I Am a Camera is a 1951 Broadway play by John Van Druten[1][2] adapted from Christopher Isherwood's 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin, which is part of The Berlin Stories. The title is a quotation taken from the novel's first page: "I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking."[3] The original production was staged by John Van Druten, with scenic and lighting design by Boris Aronson and costumes by Ellen Goldsborough.[1] It opened at the Empire Theatre in New York City on November 28, 1951 and ran for 214 performances before closing on July 12, 1952.[4]
| I Am a Camera | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | John Van Druten, Adapted from the Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood |
| Characters | Christopher Isherwood Fraulein Schneider Fritz Wendel Sally Bowles Natalia Landauer Clive Mortimer Mrs. Watson-Courtneidge |
| Date premiered | November 28, 1951 |
| Place premiered | Empire Theatre, New York City |
| Subject | An English writer living in Berlin before the rise of the Hitler regime |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | A room in Fraulein Schneider's flat in Berlin 1930 |
The production was a critically acclaimed success for both Julie Harris as the insouciant Sally Bowles, winning her the first of five Tony Awards of her career for Best Leading Actress in a play, and for Marian Winters, who won both the Theatre World Award and Tony Award for Featured Actress in a Play. The play also won for John Van Druten the New York Drama Critics' Circle for Best American Play (1952).[4] It also earned the famous review by Walter Kerr, "Me no Leica".[5][6]
Original Broadway Cast (1951)
edit- Christopher Isherwood – William Prince
- Fraulein Schneider – Olga Fabian
- Fritz Wendel – Martin Brooks
- Sally Bowles – Julie Harris
- Natalia Landauer – Marian Winters
- Clive Mortimer – Edward Andrews
- Mrs. Watson-Courtneidge – Catherine Willard
Adaptations
edit- Film – I Am a Camera (1955) – screenplay by John Collier, music by Malcolm Arnold, starring Julie Harris, Laurence Harvey, and Shelley Winters.
- Broadway Musical – Cabaret (1966) – directed by Hal Prince, book by Joe Masteroff, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, starring Jill Haworth, Bert Convy, Lotte Lenya, Jack Gilford, and Joel Grey.
- Film Musical – Cabaret (1972) – directed by Bob Fosse, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, starring Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, and Michael York.
References
edit- ^ a b Van Druten, John (1951). I Am a Camera. Random House, Inc.
- ^ Van Druten, John (1998). I Am a Camera. Dramatists Play Service, Inc. ISBN 0822205459.
- ^ Isherwood, Christopher (1963). The Berlin Stories: the Last of Mr. Norris and Goodbye to Berlin. New Directions. ISBN 0811200701.
- ^ a b Playbill Vault. "I Am a Camera on Broadway". Retrieved October 27, 2013.
- ^ Botto, Louis."Quotable Critics" Playbill, May 28, 2008
- ^ Friedman, M. (1989). "Commercial expressions in American humor: an analysis of selected popular-cultural works of the postwar era". Humor – International Journal of Humor Research. 2 (3): 265–284. doi:10.1515/humr.1989.2.3.265. ISSN 1613-3722. S2CID 145418943.
External links
edit
Media related to I Am a Camera at Wikimedia Commons- I Am a Camera at the Internet Broadway Database
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