Benjamin Franklin / High Spirits

On this day in classical music: Statesman, inventor, author, diplomat and founding father, Benjamin Franklin died in 1790. One of his many inventions was the glass armonica, a musical instrument that operates on the same principle as running one’s finger around the top of a wine glass. Listen to a performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” played on the glass armonica. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQemvyyJ–g 

On this day in the musical theatre: “High Spirits,” a musical based on Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit,” opened in 1964. Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray’s score was lively and humorous, as was the musical’s story about a man’s struggles with the spirit of his dead wife.

 

Theatrical musings: My characters speak before they think — just like in real life. – Noel Coward

 

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