although Nordraak was actually a composer (he wrote the Norwegian National Anthem), he was portrayed as a poet in the show because “two composers would be confusing”. The original Broadway cast featured Irra Petina as fictional opera singer Louisa Giovanni.
The show featured dances, both ballet and Norwegian folk dances, choreographed by George Balanchine and performed by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Maria Tallchief, one of the featured dancers, married Balanchine during the run of the show.
Songs include “Prelude & Legend” (based on Grieg's A Minor Concerto) "Freddy and His Fiddle" (based on Norwegian Dance No.2), "Now" (based on Second Violin Sonata and Waltz), "Strange Music" (based on Wedding in Troldhaugen), "Midsummer's Eve" (Scherzo in E), and "I Love You" (Ich Liebe Dich). The Original Broadway Cast Recording was released by Decca Records on 6 78-rpm 12 inch discs. Irra Petina was under contract to a competing record label (Columbia), so her part in the “original cast” was sung by Kitty Carlisle, who never actually played the part on Broadway. Decca later released a 33 1/3 rpm single disc LP, with some edits to fit the single-disc medium. In 2004 Decca finally dug the master tapes out of the vault and released the full original album on CD.
A very loose film adaptation with major changes to both the book and music was released in 1970.
