Jacques Ibert / Redhead

On this day in classical music: French composer Jacques Ibert died in Paris at age 71 in 1962. Ibert studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1919. While not allied to any particular compositional school, Ibert nevertheless produced a large body of music, including seven operas, five ballets, incidental music for plays and films, songs, choral works and chamber music. In 1937, Ibert was appointed director of the Academie de France at the Villa Medici in Rome, a post he retained until 1960. Among the composer’s film scores are those for Orson Welles’ “Macbeth” (1948) and Gene Kelly’s “Invitation to the Dance” (1952). Ibert is best known today for his orchestral suite “Divertissement” (1930) and the orchestral travelogue “Escales” or “Ports of Call” (1922). Listen to S. Eric Hawk and a chamber ensemble perform the finale of “Divertissement.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5_c5WLY2kY

On this day in the musical theatre: The musical “Redhead” opened on Broadway in 1959. Starring Gwen Verdon as Essie Whimple, a rather plain girl with an overactive imagination, “Redhead” was set in a London wax museum in the 1880s, around the time of Jack the Ripper. The musical was a murder mystery in which Essie Essie pretended she was being attacked by a murderer on the loose. Although little known today, “Redhead” won eight Tony Awards, including one for Verdon and another as best musical of the season. It ran for 455 performances. Watch Marge Beddow, Verdon’s understudy in “Redhead,” perform “Erbie Fitch’s Twitch.”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQBrA73uoTU

Musical musings: A sort of pink-champagne-and-black-tights murder mystery, with Gwen Verdon spending the first act finale quivering and popeyed against a darkened backstage wall while an ominous shadow with a swirling cloak looms every more mightily over her. Choreographer Bob Fosse keeps thinking up fetching postures, parades, chases and tailspins for her to dive unblinkingly into, and she dives — well, magnificently. – Walter Kerr in the New York Herald Tribune

Thank you for joining our conversation on Articulations. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy.