Can-Can (musical)
Encyclopedia
Can-Can is a musical
with music and lyrics by Cole Porter
, and a book by Abe Burrows
. The story concerns the showgirls of the Montmartre
dance halls during the 1890s.
The original Broadway
production ran for over two years beginning in 1953, and the 1954 West End
production was also a success. Gwen Verdon
, in only her second Broadway role, and choreographer Michael Kidd
won Tony Award
s and were praised, but both the score and book received tepid reviews, and revivals generally have not fared well.
The 1960 film
of the musical starred Shirley MacLaine
, Frank Sinatra
, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier
and introduced Juliet Prowse in her first film role. It incorporated songs from other Porter musicals and films in addition to the original stage production.
at the Shubert Theatre
on May 7, 1953, and closed on June 25, 1955 after 892 performances. The original production, which Burrows also directed, starred Lilo
as La Mome, Hans Conried
as Boris, Peter Cookson
as the judge, Gwen Verdon
as Claudine, Dania Krupska
, Phil Leeds
, Dee Dee Wood
, and Erik Rhodes
as Hilaire. Michael Kidd
was the choreographer. According to Ben Brantley
, Claudine was "the part that made Gwen Verdon a star."
The West End
production premiered at the Coliseum Theatre
on October 14, 1954, and ran for 394 performances. Restaged by Jerome Whyte, the cast included Irene Hilda (La Mome), Edmund Hockridge
(Aristide), Alfred Marks
(Boris), Gillian Lynne
(Claudine) and Warren Mitchell
(Theophile).
A Broadway revival opened April 30, 1981 at the Minskoff Theatre
and closed after five performances and sixteen previews. It was directed by Burrows with choreography by Roland Petit
and starred Zizi Jeanmaire
. Frank Rich
wrote: "...mediocre material, no matter how it's sliced, is still mediocre material. 'Can-Can' never was a firstrate musical, and now, almost three decades after its original production, it stands on even shakier legs."
A 1983 outdoor production played at The Muny
in St. Louis, starring Judy Kaye
, John Reardon, John Schuck
, Lawrence Leritz
, Lorene Yarnell and Beth Leavel
to excellent reviews.
The London revival at the Strand Theatre
ran from October 26, 1988 through January 21, 1989. David Taylor directed, with choreography by Kenn Oldfield, with a cast that featured Donna McKechnie
(Mme. Pistache), Bernard Alane, Norman Warwick, Janie Dee
(Claudine) and Milo O'Shea
. Producer Lovett Bickford explained that "his version was less a revival than a complete revision. 'For all intents and purposes, this is a new show,' he said." It had a revised book which incorporated songs from Fifty Million Frenchmen
, Nymph Errant, Silk Stockings
, Out of This World
and other Cole Porter musicals.
Also in 1988, an international tour starred Chita Rivera
and Ron Holgate
. The tour featured the Radio City Music Hall
Rockettes. This production was directed by Dallett Norris, with choreography by Alan Johnson.
In 2004, a City Center Encores!
staged concert production featured Patti LuPone
as La Mome Pistache, Michael Nouri
(Judge Aristide Forestier), Charlotte d'Amboise
(Claudine), Reg Rogers, and Eli Wallach
. This production was directed by Lonny Price
, with sets by John Lee Beatty
and lighting by Kenneth Posner
.
A 2007 production at the Pasadena Playhouse
in California used a rewritten book by Joel Fields and David Lee, who also directed. Lee and Fields created a back story for the protagonists, tightened the plot, and reintroduced a song that had been cut from the original ("Who Said Gay Paree?"). The cast featured Michelle Duffy and Kevin Earley, and the production received critical praise for Patti Colombo's choreography, Steve Orich
's new orchestrations and scenic design by Roy Christopher.
One of the dancers, Claudine, a laundry girl by day, has been pursued by Hilaire, an art critic, who plans to host to hold an elaborate ball at the club. Claudine, who loves a sculptor, Boris, arranges to have dinner with Hilaire so that her sculptor will receive a favourable review. Now, with the proprietress and dancers locked up, the ball cannot go forward. The judge is struggling with the conflict between his moral scruples and his love for La Môme. Eventually, he concedes that "obscenity is in the eye of the beholder". He urges her to escape, but a journalist gets a photograph of him kissing her – a scandal for him!
Hilaire criticises Boris's sculptures, and the cowardly artist manages to challenge the critic to a duel before fainting. Eventually, Hilaire writes a gushing review of Boris's work. Judge Aristide loses his judgeship and is disbarred, but La Môme and the girls all go to court with him and all win their cases.
Act II
of The New York Times
wrote: "Mr. Porter and Mr. Burrows are fascinated by the wickedness of Montmartre
in the Nineties
. But it is Mr. Kidd, the choreographer, who makes real theatre out of revelry in the dance halls. He and his dancers are dry and satirical about it, and also enormously expert in their performing...With Gwen Verdon leading the ballets with impudence, recklessness and humor, the dancing is spectacular." In a later article, Atkinson, in the New York Times commented: "No doubt the ballet has become the major entertainment medium in "Can-Can" by default. For Cole Porter's score is not one of his best works, and Abe Burrows' book is old-fashioned and pedestrian."
Tony Awards
Theatre World
Award
1981 revival
Tony Awards
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
with music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
, and a book by Abe Burrows
Abe Burrows
Abe Burrows was a Tony and Pulitzer-winning American humorist, author, and director for radio and the stage.-Early years:...
. The story concerns the showgirls of the Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
dance halls during the 1890s.
The original Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production ran for over two years beginning in 1953, and the 1954 West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production was also a success. Gwen Verdon
Gwen Verdon
Gwenyth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon was an actress and dancer who won four Tony awards for her musical comedy performances. With flaming red hair and an endearing quaver in her voice, Verdon was a critically acclaimed dancer on Broadway in the 1950s and 1960s...
, in only her second Broadway role, and choreographer Michael Kidd
Michael Kidd
Michael Kidd was an American film and stage choreographer.-Life and career:Born Milton Greenwald in New York City on the Lower East Side, the son of Abraham Greenwald, an immigrant barber, and his wife Lillian, Michael Kidd moved to Brooklyn with his family and attended New Utrecht High School there...
won Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s and were praised, but both the score and book received tepid reviews, and revivals generally have not fared well.
The 1960 film
Can-Can (film)
Can-Can is a 1960 musical film made by Suffolk-Cummings productions and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Walter Lang, produced by Jack Cummings and Saul Chaplin, from a screenplay by Dorothy Kingsley and Charles Lederer, loosely based on the musical play by Abe Burrows with music...
of the musical starred Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
and introduced Juliet Prowse in her first film role. It incorporated songs from other Porter musicals and films in addition to the original stage production.
Production history
After the pre-Broadway tryout at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia in March 1953, Can-Can premiered on BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the Shubert Theatre
Shubert Theatre (Broadway)
The Shubert Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 225 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan, New York, United States.Designed by architect Henry Beaumont Herts, it was named after Sam S. Shubert, the second oldest of the three brothers of the theatrical producing family...
on May 7, 1953, and closed on June 25, 1955 after 892 performances. The original production, which Burrows also directed, starred Lilo
Lilo (singer)
LiLo, born Linda Lopez, in Mexico, grew up in Los Angeles, CA since the age of two with a very clear purpose of her destiny in music. Something that propelled this singer-songwriter to launch her career with a great spirit of independence...
as La Mome, Hans Conried
Hans Conried
Hans Georg Conried, Jr. was an American comedian, character actor and voice actor.-Early years:He was born on April 15, 1917 in Baltimore, Maryland to Hans Georg Conried, Sr. and Edith Beyr Gildersleeve. His mother was a descendant of Pilgrims, and his father was a Jewish immigrant from Vienna,...
as Boris, Peter Cookson
Peter Cookson
Peter Cookson was a stage and film actor of the 1940s and 1950s. Cookson, once married to stage and film actress Beatrice Straight, acted in films G.I. Honeymoon and Fear...
as the judge, Gwen Verdon
Gwen Verdon
Gwenyth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon was an actress and dancer who won four Tony awards for her musical comedy performances. With flaming red hair and an endearing quaver in her voice, Verdon was a critically acclaimed dancer on Broadway in the 1950s and 1960s...
as Claudine, Dania Krupska
Dania Krupska
Dania Krupska is a Tony Award-nominated dancer and choreographer.Krupska originally trained for the ballet and began her professional career in the 1930s in such companies as the Philadelphia Ballet...
, Phil Leeds
Phil Leeds
Phil Leeds was a Jewish-American Hollywood character actor. Leeds' bulging eyes, rubbery face and wizened features made him a distinctive presence.-Biography:...
, Dee Dee Wood
Dee Dee Wood
Dee Dee Wood is an American Choreographer best known for her work on musical films of the 1960s and 1970s. Most of her well known work was in collaboration with Marc Breaux, to whom she was married for many years. Much of Wood's most recognized work was also in collaboration with the songwriting...
, and Erik Rhodes
Erik Rhodes (actor)
Erik Rhodes was an American film and Broadway singer and actor. He is best remembered today for appearing in two classic Hollywood musical films with popular dancing team of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, The Gay Divorcee and Top Hat .-Biography:Born Ernest Sharpe at El Reno, Indian Territory,...
as Hilaire. Michael Kidd
Michael Kidd
Michael Kidd was an American film and stage choreographer.-Life and career:Born Milton Greenwald in New York City on the Lower East Side, the son of Abraham Greenwald, an immigrant barber, and his wife Lillian, Michael Kidd moved to Brooklyn with his family and attended New Utrecht High School there...
was the choreographer. According to Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
, Claudine was "the part that made Gwen Verdon a star."
The West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production premiered at the Coliseum Theatre
Coliseum Theatre
The London Coliseum is an opera house and major performing venue on St. Martin's Lane, central London. It is one of London's largest and best equipped theatres and opened in 1904, designed by theatrical architect Frank Matcham , for impresario Oswald Stoll...
on October 14, 1954, and ran for 394 performances. Restaged by Jerome Whyte, the cast included Irene Hilda (La Mome), Edmund Hockridge
Edmund Hockridge
Edmund Hockridge was a Canadian baritone and actor who had an active performance career in musicals, operas, concerts, plays, and on radio...
(Aristide), Alfred Marks
Alfred Marks
Alfred Edward Marks OBE was a comic actor and comedian.-Biography:Marks was born as Ruchel Kutchinsky in Holborn, London. He left Bell Lane School at 14 and started in entertainment at the Windmill Theatre. He then served in the RAF as a Flight Sergeant in the Middle East where he arranged...
(Boris), Gillian Lynne
Gillian Lynne
Gillian Barbara Lynne , CBE, born , is a British ballerina, dancer, actor, theatre director, television director and choreographer noted for her popular theatre choreography associated with the iconic musicals Cats and the current longest running show in Broadway history, The Phantom of the Opera.-...
(Claudine) and Warren Mitchell
Warren Mitchell
Warren Mitchell is an English actor who rose to initial prominence in the role of bigoted cockney Alf Garnett in the BBC television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part , and its sequels Till Death... and In Sickness and in Health , all of which were written by Johnny Speight...
(Theophile).
A Broadway revival opened April 30, 1981 at the Minskoff Theatre
Minskoff Theatre
The Minskoff Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre, located at 1515 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan. It is now showing the musical The Lion King, based on the Disney animated film of the same name....
and closed after five performances and sixteen previews. It was directed by Burrows with choreography by Roland Petit
Roland Petit
Roland Petit was a French choreographer and dancer born in Villemomble, near Paris, France. He trained at the Paris Opéra Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets.-Biography:...
and starred Zizi Jeanmaire
Zizi Jeanmaire
Zizi Jeanmaire is a ballet dancer and widow of renowned dancer and choreographer Roland Petit. She became famous in the 1950s after playing the title role in the ballet version of Carmen, produced in London in 1949, and went on to appear in several Hollywood films.-Background:Born in Paris,...
. Frank Rich
Frank Rich
Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...
wrote: "...mediocre material, no matter how it's sliced, is still mediocre material. 'Can-Can' never was a firstrate musical, and now, almost three decades after its original production, it stands on even shakier legs."
A 1983 outdoor production played at The Muny
The Muny
The Muny, short for The Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, is an outdoor musical theatre, located in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri...
in St. Louis, starring Judy Kaye
Judy Kaye
Judy Kaye is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in stage musicals, plays, and operas. Kaye has been in long runs on Broadway in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime and Mamma Mia!-Biography:...
, John Reardon, John Schuck
John Schuck
Conrad John Schuck Jr. is an American actor, primarily in stage, movies and television. He is best-known for his roles as police commissioner Rock Hudson's mildly slow-witted assistant, Sgt. Charles Enright in the 1970s crime drama McMillan & Wife, and as Lee Meriwether's husband, Herman Munster...
, Lawrence Leritz
Lawrence Leritz
Lawrence Leritz is an American dancer, singer, actor, producer, fitness expert and choreographer.-Life and career:...
, Lorene Yarnell and Beth Leavel
Beth Leavel
-Biography:Leavel was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. She attended Meredith College, earning a degree in social work. She completed a graduate theatre degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1980. She acted during college, appearing in productions such as Cabaret and Hello,...
to excellent reviews.
The London revival at the Strand Theatre
Novello Theatre
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...
ran from October 26, 1988 through January 21, 1989. David Taylor directed, with choreography by Kenn Oldfield, with a cast that featured Donna McKechnie
Donna McKechnie
Donna McKechnie is an American musical theater dancer, singer, actress, and choreographer. She is known for her professional and personal relationship with choreographer Michael Bennett, with whom she collaborated on her most noted role, "Cassie" from the musical A Chorus Line, for which she...
(Mme. Pistache), Bernard Alane, Norman Warwick, Janie Dee
Janie Dee
Janie Dee is an English actress and singer.She is married to the actor Rupert Wickham.-Theatre:Dee is presently part of the Globe Theatre 2011 season playing The Countess of Roussillion in Shakespeare's "All's Well that Ends Well" and in October she goes to Nottingham Playhouse to play Amanda in ...
(Claudine) and Milo O'Shea
Milo O'Shea
-Early life:He was born and raised in Dublin and educated by the Christian Brothers at Synge Street, along with his friend Donal Donnelly.He was discovered in the 1950s by Harry Dillon, who ran the "37 Theatre Club" on the top floor of his shop The Swiss Gem Company, 51 Lower O'Connell Street...
. Producer Lovett Bickford explained that "his version was less a revival than a complete revision. 'For all intents and purposes, this is a new show,' he said." It had a revised book which incorporated songs from Fifty Million Frenchmen
Fifty Million Frenchmen
Fifty Million Frenchmen is a musical comedy with a book by Herbert Fields and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It opened on Broadway in 1929 and was adapted for a film two years later...
, Nymph Errant, Silk Stockings
Silk Stockings
Silk Stockings is a musical with a book by George S. Kaufman, Leueen MacGrath, and Abe Burrows and music and lyrics by Cole Porter.Hildegarde Knef gives a vivid backstage account of the casting, rehearsals, tryouts and Broadway opening of "Silk Stockings" in her autobiography "The Gift Horse:...
, Out of This World
Out of This World (musical)
Out of This World is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and the book by Dwight Taylor and Reginald Lawrence. The show, an adaptation of Plautus' comedy Amphitryon, debuted on Broadway in 1950.-Synopsis:...
and other Cole Porter musicals.
Also in 1988, an international tour starred Chita Rivera
Chita Rivera
Chita Rivera is an American actress, dancer, and singer best known for her roles in musical theater. She is the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award...
and Ron Holgate
Ron Holgate
Ronald "Ron" Holgate is a American actor and opera singer. He is known for winning the Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor as Richard Henry Lee in the original Broadway production of 1776.-Early life:...
. The tour featured the Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
Rockettes. This production was directed by Dallett Norris, with choreography by Alan Johnson.
In 2004, a City Center Encores!
Encores!
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
staged concert production featured Patti LuPone
Patti LuPone
Patti Ann LuPone is an American singer and actress, known for her Tony Award-winning performances as Eva Perón in the 1979 stage musical Evita and as Madame Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, and for her Olivier Award-winning performance as Fantine in the original London cast of Les...
as La Mome Pistache, Michael Nouri
Michael Nouri
Michael Nouri is an American television and film actor. He may be best known for his role as Nick Hurley, in the 1983 film Flashdance. He has had recurring roles in numerous television series, including NCIS as Eli David, the father of Mossad officer Ziva David, The O.C. as Dr...
(Judge Aristide Forestier), Charlotte d'Amboise
Charlotte d'Amboise
Charlotte d'Amboise is an American actress and dancer. She has played starring roles in musical theatre, and has been nominated for two Tony Awards and won the Los Angeles Ovation Awards for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Chicago...
(Claudine), Reg Rogers, and Eli Wallach
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
. This production was directed by Lonny Price
Lonny Price
Lonny Price is an American actor, writer, and director, primarily in theatre. He is known for making statements on current events in versions of his musicals. His acclaimed May 2008 New York Philharmonic production of Camelot was making a statement about the current war including having different...
, with sets by John Lee Beatty
John Lee Beatty
John Lee Beatty is an American scenic designer. He was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Claremont. His father was dean of students at Pomona College and his mother had also work in academia. While he was English major at Brown University, he also directed, wrote, acted and drew posters...
and lighting by Kenneth Posner
Kenneth Posner
Kenneth Posner is an American theatrical lighting designer, working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in American regional theatre. His most notable designs include the musicals Wicked and Hairspray, two highly regarded musicals of the early 21st century...
.
A 2007 production at the Pasadena Playhouse
Pasadena Playhouse
The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...
in California used a rewritten book by Joel Fields and David Lee, who also directed. Lee and Fields created a back story for the protagonists, tightened the plot, and reintroduced a song that had been cut from the original ("Who Said Gay Paree?"). The cast featured Michelle Duffy and Kevin Earley, and the production received critical praise for Patti Colombo's choreography, Steve Orich
Steve Orich
Steve Orich is a Composer, Orchestrator and Musical Director.-Professional Work:Steve Orich was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations in 2006 for his work on "Jersey Boys" which won the Tony Award for Best Musical on Broadway. The album also won the 2006 Grammy Award...
's new orchestrations and scenic design by Roy Christopher.
Plot
In Paris in 1893, the dance-hall in Montmartre owned by La Môme Pistache, Bal du Paradis, is being threatened with closing by a self-righteous judge, Aristide Forestier. He is offended by the scandalous but popular dance that the attractive dancers perform at the dance-hall, the "Can-Can." The judge sends the police to harass the owner and dancers, but the police like the dancers so much that they are reluctant to testify against them in court. The judge decides to gather evidence himself, and takes a trip to the club. Once there, he and the owner, La Môme, fall in love. He tries to keep his identity a secret but the girls recognize him. He sees the Can-Can and gets photographic evidence of its scandalousness. La Môme and the dancers are sent to jail.One of the dancers, Claudine, a laundry girl by day, has been pursued by Hilaire, an art critic, who plans to host to hold an elaborate ball at the club. Claudine, who loves a sculptor, Boris, arranges to have dinner with Hilaire so that her sculptor will receive a favourable review. Now, with the proprietress and dancers locked up, the ball cannot go forward. The judge is struggling with the conflict between his moral scruples and his love for La Môme. Eventually, he concedes that "obscenity is in the eye of the beholder". He urges her to escape, but a journalist gets a photograph of him kissing her – a scandal for him!
Hilaire criticises Boris's sculptures, and the cowardly artist manages to challenge the critic to a duel before fainting. Eventually, Hilaire writes a gushing review of Boris's work. Judge Aristide loses his judgeship and is disbarred, but La Môme and the girls all go to court with him and all win their cases.
Musical numbers
Act I- Introduction
- Maidens Typical of France – Company
- Never Give Anything Away – La Môme Pistache
- C'est MagnifiqueC'est Magnifique"C'est Magnifique" is a 1953 popular song written by Cole Porter for his 1953 musical Can-Can, where it was introduced by Lilo and Peter Cookson The song has become a standard, despite weak performance in the 1953 charts...
– Pistache and Judge Aristide Forestier - Quadrille
- Come Along with Me – Hilaire Jussac and Boris Adzinidzinadze
- Live and Let Live – Pistache
- I Am in LoveI Am in Love"I Am in Love" is a 1953 popular song written by Cole Porter, for his musical Can-Can, where it was introduced by Peter Cookson.-Notable recordings:*Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook...
– Judge - If You Loved Me Truly – Claudine and Judge
- Montmartre – Company
- Garden of Eden Ballet
- Allez-Vous-EnAllez-Vous-En"Allez-Vous-En" is a popular song. It was written by Cole Porter and was published in 1953.The song was featured in the musical Can-Can.A recording by Kay Starr was the biggest hit. This recording was released by Capitol Records as catalog number 2464. It first reached the Billboard magazine Best...
– Pistache
Act II
- Entr'acte
- Who Said Gay Paree? –
- Never, Never Be An Artist – Boris and Company
- It's All Right With MeIt's All Right with Me"It's All Right With Me" is a popular song written by Cole Porter, for his 1953 musical Can-Can, where it was introduced by Peter Cookson as the character Judge Aristide Forestier.The song is also used in the Cole Porter musical High Society...
– Judge - Every Man is a Stupid Man – Pistache
- The Apaches (dance)
- I Love ParisI Love Paris"I Love Paris" is a popular song written by Cole Porter and published in 1953. The song was introduced by Lilo in the musical Can-Can.Was the title of Michel Legrand's most popular album, which included an orchestral arrangement of the song...
– Pistache and Company - Can-Can – Pistache and Women
- Finale – Company
Critical response
Brooks AtkinsonBrooks Atkinson
Justin Brooks Atkinson was an American theatre critic. He worked for The New York Times from 1925 to 1960...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote: "Mr. Porter and Mr. Burrows are fascinated by the wickedness of Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
in the Nineties
Gay Nineties
Gay Nineties is an American nostalgic term that refers to the decade of the 1890s. It is known in the UK as the Naughty Nineties, and refers there to the decade of supposedly decadent art by Aubrey Beardsley, the witty plays and trial of Oscar Wilde, society scandals and the beginning of the...
. But it is Mr. Kidd, the choreographer, who makes real theatre out of revelry in the dance halls. He and his dancers are dry and satirical about it, and also enormously expert in their performing...With Gwen Verdon leading the ballets with impudence, recklessness and humor, the dancing is spectacular." In a later article, Atkinson, in the New York Times commented: "No doubt the ballet has become the major entertainment medium in "Can-Can" by default. For Cole Porter's score is not one of his best works, and Abe Burrows' book is old-fashioned and pedestrian."
Awards and nominations
Original 1953 productionTony Awards
- Best Featured Actress in a Musical - Gwen Verdon [winner]
- Best Choreography - Michael Kidd [winner]
Theatre World
Theatre World
Theatre World is the oldest , pictorial and statistical record of American theatre, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and regional theatre, as well as a complete national theatrical awards section and obituaries...
Award
- Gwen Verdon (winner)
1981 revival
Tony Awards
- Best Scenic Design - David Mitchell [nominee]
- Best Costume Design - Franca Squarciapino [nominee]
- Best Choreography - Roland Petit [nominee]
External links
- Can-Can at the Internet Broadway DatabaseInternet Broadway DatabaseThe Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....
- Can-Can production, plot and character information at guidetomusicaltheatre.com
- Plot summary & character descriptions on StageAgent.com
- Can-Can listing on sondheimguide.com