Morning's at Seven
Encyclopedia
Paul Osborn
Paul Osborn was an American playwright and screenwriter best known for writing the screen adaptation of East of Eden as well as South Pacific, The Yearling, The World of Suzie Wong and Sayonara....
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Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.
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, directed by Joshua Logan
Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
, opened on November 30, 1939 at the Longacre Theatre
Longacre Theatre
The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 220 West 48th Street in midtown Manhattan.-Theatre History:Designed by architect Henry Beaumont Herts in 1912, it was named for Longacre Square, the original name for Times Square...
, where it ran for 44 performances. The cast included Dorothy Gish
Dorothy Gish
Dorothy Elizabeth Gish was an American actress, and the younger sister of actress Lillian Gish.-Early life:...
, Jean Adair
Jean Adair
Jean Adair was a Canadian actress.Born as Violet McNaughton, she worked primarily on stage but also made several film appearances late in her career, most notably as one of Cary Grant's dotty old aunts in Arsenic and Old Lace, a role she originated on Broadway...
, Enid Markey
Enid Markey
Enid Markey was an American actress of stage, film and television. She originated the role of Jane in films, playing the character twice - in 1918 .Her first film role was in The Fortunes of War...
, and Kate McComb.
After 16 previews, the first Broadway revival, directed by Vivian Matalon
Vivian Matalon
Vivian Matalon is a British theatre director.Born in Manchester, England, Matalon began his career as an actor in a series of forgettable British films, but his greatest success has been as a director of West End, Broadway, and regional theater productions.Matalon's West End credits include Bus...
, opened on April 10, 1980 at the Lyceum Theatre, where it ran for 564 performances. The cast included Nancy Marchand
Nancy Marchand
Nancy Marchand was an American actress, whose career encompassed both stage and screen. She appeared in various theatre productions throughout the early 1950s, before being offered roles on film and television....
, Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen Paula O’Sullivan was an Irish actress.-Early life:O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents Mary Lovatt and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in The Connaught Rangers who served in The Great War...
, Elizabeth Wilson
Elizabeth Wilson
Elizabeth Welter Wilson is an American actress. She was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007.-Life and career:Wilson was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the daughter of Marie Ethel and Henry Dunning Wilson, who was an insurance agent...
, Teresa Wright
Teresa Wright
Teresa Wright was an American actress. She received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1942 for her performance in Mrs. Miniver. That same year, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for her performance in Pride of the Yankees opposite Gary Cooper...
, Lois de Banzie
Lois de Banzie
Lois de Banzie is an American stage, film, and television actress. De Banzie is best known for her Drama Desk Award winning and Tony Award nominated performance in Paul Osborn's play Morning's at Seven. Her other Broadway credits include The Octette Bridge Club, Da, and The Last of Mrs...
, and David Rounds
David Rounds
David Rounds was an American actor of stage and screen. He received both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award in 1980 for his role in Morning's at Seven....
.
The play has been performed on live television on three or more occasions, but in 1982 Matalon directed a television broadcast of the 1980 revival with O'Sullivan, Wilson, Wright, and Kate Reid
Kate Reid
Kate Reid, OC was a Canadian stage, film and television actress.-Life and career:Daphne Kate Reid was born in London, England, the daughter of Canadian parents, Helen Isabel and Walter Clarke Reid, who was a former Bengal Lancer in the Indian army and a retired colonel...
replacing Marchand. The revival was first telecast on Showtime and later on PBS.
After 27 previews, the second Broadway revival, directed by Daniel Sullivan, opened on April 21, 2002 once again at the Lyceum, where it ran for 112 performances. The cast included Elizabeth Franz
Elizabeth Franz
Elizabeth Franz is an American stage and television actress.-Life and career:Franz was born Betty Jean Frankovich in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of a factory worker....
, Frances Sternhagen
Frances Sternhagen
Frances Hussey Sternhagen is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared on and off Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.-Personal life:...
, Estelle Parsons
Estelle Parsons
Estelle Margaret Parsons is an American theatre, film and television actress and occasional theatrical director.After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program Today and made her stage debut in 1961...
, Piper Laurie
Piper Laurie
Piper Laurie is an American actress of stage and screen known for her roles in the television series Twin Peaks and the films The Hustler, Carrie, and Children of a Lesser God, all of which brought her Academy Award nominations...
, Julie Hagerty
Julie Hagerty
Julie Hagerty is an American actress and former model.-Early life:Hagerty was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Harriet Yuellig, a model and singer, and Jerry Hagerty, a musician. Her brother Michael Hagerty was also an actor. Her parents later divorced. Hagerty attended Indian Hill High...
, Buck Henry
Buck Henry
Henry Zuckerman, better known as Buck Henry , is an American actor, writer, film director, and television director.-Early life:...
, Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Allen Lloyd is an American actor. He is best known for playing Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, and Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He played Reverend Jim Ignatowski in the television series Taxi and more...
, William Biff McGuire
Biff McGuire
William "Biff" McGuire is an American actor. In recent years he has used the name William Biff McGuire professionally....
, and Stephen Tobolowsky
Stephen Tobolowsky
Stephen Harold Tobolowsky is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day, as well as portraying Commissioner Hugo Jarry in Deadwood for nine episodes and Bob Bishop in Heroes for eleven episodes over the second and third seasons...
.
Over the decades since it was written, the play has proven to be a popular choice for regional
Regional theatre in the United States
Regional theaters, or resident theaters, in the United States are professional or semi-professional, theater companies that produce their own seasons. The term regional theatre most often refers to professional theatres outside of New York City...
, community
Community theatre
Community theatre refers to theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community...
, and summer stock theatre
Summer stock theatre
Summer stock theatre is any theatre that presents stage productions only in the summer within the United States. The name combines both the seasonal time of year with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes...
productions. But it has never been made into a theatrical motion picture.
1980 awards and nominations
- Tony AwardTony AwardThe 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...
for Best Reproduction (winner) - Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (Vivian Matalon, winner)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play (David Rounds, winner)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (Lois de Banzie, nominee)
- Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Rounds, winner) - Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (de Banzie, winner)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance (winner)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play (Matalon, winner)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design (nominee)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design (nominee)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design (nominee)
2002 nominations
- Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play (William Biff McGuire and Stephen Tobolowsky, nominees)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (Elizabeth Franz, Estelle Parsons, and Frances Sternhagen, nominees)
- Tony Award for Best Scenic Design (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Costume Design (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (Daniel Sullivan, nominee)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play (nominee)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Franz, nominee)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design of a Play (nominee)
External links
- 1939 production credits
- 1980 production credits
- 2002 production credits
- Internet Movie Database listing
- http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9C02E5D6103FF931A15757C0A9649C8B63Ben BrantleyBen BrantleyBenjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
's New York Times review of the 2002 revival]