A gambler's instinct : the story of Broadway producer Cheryl Crawford / Milly S. Barranger.

ISBN:

9780809385706

9781280697814

Title:

A gambler's instinct : the story of Broadway producer Cheryl Crawford / Milly S. Barranger.

Author:

Barranger, Milly S.

Personal Author:

Barranger, Milly S.

Publication Information:

Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 243 pages).

Series:

Theater in the Americas series

Theater in the Americas.

Contents:

Lighting the fire, 1902-1936. Three brothers and a sister -- Signs of a calling -- The producer's apprentice -- Raising the roof -- Doors to everywhere, 1937-1961. Dizzy spells -- No wooden nickels -- Producers in skirts -- Musical adventures -- The oyster bed -- Four by Tenn -- A tattered ensign, 1962-1986. Who's minding the store? -- Dreams deferred -- Postscript.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Personal Subject:

Crawford, Cheryl, 1902-1986.

Crawford, Cheryl, 1902-1986. (OCoLC)fst00192488

Subject Term:

Theatrical producers and directors -- United States -- Biography.

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- General.

PERFORMING ARTS -- Theater -- Direction & Production.

Theatrical producers and directors. (OCoLC)fst01149443

Geographic Term:

United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

http://ezproxy.angliss.edu.au/login?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=452289

Publication Date:

2010

Publication Information:

Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
792.0232092	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

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Summary

As Barranger traces Crawford's career as an independent producer, she tells the parallel story of American theater in the mid-twentieth century, making A Gambler's Instinct both an enjoyable and informative biography of a remarkable woman and an important addition to the literature of the modern theater.

Author Notes

Milly S. Barranger is a distinguished professor emerita of dramatic art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, former producing director of the PlayMakers Repertory Company, and author of Unfriendly Witnesses: Gender, Theater, and Film in the McCarthy Era and Margaret Webster: A Life in the Theater.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Finally, a serious, engaging study of Cheryl Crawford (1902-86), one of the great figures of 20th-century American theater. Crawford was a major Broadway producer in an era when women in professional theater, other than actresses, were an anomaly. She also was an anomaly among producers, since she devoted her 60-plus years in the business to proving that serious works of art could be commercially successful. A pioneering academic and producer herself, Barranger is the perfect scholar to assess Crawford's struggle, complicated by her "unspoken lesbianism," to forge a successful, respected career in an industry dominated by men. Barranger describes Crawford as a fiscally conservative businessperson who had "a gambler's instinct" for turning artistically risky productions into box-office hits. Notable examples of her projects include major works by Tennessee Williams (The Rose Tattoo, Sweet Bird of Youth) and the musicals Brigadoon, One Touch of Venus, and Paint Your Wagon. Crawford's lifelong dedication to developing the American theater as a world-class art form led her to cofound the Group Theatre (with Harold Clurman and Lee Strasberg), the American Repertory Theater (with Eva Le Gallienne and Margaret Webster), and The Actors Studio (with Elia Kazan and Robert Lewis). This is a valuable addition to the theater literature. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. M. S. LoMonaco Fairfield University