T H E BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC Mirror of a Changing Borough
COURTESY OF BROOKLYN UNION GAS
AND ITS AREA DEVELOPMENT GROUP
NEW B,RO OKLY N\ A CADE1v1Y O'F MUSfC GROWING UP IN BROOKLYN
THE BROOKLYN A C ADEMY OF MUSI C
MIRROR OF A C HANGING B O RO U GH
By Martha McGowan
COU R TESY OF BROOKLYN UNION GAS
AND I TS A R EA DEVELOPMENT G R OUP AC K 0\X'Ll.:[)(I~I ENTS PHOTOGRAPIIY BROOK! YN AC ADEMY O F MUSIC Pmo Ahbresua. reid, p. 27. G ratdul ,1ckno'' ledgment '' made to ROARD 0 1- DIRECTO RS Han ·e\ LtLhten, tem , Karen Broob Renna Abrams. Ltchtenstem , p. 5. Hopkm,, .m d the enttre RA ~I sr ;~ft C hns A(e,ander: G raham, p. 23. l lonmary C hatrmen: for ""''ranee, .1J\'Ice, anJ acces' to Rcrt Andrews Ryrd, p. 22. Hon. Edward I. Koch archt,·e,, to C h.1 rle' lnm"· ~h c h acl Peggv Ramett Luntey. p 4. l ion. I Inwa rd Golden T eatum and ~l cl mJ .1 L;1ne at Brookly n Fergus Rourke. ewman, McKenna, eth F.mon lJmon ("" Comp.1nr: Patncta Fla' 111 K;nan,lgh .m d Cus.K k, p 37. Paul Lepercq ;~ nd the 1Hher lihran an' at the Long RtcharJ Rr.1aten C1ldwell anJ Rohards, C hat rman . bland Htstnnc 1l ouet\ , ~hldred p. 32 Net! D. Chmman lreherrv 111 the Brooklyn Museum Tom Cu.naglia Louts, p. 32, Cullherg Lthrarv: the st,lft ot the Brookl yn group, p 35, Cob, p. 41, Perry·. p. 44. Vtee C hatrmen: Coll euton .u the Rrnokhn Puhhc " ext Wave" group, p. 45, A nderson, Rt ta I lil lman Lthr,ln, the lihr.m am m the Mustc, p. 45. I. Stanley Knegel Dance .mJ Rilh Rose T heatre Donald Cooper: Rtchardson , Shaw and Arne Vennema collect iOns at the New York Puhlic Pasco, p. 36, McLellen , p. 36. Frankl 111 R. ' W e t ~sbe rg Lthrary at Lmcoln Center; the staff of Anthony C nckman: Konmg and Henry Bmg, Jr. the Reference Room at the mam T romp, p. 27. Warren B. Coburn New York Public Lthrary , Harnet Lyons S tgnJ b traJ a: Jamtson and Goudreau, C harl es M. Dtker and Nanette Ramone fro m Borough p. 24. Jeffrey K. Endervelt Prestdent Golden\ offi ce: joseph French , Falk: Ftsc her, p. l 0. Mallory Factor the Brooklyn C hamher of Commerce, Davtd Farrell. Howard, Kane, Harold L. Ft sher Wilbur Woods at the Brookl yn O ffi ce of Kestleman and W aller, p. 29. Leonard Garment e\\ York C tty Planning, Paul Kur:ner Lots G reenheld. "Freud" company, Elt sabeth Gotbaum of Con Edtson, G lona Rosenblatt from p. 30. Stdney Kantor the Brookl yn lnstttute of Arts and Gyenes. Espert and compamon, p. 30. llarvey Ltchtenstem Cle nce~. Hard ')o Adasko of the Ne'' Ken Howard . Davtd-James Carro ll and Eugene H. Luntey York Clt'r Puhlic Development others, p. 39. Hamtsh Maxwell Corporation; Tupper Thomas, Admm R. Kayaert: Donn and partner, p. 26. Evelyn O rtner tstrator of Prospect Park, the staff of Jerry Kean. school children, p. 41 . John R. Pnce, Jr. Equtty Ltbrary Theatre, Mtchael Davtd James Klosty: Cunmngham, p. 24, Rtchard M. Rosan of Dodger Producttons, and former C unnmgham, p. 25. Mrs. Man on Scotto BAM staff members Tom Kerngan , Jane Paul Kolntk: lntem attonal Afn kan W tl ltam Tobey Yockel and Sharon Rupert. Amencan Ball et, p. 40. C urtis A . W ood T omasso Ia Pera: C helsea, p. 29. The Brooklyn Academy of MusiC extsts John E. Zuccotti only through the support of many true Jack Mttchell: Mtchelle Lucct and and fatthful fn ends. W e particularly others, p. 35 . want to thank: the C tty of New York O leaga: Ntkolats, p. 32. and tts Department of C ultural Affatrs, Martha Swope: Ham s, Feldshuh and O FFIC ERS Burstyn , p. 38. the New York State Council on the Prestdent and C h tef Nathamel Tileston : Lucmda C hilds Am, the Nattonal Endowment for the Executtve O fficer: Dance Company, p. 43. Arts, and the many corporations, foun Harvey Ltchtenstetn dattons and mdtvtduals who have gener Arthur Todd: N ureyev, p. 22. ously sustamed BAM through the years. New York Public Ltbrary at Lmcoln Executi ve VtCe Prestdent Center, Astor, Lenox and T tlden and General Manager: Copynght ~ 1983 by Dance Collection: St. Dents and judtth E. Daykm Brookl yn Academy of Mustc Shawn, p. 21; Dunham, p. 23. Lafayette A venue Vi ce Prestdent 30 Mustc Dtvtston: Kellogg, p. 10; D'Oyly Brookl yn , New York 11 217 and Treasurer: Carte poster, p. ll ; Melba, p. IS; Pnnted m the U ntted States of Amenca Ri chard Balzano Farrar, p. 19; Caruso and Ponselle, Cover: Artwork fro m the p. 19; Powers, p. 22. Vice President for Planning archtves of Judtth E. Daykin Billy Rose Theatre Collection: Rehan , and Development: Destgn : By Destgn p. 10; C ushman , p. 10; Duse, p. 15 . Karen Brooks Hopki ns CONTENTS
4 FOREWORD Eugene H. Lunrey
5 PREFACE Harvey Lichtenstein
6 THE ORIGINAL BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC (1859-1903)
16 NEW BOROUGH, NEW CENTURY, NEW ACADEMY (1908-1967)
24 THE REVITALIZATION OF BROOKLYN AND BAM (1967-Presenr)
46 ONSTAGE AT BAM (A Partial Roster)
48 BIBLIOGRAPHY FOREWORD
In 1965 , Brooklyn U nion Gas Com pany inaugurated its C inderella Pro gram. Instead of changing pumpkins into coache , we help transform boarded-up townhouses, vacant apartment building and unused factorie into affordable housing by acting a the cataly t between local communities, builders, banker and owner . The ucce of the program con vinced u to continue this effort for over eventeen years. It al o con vinced u that neglected neigh bor hood can be brought back as desirable, liva ble' communities. The Brooklyn Academy of Music, the oldest performing arts center in Ameri ca, has had a rich heritage of pre enting the very finest in music, dance and theater. It recently re furbi hed building once again hine like a welcoming beacon to perform er and audience alike. It varied program attract people from all over. W e were one of the fir t corpora tions to upport BAM. In th is re spect, we fee l that Brooklyn Union Ga ha erved a a partner of the e succe ful BAM efforts over many year . We are proud of that. The fi nding of a tudy, made public recently, indicate that the art and cultural activitie pump $5.6 bi llion a year into the econ omy of the ew York Metropolitan area. T hi i good bu ine . Brooklyn Union believe that thi i another compelling rea on to up port BAM and other cultural in tt- tution m Brooklyn Union' ew York. Your upport of BAM i good bu ine ·, too.
Eugene H . Luntey Pre tdent and C htef Executtve Officer
4 PREFACE
The Brookl yn Academy of Music is Where is our responsibility? T o mental performance. This is a traditional Performing Arrs Center exhibit the great works of art from projected as a major international with a ense of continuity and his the past, certainly. But just as festival and will feature some of this wry dating back ro it incorporation importantly, ro sponsor, encourage country's most important contempo in 1859. Much of the rory i rold and promote the work of contempo rary artists, and, moreover, includes in this book. It is a strong base upon rary artists. touring some of this work to make it which ro build. Dance has been a visible and available outside of New York. While we all have a responsibil important part of BAM's program BAM's Community and Ethnic ity ro know and understand our ming for many years. Both the Programming, wh ich has met with past, we have an even greater "Ballet America" and the "Ballet both artistic and audience success, responsibility ro the present. To International" festivals have contrib encompasses a range of activity lack a sense of hisrory detracts from uted to BAM's eminence and have including tap dance galas, "Dance one's ability ro make considered introduced new companies, new Africa" festivals, Gospel programs, judgments. In many areas of the dancers and new work ro New York. visiting companies from the Carib arts, however, the past has over And the residency at BAM of the bean, and our joint program with whelmed the present. In dance, and T wyla Tharp Dance Company adds State University of New York, in painting and sculpture, that has to BAM's luster as a major dance "Dance Black America." The Per not been the case, and these two center. forming Arts for Young People areas of the arts have flourished Music has also been ably served program, a variety of dance, theater with important new work over the by our Brooklyn Philharmonic and music, is attended by approx past thirty years. We are now seeing Symphony Orchestra and by BAM's imately 80,000 stud ents each year. music and opera slowly emerge C hamber Music Series. They are Most of the activity is for grade from the past and from the clutches both sound operations, have excel school children, with a sampling of of academia and begin to emanate lent artistic direcrors in Lukas Foss Junior High programs; much of it vitality and humanity. Of course, and Scott N ickrenz, and serve a is educational in nature. there have been exceptions, but wide, essentially Brooklyn public. It has become clear that BAM's they have been sparse, as most fol Theater has had an important leadership is essential in effecting lowers of contemporary music and hisrory at BAM, with C helsea local area development. In late opera will attest. Theater Center, the two BAM 1981, BAM set up the Brooklyn Theater Companies, the Royal Academy Local Development Cor Shakespeare Company productions, poration, under professional and individual visits by the Young leadership. Vic, Comedie Fran<;a ise, the Abbey A lready, we have several projects Theatre, and Peter Brook's Interna going, including the renovation tional Center for Theater Research. of an abandoned hotel, and the BAM is currently exploring the construction of a park. T wyla possibility of presenting selected T harp's headquarters wi ll be estab productions of regional companies. lished in an o ld movie house, near O ur commitment to new work BAM. And other projects are in the and contemporary artists is featured works. in the "Next Wave" festival, The old and the new; activity of which presents the Academy with a interest city-wide, and work more unique opportunity to make a major responsive to our local constituency; arts contribution. The "Next art as education and as entertain Wave" is an annual fa ll festival ment; community activism: this that commissions, presents and pro is BAM today. duces a range of work, from large scale to small , in all areas of experi- Harvey Lichtenstein
5 THE ORIGINAL BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC
awning and depo ired the patrons, Academy opened free of debt at a Divine Blessing was invoked, and the who came from all over Kings cost of 300 ,000. curtain rolled up for its first time on a County. The Mayor, Members of Leopold Etdltt: , a budder of house filled to repletion. the Common Council , important churche , wa · a ked to be the archt Henry R. ttles , "A Htstory of the Ctty clergy and a ll the prominent fa mi tecr-an appropnate chotce tn "the of Brooklyn," l 67 lie -people who e names li ve on tn C n:y of C hurche . " A tte wa pro Brooklyn treet , landmark and cured and con rructlon commenced The evenmg wa January 15, netghborhood : the Greenwood , tn January of 1 60. The butldmg's 1861 ; the occa ion wa the inaugural Brevoort , DeGrauw , Pierrepont , facade wa red bnck wt th pale vella\\ concert at the newly completed Low , and and - braved the torm. Oorche ·rer tone trtmmmg. The Brookl yn Academy of Music on Mu ic, ga ltghr, and the feeling of wmdow· were of the arne matenab Montague treet in Brooklyn accomplt hment kept the m warm. and pomted m a Gothtc tyle. The Height , built "for the purpo e of The deci ton to build the rrucrure ran 232 feet along ~i on encouraging and cultivating a ta te Academy of Mu ic grew out of a tague treet, 92 feet down C lmton for music, literature and the arts." meeting in 1 5 of the Philhar treet, and wa 56 feet htgh wtth When the curtain ro e, the monic oci ery, which had been three tone . Harper's \X'eekly ninety-by-eighty-six-foot stage was pa n oring concerts for a few ea on reported that "The theatre wtll eat masked by a drop curtain depicting a at the Athenaeum Reading Room, 2, 200 people, every one of whom formal Itali an villa. Madame Pauline progenitor of today' Brooklyn Publtc can ee the stage convententh·. Col on and the ignori Pa quale Library. A.A. Low, a pro perou There are no les · than rweh-e pro:- Bngno lt, tcola Fern and Filippo htppmg merchant and fa ther of cemum boxe ~ . The effect, when Colettt pre ented an elaborate pro eth Low, who later became mayor Itt up b\ gas and fill ed wt th hand- gram of Mozart, Verdt, Oonizem, of Brooklyn, propo ed buildmg a orne \\ Omen and bra\·e men , ts \·en and Flotow mu·tc. They ang olo place where enJoyment could be ·rnkmg." and duet· under the dtrectlon of denved from "mnocent amu e- Be ~td e:-. the mam theater, the Emanuele Mu:to, a fa vorite opera ment . " o enthu ta tic wa the tntenor compn-,ed a beautiful con conductor of the age. general re ·pon-e that over 100,000 cert hall, -,orne dressmg and choru" The ntght wa cold and wmdy wa ub cnbed that evenmg. A rooms, a green worn and a kt tchen wtth a dnvmg ram. A rarely parade corporation wa ubsequently et up, whtch Harper' Je-,c n bed as "baro of fine carriage · pulled up under an more funds were rat·ed, and the ntal. and suggestive of such feature"
Rcrulumr:: of Aul< lt~ll ' e \ tOIOt I• m ,t, •o" :\1 nt.t(llt' '-' tnd Openrng nrghL, January 15, 1861 , as rerulered b1 a llarper';, Weekly arust
as our ancestors used to have in by the Academy's upstandmg gov announced that no theatncal per the days of the Tudors. " ernmg body. Mrs. Abraham Uncoln fo rm,\nces would be sanctioned 10 T wo n1ghts after rhe maugural was among the patrons that n1ght. the house. l l1 s words stirred up concert, a great ball was held m the Three weeb of operatK repertor) a ~rorm of protest. The publi c and main house. Floon ng sec nons, la1d ensued. Mme. Cubon returned tor press, led b) the Brookl)n Eagle, on "hor:.es" of varymg he1ghrs 10 I Ve~pn Srt rl umr, 11 Trcwmore, Mar demanded w knm\ hm\ the m:.p1red order ro clear the top of orchestra cha, II Bw brt'rt' dr Sn·rglw, C lara \\ ords of ' hakespeare could Impair ears, were extended from the bac k Lmuse Kellogg nu de her debur as the nwral condltilll1 ot the publi c wa ll of the :. rage w the rear of the G dd,1 111 Rrgoll.'rw ,md fo llm, ed th,u mmJ. The disrute raged on for audmmum. The theater wa:. rhus wnh Don Gwnm1H, omw ,md L'n sC\ eral month-. untd the Board l)f adapted to il banquet h<1l l through Ballo m l\fast hm r, and l\flle. Elena Direcwr-. dl-,lLh 1sedl) .1l llmed a the architec t's 111genu1t). portrayed L11 cre~w BmJ.,lltl T he horse-tramcr, John '. Rare), the T he opera season began 1n ear Rrookl yn Ac,\dem) of MusH.. had usc of the m,un stage fur a lecture nest the foll owmg wee k. Mme. been l,1 ur1l hed 1n ~ t ) le. demonstration. T hat LhJ I t. E'en olson and company returned for Connovcrs) am~e ,dmost unme the mo~ r reslllutc member of the the opening producuon, Merca di
7 On December 23, l 61, almo t ~ tanv of the re~tdenr~ worked m a year after the grand openmg, 0:e\\ York, crossmg the rin~r b\ E. L. Davenport, m the mle role, tem twice dailv. Regular fem 'en presented the fir t Hamlet at the tee had been operating ... mce l6J2 Academ) to the debght of the \\hen ComeltU" Dtrcben plied the Brooklyn Jem:en. who prenoush \\ater m ht' rO\\ boat between \\hat had had to travel by carnage and is now Fulton - treet in Brooklyn feiT) to Broadway and 2 th rreet and Peck -t.p n the other s!de. for thetr hake peare. The audtence teamshtp" en~nrualk replaced the was "numerouf> and bnlltant" rO\\ boat ferrie,. Robert Fu!t n·, accordmg to the Star Davenport, ,\.'..zmw, built m the Br khn wtth the anstance of ~tr. and ~1r~ . 0:an· Yard m l 16, wa ... the fiN to ]arne~ W. Wallack, went on to 'erve Brookh n \ gW\\ mg commu pre ent five ntght of repertorv that tatton need .... mcluded The School for Scandal, Brookhn\ cmn mdustnal t.fe Othello, London Assllrance, Damon also \\a' thn'vmg. ugar refinmg, and Pythws, and The Honeymoon bakmg, &;ttlling, and the manutac At the nme the Academy was tunng l)t hat,, mach mer.. \\ htte Opposllt: pal{.:. kfr co nghc · erected, Brooklyn wa unbke am lead and corJage all added to the HenT) \'CarJ Beec:ht!r, fii!TY pre.u.:hi!T 111 Pl)m· other Ctt): tt had a named marurm cm \ economte allure \\':Jrehou,ing owh Churc:h of rhe Pll~rru. ofren Jealr uuh bteralh ovemtght by the Consoltda \\as ~mother :lCti\·e indu,tr.: the lllmg 1sm.:s of rhe Ja, til ch.: Ac:u.lem) (The Lmg l~l.mJ H1s1on..:al Soc:1el)l. non Act ot l 54. Thts added the AtlantiC (\..,ck Compm\ :~bne han \'tllage~ of Bush\\ tck and \\' tlt.am' dled ~50 mtlltl•n worth of gram Phmowh Church oj rh.: Pll~rru. bt11lc m 1~0. 1s sui/ <~<:Il l e burgh to the ongmal Breucklen ·md merch.md,,e each war. And (Broken Land), fl)Unded b\ Dutch 'htpbutldmg, the rredommam Walloons m 1636 and named atter mdu~m becau~e ot Brookh-n', e:\:cel Th1s PltTit:pom BliTIOU pamung oj I 72 a 'tllage m Holland ot ~imilar lent harb.1r. expanded dramat1calh (Jeuull, tron --h•P'· from Brookhn'1 Fulwn FeTT) (Long lsku.l populatton had n~en trom l45,L\."10 B\ the I 60,, the Contmemal H1sWnl11l So(lt'l,) to 202,000. \\'orb \\ 1' ccm,trucrmg \'e,,el' '' onh .. 1 mall a n , \ear. The great mlubneJ h the "l.ue .trn\ er~ " pnman m.,,.t,n ".b tll pr6enr rhe \\
9 liiOOii.L\ "'~ O''Tlllll l u a.~ .. - · -- ...... ~ . l. f o,.., ....,.,.,... ,_ tl_l... -0. ,. ~- f"-1_,...::" __ .. 0 HAIR ---- 1ua EL Y::"::· ACADEMY OF MUSIC. uau1~1f' v. BROOKLYN r::t':r::, 1, Locket•, CLOAK a • • c. r ' "r to'tOn r o; ru' . r,., u,.cl or 803 1 \'~LT. . ~~:t J. WILKES BOOTH MOTHEO orium, " ~ .., ... .. I · ~Cb .~f..!.. , ~!·.~~~;.,.·.:.; Phidias and Raphael :f:-!lE7:"5 -:.,·:::.:.:..:;,::y~ MRS "DA'D-DOW ~-7-.~Z -=.:·-;:.~:.t • oiiJ .n"" as :-.-:-.....:.::::. ':.§f4:z ASPASIA Ar40 rllllo. MARCO. ~31:~7 ., ~ ., ,.?.?,?, tUIS!ii .t' ANNY AD:~~:::nd ,Uar1c ~~~ SET .llr. W.II.I\ORTO~ I ::,::.; "!!f~~l.. rt. .&1 Dlo•eott nnd l' olnwr. -,}.:F.,~... • IU"liiCH~ , • ..._,,~of --. .tl _. ••-• t.. f A W 'Ir ,..,u ,-~,, . ~ .e !!.~. 'n ~Iooft or Evt'•• Ocr. 26. 1863 ,... N E )OS o..-· · ·""· ·-~ · - · •·r .. _... """' .... !:.'" .:.~ MA R 8 L E HE A R T ·~·M . .-oou•" OJ' TUE SOOLPTER S DR£A.M - .... ~T I::l 0 11 t::.. '.:.'!'~.~r,.- .. ... ~ "~~.. ~~ .... N .
Top row, left to nght: can Dramatic Fund. Joseph Jefferson English of such works as Wagner' Old program feawnng john Wilkes Booth. was Bob Acre to W.J. Florence's Parsifal and Puccini' La Boheme. S ir Lucas O 'T rigger in heridan' C lara Loui e Ke ll ogg, a particular Booker T Wellhmgwn .1/}()ke on behalf of the full ernancrpawm of the Negro (The Long The Rivals during C hri rma week of "idol of Brookl yn," appeared often. Island I /r stcmcal ~ocrety) 1889 and again in 189 1, their Ia t U pon occasion, the patron were ea on together. David Belasco and al o treated to the deva raring talent Ada Rehan ell Kate m The Tammg of the hrC\\, Apnl 1898. W illiam A. Brady appeared in The of Mlle. Marie Aimee, known a Warrens of V1rgmw, The Shepherd the Queen of Opera Bouffe, appear Kmg and other favonre . John Drew ing in uch vehicles as La ]olie Bottom rem·, left to nghc: made his debut with Augu tine Parfumereuse by Offenbach. Charlotte Cushman ell Lad..., Macbeth, October Daly's Company of Comedian on ews of the charm ing operetta 28. 1863 April 14, 189 1, and Mts Ada by G tl berr and ullivan had just Clara Low.1e Kellogg, a particular rdoi of the Rehan played Kate in Mr. Daly' reached the United rare from Brookhn audrence, a.1 Margueme m Fau~r. production of The T ammg of the England whe n the Bo ton Opera September 28, 1865 Shrew in Apri l of 1898. Company's pirated ver ion of Emrl Fr1cher m rok of I /an.\ Sachs from Dac Grand opera attracted large H. M.S. Pmafore arrived to delight M c a src r~mgcr, uhrc/1 he first performed at audiences at the Academy with the Academy regulars during the Christ the Academy rm )wman II, 1894 presentation of all the standard mas week of 1879. D'Oyly Carte repe rtotre plus hrst performances in and hts London Opera Company Rrghr: D'Oyly Carre poster for The Pirates of Penzancc seen rn january of 1880. Below: Program for J>rrared versron of H. M. . Prnafore by rhe Bosron Opera durrng Christmas week of 1879.
I A~ADEMY OF MUSI~. TU"I kl' .t 1111 Lf'.:8Sn:s
CHHISlt-lAS WEEK. Every h:.veclng: uod Snturdny Mattnee.
Wilt b•J r ...•lll,.lil • 1111 ol U It" OJ.,. I• • tllloD b1 14 ~ loiLU.U, t.-IDpOUd bt
A• ••~ • l'>o ''''' 11. l•o .JI I• ..., I If tllh•\•1 It• lk>
Tll• flf<.•••Jhr Mr ('t:uiMM O••• &c•i• •••lol•t" TO£ RT llt•' I'IM JO~ IIIII C•ki Jtl ._ (' If; 1' 1111 Lor.S d thAd •"• 1 - Mr lt (; BlllSAftEE Col "l lll' •UkiCJH•l'ro f .. au Ill' It U Me l1u! to Mt ll W 111'8lT!ooEY Ru t·H ""' ... .. , , "~ .ot • -...... M• ,. u f£-.t. l !<.DE~o IHtKI•t~ t\t u., ...... u lh l £0 Ho 0Tbl,!o. t.o U~ M hiLl, hollh·T \ b. -··• •Ill Mr 0 K\MM£BLEE HHI ttt th.t I •·•• 1o •••lll•l• .lilt J A .lloi U !t!Tt.IVM Ett\" T U "It twJ~II' Mr H F Dll[.Y 10.. 111 Kt11 WI Ioiii""''' l h .. LILU N Jl l!oo )IHI,.t •11•1 •. ••·• • Oo it' Iff Llllll.hlll)l((ll" ''" '''II• ol ot.•oati!Bo•\oN.lWom .. loll·• Alit LqD£ P HILLIP~ U£1' II over to the war effo rt and housed the enrral Bazaar-displays and booth for the sa le of do nated ite ms. "The ri chness, vividnes , and vari ety of colors of the thousand articles whic h heaped the tables, fluttered from the pillars, or glowed fro m the wall , gave one the impre sion of a bevy of rainbows playing hide-and go-seek," was the enthusiastic report by the New York Times. O ne of the most popular attrac tion was the "Po t Offi ce," set up in one of the boxes to the right of the stage for the purpose of send ing "letters." to fri ends at the Fair. The c harge of 25¢ per letter was labeled "exorbitant" by the Brook lyn Eagle bur considered we ll worth the cost by the visitors who paid Bndge across Montague Street more than $830 in total for the connecung the Academ' uah ervice. temporan bwldmg~ corutnocted The "O ld Woman in the Shoe" for the Sam tan Fwr, a fundramng effort that rarsed $402,943 75 dwe lt nearby : a young girl decked for the u·ounded C'mon sold1ers out in bo nnet and pecracles sat in (The Long Island H1stoncal a large hoe urrounded by do ll Soc1et,) which he offered for sale. There wa a " karing rink" at one end of the lobby, created by a kale ido The Samtary Farr from the stage of the Academy (The Long scopic illusion wi th mirrors, and Island H1stoncal Soe~ety) an art gall ery upstairs. The Managers of the Fair con structed three temporary buildings one on either side of the Academy, the other acros the street- with donated materi als and labor. All were connected by bridge . Food wa the main bu iness of the e rrucrure . Knickerbocker Ha ll erved a a dining room-beautifully decorated with evergreen wreath and tate fl ag . The hall could accommodate 500 at a ingle itting ye t had trouble keeping pace wi th ervice, o great was the demand. S ix Brooklyn churche took turn providing the food upplies each day: 100 turkeys and chickens; 100 grou e, quail and duc ks; 500 pounds of beef, mutton and ven i on ; 20 12 hams and tongues; 18,000 oysters; rary buildings were dismantled and 1500 pounds of trout; 250 quarts their ma teri als sold, the Sanitation llroohlun !ll'idgt' tJrogrilmm1'. of coffee and tea; desserts, jellies, ice Commission was presented with a ,_._. t1 J l UUICI £ Cl I'Ml'Tt lar U IUJ creams, fruits, vegetables, bread, check for $402,943.75. The sugar, butter, eggs, etc. The sale of Brooklyn Sanitary Fair's success was candy and cake did a brisk take beyond all expectations. home business in the Confectionary On the sites of the temporary Department next door. buildings there later rose two high An unusual and extremely suc Victorian Gothic edifices. The Mer cessful feature of the Fair was the cantile Library, a private corporation New England Kitchen, in which an that subsequently merged with the eighteenth-century atmosphere pre Brooklyn Public Library system, vailed. "The idea is to present a opened m 1869, fo llowed by the faithful picture of New England Brooklyn Art Association a few farm-house life of the last century. years later. Around· the corner, the The grand o ld fireplace shall glow Long Island Histori cal Society, again, the spinning wheel shall whirl organized in 1863 by the leading as of o ld ... the quilting, the citizens of Kings, Queens and Suf donation, and the wedding parry folk counties, moved into its current shall assemble once more, while headquarte rs on Pierrepont Street apple-paring sha ll not be forgotten in 1880 with its collection of manu (The Long Islmul Hrstoncal Socrery) ... " was the claim. The "staff' scripts, books and artworks. the biggest single celebration in for the Kitchen, outfitted in colonial Building was in no way confined the city' hi tory. Mayor Seth Low garb, enacted these old customs to to Brookl yn Heights. The extension proclaimed an official holiday, the delight of hundreds of spectators of horse car lines in 1854 made it school children were dismis ed, and each day, a ll of whom paid $3 for possible to reach distrtcts beyond the most businesses closed. The Bridge, the journey backward in time. downtown area. A substantial build the largest suspenston bridge in the Manufacturers Hall wa dedi ing boom rook place between 1860 world, had been fourteen years in cated to the more ...uti li tarian aspects ami 1880 o n land previously devoted the making and had cost $ 15 mil of mid-nineteenth century li fe. to farming. In this twe nty-year lion. The city of Brooklyn took G oods, such as sewing machines, span, Brookl yn's residential proper on a carnival mood to welcome its parlor organs, and clothes wrin ties increased by one quarter. dedication. gers-all donated- were on sale at The city, which previously had News accounts estimated that attractive avings. paid $4 million for 526 acres of 50,000 people turned out to witne s The Fine Arrs Department was ro lling meadows, picturesque bluffs the proceeding , from borh sides housed in the T ay lor Mansion a few and lusc ious greene ry, commissioned of the ri ver. President C hester A. doors down. Paintings, statues, and Frederick Law O lmsted and Calvert Arthur, Governor G rover C leve engravings were on display along Vaux to plan Prospect Park. This land, Mayor Franklin Ed on, their with literary manuscri pts and further timulated building and, partie , a milttary untt, and a 75- assorted curiosities. A few small upon the Park's openmg m 1874, piece band ma rched from ew York rooms were dedicated to the showing Park Slope, ongmally the Litchfield to meet the offic tal Brooklyn delega of the latest in military hardware estate, emerged as Brooklyn 's Gold tion m the mtddle of the Bridge. as a reminder of the Fair's purpose. Coast, having houses comparable All then proceeded to the Sands The Drum Beat, a daily newspaper to those on New York's Fifth A ve Street termmal for a fo rmal cere with offices on the second fl oor, nue. By the time America celebrated mony. "The sky was cloudle and described events of the Fair and its Centennial in 1876, Brooklyn the heat from the bnghtly shining advocated the Union cause. was the third largest city in the sun was tempered by a cool breeze," The Sanitary Fair officia ll y closed country with 500,000 residents. according to the New York Times on March 8 foll owing two weeks of The opening of the Brooklyn the following day. sustai ned activity. After the tempo- Bridge o n May 24, 1883, occasioned The dignitari es were invited to a 13 pnvate reception at Chtef Engmeer "Brooklyn flung the pathway over Park Commi · ioner and an expo ami Mrs. Washmgton Roeblmg\ the waters as the crownmg act of a nent of consolidation, often likened house on Columbta Hetght , fol century of unparalleled growth and the sttuarion to rhar of Pari and lowed by dmner at Mayor and Mrs. expans1on. The v1s1on, the plan, London , w1rh rhe ame ci ty on two Low\ home a block away. and the organ1zat1on were Brooklyn's tdes of a ri ver. A gtant hreworks dtsplay and Brooklyn patti the heavter costs At rhe rime con olidation talks commenced at rw1!tghr fo r all of ... [the Bndge was] Brooklyn's began some five year earlier, Brook Brooklyn and ew York to enJ oy. glory and, m a ~ense, Brooklyn's lyn' taxable property was worth Then the Pres1den r and Governor doom ... for shortly afterward came $446,9 14,249 a oppo ed to ew took their places in a receiving lme poltrical un1on with Manhattan. York's $1,7 12,286,8 78. Brooklyn on the large stage of the Brooklyn The other East Ri ver bridge were saw the merger as a marriage of A cademy of Mus1c, which had been built later, and rhe initiative in con venience: public improvements transformed Into a forma l drawing such matters had passed across the could be provided throughout the room for the event. "The two gal nver. o philosophical critic or entire metropolitan area with the len es were re erved for ladte and broodmg poet pra1ses them. They he lp of ew Yo rk' tax ba e. For the1r e con s, and adm1 ston to them merely carry traffic," wrote Ralph ew York, it was more a lust for was exclu~1ve l y by ticker. even Foster Weld tn 1950. power. Brooklyn had more tha n a times as many as the e would The two great cmes were now million residents and wa thirty accommodate had been dtstributed mextrtcably JOtned. The Brooklyn mi le· larger than the l land of Man and only rhe earl y comers could get Bndge provtded the sole acce to hattan. Ir had huge portion of access ... " continued the Ttmes. Long Island for ew Yorkers fo r the undeveloped land. With con o lida The Brooklyn Bndge wa Imme next twenty years. In that time, tion, ew York became the largest, diately dubbed "the e1ghth wonder ew Lots, Flatbush , ew Utrecht, ri chest and mo t important city in of the world." It was call ed a wonder G ra vesend and Flatland joined the country and, eventually, in of science and a monument to the city of Brooklyn. And, in 1898, the world. enterprise, ski ll , faith, and endur through the efforts of a we ll-organ The Brooklyn Academy of Mu ic ance. Everyone realized that rhe ized Consolidation League, Brooklyn continued ro thri ve during the Ia t opening of rhe Bridge was the became a borough of New York. years of the century. In 1890, the beginnmg of something new. james . T. rranahan, the Brooklyn Brooklyn Institute of A rt and 14 Opposrte page THm-of-che-cenwn treu of che Brookhn Bndge from che :Vianhaccun ~ide of che Ea:sc Rrter (Long 11/und H rscorrcal Soc rei'\) Science jo ined forces with the nationa l import but the old Aca Academy. T he Institute had been demy has been at one time or working since 1824 to improve the another its principal focus." cul tural and educational life of Years later, an elde rl y native, Brooklyn through cour e , lectures William idney Hillyer, remi nisced and pre entations that comple about the original Brooklyn Aca mented the A cademy's program of demy of Mustc in the Brooklyn Eagle. performing arts. It wa a forerunner "The smo ke from tts rums died of today' adult educati on system. away, the crumblmg walls were The Me tropo litan O pera Com removed and other butldmgs rose on pany wa invited by the A cademy to its stte, but tts pnsnne story still present fu ll seasons in Brooklyn rema ms tn the mmJs of many O ld with the opening of the Bridge; Timers and there sn ll lmgers the N ell ie Me lba and Mme. Schumann memory of the talent of some of Heink performed regula rl y; Burton Ameri ca's most promme nt and Ho lmes gave ill ustrated travelogues beloved men anJ women of genius fi ve times a year; the O ra tori o Soci whose endowments ha ll owed the ety of N ew York under Or. L. confines of the oiJ Academy of Oamrosch was a popular draw; the Music." great virtuosi, suc h as Jan Ignace Paderew ki, Josef Hofmann, and Eleanora D11:se appeared twh her lcalu.zn Fri tz Krei ler were warmly received; company rn Camille on Aprrl 25, 1896. on December 12, 1887, the Academy and rhe Boston ymphony O rche rra formed a re la tion htp rha r became the bas ts fo r a tradmon of five performances a year-a rradt ri on tha t endured for three quarters of a century; and in 1896, Eleanora Ouse left nary a dry eye with he r rendition of Camil.le, billed a her "first and on ly appearance in Brook lyn this season." O n November 30, 1903, while preparations were underway for a dinner honoring enaror Patrick A . McCarren , the Brooklyn A cademy of Music was destroyed by fire. The New York Times, the next morning, began irs report raring, "It wa one of the swiftest destructions that Brooklyn has ever known, the who le great auditorium being a seething ea of fl ame with in twenty minutes of the rime the first spark was seen . .. " The Tim es continued with a eulogy listi ng many of the A cademy's ach ievements, and ended with , "In sho rt, there has hardly Nellrl' ~ felhu gate frl'qHenl , u dl been a great publi c movement of ,mendt.'d nmn.'TC\ drmng che 189(\. IS NEW BOROUGH, NEW CENTURY, NEW ACADEMY Immediately publ1c spirited men in ubscri bed a total of $ 1. 3 mill ion seen today on Lafayette A venue. to build a new Brookl yn Academy Brooklyn started the project of erecting Marble, the original cho ice for the of Music. another Academy of Music co take facade, was eventually repl aced by the place of the old. T he new leaders of the corpora cream colored brick. G ranite was tion cho e to fo llow the eastward used for the base. New York Tnbune, eptember 29, 1907 expan ion of the downtown district T he new Academy of Music, and elected a Site comprised of larger than the original, was The ember of the Brooklyn twen ty parcel m the fashion able de igned to hold a 2, 100 -seat Opera Academy of Mu IC were ti ll glowing Fort G reene area. "It is on ly one Hou e, a I ,400-seat Mu ic Hall , a when the fi rst d1 cu tons took place block from Flatbu h A venue or Ful ballroom with a capacity of 600, among pa tron on the need for a ton treet on which run fi ve one large and four mall lecture new, modern cultural center in the elevated lme and seven troll ey line halls, myriad offi ces, meeting rooms, borough. A formal meeting was . . . 1 far enough removed . . . and a 5,000- quare-foot lobby called a few months later by Bor out of range of di turbance caused running the entire length of the ough President Martin W . Li ttle ton, by the noise of their opera tions," building. Fine woods, colorfu l mo to wh ich he invited representatives explained the New York Tribune o n saic tiles, plush carpets, gold leaf, from the Brooklyn League, the February 19, 1905. and rich marbles conveyed an opu Manufacturers Associati on and the A juried architectural competi lence to a ll of the public spaces. Brooklyn Institute of Arts and tio n for the new Academy was wo n Mural by W illi am De Leftwich Sciences. by the partne rship of Henry B. Dodge decorated the two main A Committee of O ne Hundred, Herr and H ugh T allant, who also houses and the ballroom. Some visi primarily bu ine smen and member designed the Lyceum, N ew Amster tors on an earl y inspection tour, of old Brooklyn familie , was dam a nd the recently-razed Helen morall y outraged by the nudi ty of appointed to raise $ 1 million by Hayes theate r in Manhattan. Herr the cupids in the ball room decor, subscri ption in non -assessable stock. and T allant, with their eo-Italian brought enough pressure to bear Former Mayor C harles A . Schieren , ate exterior and their carefu lly upon the T ru tees that ribbons and named chairman of the drive, helped conceived interio r, edged out nine drape were painted over the to fire the chauvinistic zeal among other prestigious firms that had been offending parts before the bui lding the more conservative investors. As invited to submit plans. W ith a opened to the public. "Frisky Fres a result, more than 1200 individuals few altera ti ons, it is the building coes Shock Brooklyn ," ran th e Opera House mtenor. 16 head line in the Brooklyn Eagle on July 23, 1908. "Fig leaves and dra pery are now being presented to the Bli thesome Little O nes. " O nly the latest, most modem technical equipment was installed for stage u e. New heating and ven ti lating sy terns were incorporated into the plan; five e levators, along with several stairca e , allowed extra mobility for the patron , the per formers and the crew. The rage portio n of the building was con structed of steel, and the entire place was protected from fire by a sprin kler system. "Panic bars," speciall y designed hardware serving to open locks with a minimum of pressure from within , were install ed on all exit doors to provide instant egress. T he new Academy provided for a variety of function : musical, theatrical, educational and social. The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, the principal tenant, occupied severa l office on the third fl oor. C hurch groups, political clubs, alumni associations, and fraternal lodge vied with each other for the use of the ball room and theaters fo r their d inners, holiday fai rs, and assemblies. turned our in forma l dress to inau The new Brooklyn Academy of Music, com T he official open ing events gurate the Brooklyn Academy of pieced m I 908, wru de~rgned by rhe firm of stretched over a month and a half. Music. orne arri ved in motor car . Heres and Tallanc Phow crrca 1929-30 (The Long Is/and 1/r ~wnca/ Socrt~r,) Mada me Ernestine Schumann-Heink Gera ldine Farrar and Enrico Caru o chri tened the Opera Hou e on led rhe company in G ounod' Faust. October I, 1908, in a concert billed Franc i permo, makmg hi debut as "the on ly event at which Mme. with the Metropolttan, conducted. Schumann-H eink wi ll ing in this Never since that earlter maugural country this season. " This wa fo l opera had Brooklyn seen o many lowed by the first organ recital in jewel , stlks and furs. The hou e wa:. the Mu ic llall a few week later, packed and, owmg ro post-opera then the first ong recital, the fir t socializing and the combmation of dramatic presentation and the first horsele and hor e carriages con choral concert. gesting traffic, many patron were T he real fanfare wa reserved for detained in the area until a lmost 2 th e gra nd, gala opening by the A.M. It was a gli ttering success. Metropoli tan Opera on November The Metropolitan O pera contin 14. Fo r the second time in less than ued as a permanent program at the fifty years, rhe Brooklyn c ity father Academy up through rhe 1920- 17 21 season. A ll of the great operas his last performance at the Met. and stars of the day were presented He died the fo llowing year on in Brookl yn. Louise Homer, Emma August 2, 192 1. " Eames, Pasquale Amato, Antonio Solo concerts at the Brooklyn Scotti, Emmy Destinn, A lma G luck, Academy of Music were frequent Mary Garden, Leo Slezak, Johanna and well-received. T he singers John Gadski , Beniamino G igli and Mabel McCormack, ellie Melba, Rosa Garrison appeared regularl y, usually Ponselle, Feodor C haliapin, Law under the musical guidance of rence Tibbett, John Charles Arturo To canini. Geraldine Farrar Thomas, Lauri tz Melchior, Kir ten and Enrico Caruso returned often Flagstad, Ju si Bjoerling, Richard after the first production of Faust as Crook , Lotte Lehman and Marian wel l. Anderson all sang fo r the enjoyment An amusing story was told for of the membership during the fi rst years backstage about the tempera three decades of the century-a mental Miss Farrar. She was about time of expanding cultural awareness to go on in the new Humperdinck in A merica-but it was Mme. Schu opera, Koenigskinder, one January mann-Heink who tradit ionally night in 191 1. T he production opened each season. required the participation of fourteen The Bo ton Symphony, with geese. Somehow, one of the crea such rna ter a Max Feid ler and tures, G retchen by name, escaped by Serge Kous evitsky conducting, con the stage door and waddled toward tinued with their fi ve concerts each Fulton Street. There would be no year, often with a famou instru Geraldine wi thout G retchen , the mental or vocal oloi t a a gue t management was informed. A posse arti t. T he ew York Symphony was dispatched to round up the O rche tra under Walter Damro ch's goose, and the diva performed before baton began a long-lasting associa an enraptured throng. tion duri ng the fi rst ea on in the The mo t dramatic performance new Academy, playing Saturday ever witnessed on the stage of the matinee fo r young people as well a opera house occurred on December a series of evening concerts. There 11 , 1920, and was tota ll y were five chamber mus ic concert unplanned. Harold C. Schon berg, each year and an oratorio. the Pulitzer prize winning music Regular concert-goer at the columnist of the New York T imes, Academy we re treated with the like gave thi account of what happened of Fritz Krei ler, Jan Kubelick, Jan in hi book, Facing che Music: "It Paderew ki, Percy Grainger, ergei was a performance of L'Elisir Rachmaninoff, Artur Rubin rein, d'Amore and Caru o had a throat Pablo Ca al , Ja cha Heifitz, Efrem hemorrhage a oon a he tarred Zimbali t, Mi cha Elman, Jo e singing. He fi ll ed handkerchief after lturbi, Andre egovia, Yehud1 handkerchief with blood, and still Menuhin, Igor travin ky and in i ted on trying to continue after amuel Du hkin-everyone in the Top the fi r t act. The audience wa told mu ical "who' who." Mculttme Lo w.1 e llomer, soprano, gave a concert on Ocwber 2 I , 1909 of the situation . 'No! o! top The ball et, a an art form epa the performance!' was the cry. The rate from opera, wa introduced Botwm curtain never ro e on the econd at the Brooklyn Academy of Mu ic Mculame Ernesline '\chumwm-Hemk, perennwl [a1·onh!, gt~ u.' th e! openrng conom m rhe neu act. A lmo t two week later, on in 19 10 by the celebrated lmpenal Opera /lou.1e on Ocwber I, 1908. December 24, the ading Caru o ang Ru 1an Ballet and Orche tra, fea- IS tu n ng Anna Pm lo' a and Mtkhatl RrRh t l\1 ordkm. Later, 111 1924, Pavlova Gnaldm,· Famn 111 11-l.td,mlL' BurrL· rlh, A{ml rerurneJ \\'tth rhe ongt n
19 MME. SAR AH All through the years of the Father and the Revolu tion" during a BERNHARDT Prohibition Era, World War I, the visit in 1932. WITH IIER OWN COMPANY AND PRODUCTIONS FROM TilE THEATRE SARAH BERNHARDT, PARIS Roaring Twenties , and Franklin A century earlier, when Brook (Olrtctlon Mr. Ww. F. Couoa) D. Roosevelt's first administration , lyn had gained its city charter in _____Loc_• _lDir ection of O•CA_•..:...J._M_• •_,.._• --- the Brooklyn Academy and the 1834, there were 20,000 residents. _SATUROAY -N I 1ht -CLEO~AT R E a n Russell debated Thornton W ilder; ern Europe and Russia. In addition, Lt. Commander Richard E. Byrd, Blacks from the rural south arrived William Beebe and Richard Halli at about the same time to work burton each described new frontiers. at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Dr. Frank G ray from Bell Brooklyn's centennial year found T elephone Laboratori es offered 148 banking offices in operation Program from Sarah Bernhardt's productions "Television and the Electrical everal of which were branches of and performances m 1917, when she was 73 Transmissions of Pictures" in 1928; the Brooklyn Savings Bank (now years okl (The Long Island Hrstorical Society). 1.1. S ikorsky deli vered "The Air called Metropolitan Saving ), the plane Today and T omorrow" in olde t in the borough, having been Pablo Casals, ]an Paderewskr, and Andres October of 1929 (the month the founded in 1827. AI o, in 1929, the Segovra (left co right) appeared in concerts at stock market crashed); and Countess Williamsburgh Savings Bank had the new Academy all dunng the twenties. A lexandra Tolstoy related "My erected its headquarter on the same
20 block as the Academy. At 5 12 feet, Institute added the Academy of Nureyev made his American debut it is still the tallest building in Music to its fa mily of institutions. with Ruth Page's C hicago O pera Brooklyn . The Brooklyn Museum, the C hil Ballet on March 10, 1962. There were 5,000 industrial dren's Museum, and the Botanic The National Ballet of Canada, concerns providing work and 3 7,000 Garden all had been given life years London Festi val Ballet, the Agnes retail stores purveying goods in earlier by the Institute, wh ich pos de Mille Dance Theatre, Ballet 1934. The church numbers had risen sessed an endowment of nearly $4 Theatre, and the Robert Jaffrey to 73 1. Sixty-five hospitals served million, and were still being nur Theatre Ballet danced for the the sick and 258 schools helped tured by the parent body. Brooklyn patrons. to educate the young. Eight thou For the next thirty years, first A single concert in 1952 pro sand vessels left 187 piers each year under the directorship of Julius vided Merce C unningham, Jean for every corner of the world. More Bloom and, later, with William Erdman, Erick Hawkins, and Donald warehouses were located in Brook McKelvy Martin at the helm, the McKayle the opportunity to display lyn than in the four other boroughs Academy struggled to keep afl oat. their choreography. Martha Graham combined; Bush Terminal, the larg Both men continued to uphold the and company returned, Anna Soko est, covered twenty city blocks, traditional standards of excellence, low also returned, and for the first and had 3,100 feet of waterfront though programming was somewhat time, ethnic groups led by Jose with eight immense piers and 750 limited by budgetary constraints. Greco, Pearl Primus, T alley Beatty miles of rails. The real and personal Dance began to capture the and Katherine Dunham were seen property of the borough was assessed fancy of the American public during on the Academy's stage. at over $4.3 billion. these years. Ballet Russe de Monte Theater was still limited to a few But, like the rest of the country, Carlo with Leonide Mass ine direct dramatic readings during the thir Brooklyn was in a vise called the ing and featuring Tamara ties, forties, fifties, and early sixties, Great Depression. Money, in short Toumanova, Irina Baronova, though young actors from Equity supply, was spent only on essentials. T atiana Riabouchiska and Vera Library Theatre used the Academy's The Brooklyn Academy of Music, Zorina returned yearly to Brooklyn. facilities for shows like Kismet, Can which had never shown a profit, Other companies of Russian emigres, dida, Cyrano de Bergerac, Plain and was now particularly undermined. including Alexandra Danilova and Fancy, and New Girl in Town, fol Programming had to be curtailed, Mia Slavinska and her dance lowed by the McCarter Theatre and finally, in 1935, the Brooklyn ensemble, also appeared. Rudolf Repertory Company with such offer-
commander l\ICHAJ\D t »YRD ~!I.MlNCI\S IW~ -t..,_"~r---.. 1\ lecture on h1s hpl01u ~l1N"fiC ~ FliGHTS i ~
Left: Commander Byrd told of his adventures on November 30, 1927. W rdnuday Evrnmg, '}llll'llollr!l b) Novf' m~ r 30, Right: \ 1 0!10~ fiCTUJ\f S Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn in 1923 in "Dance of the Rebirth" from Egyptian Suite, which they had co-choreographed in 1919.
21 Top: Marie Powers appeared as The Medium with the American Chamber Opera Society on Rwlolf Nureyev, backswge at the Brooklyn December 13, 1955. Academy of Music, following his American Bottom: debut with Rwh Page's Chicago Opera Ballet David Byrd as Cyrano de Bergerac with the on March 10, /962 (courtesy of Dance Equity Library Thea tre, January 31, 1964 Horizons). (courtesy of Equity Library Theatre) .
ings as Death of a Salesman and A opera productions were much too popular works of Verdi, Rossini, and Streetcar Named Des ire. expensive. This same year, Siegfried Puccini, were interchanged each The Brooklyn audiences were Landau conducted the newly formed year. Robert Merrill and Elaine still given the chance to hear all of Brooklyn Philharmonia Orchestra Malbin were featured on occasion , the most renowned singers of the in three concerts. but the regular singers were young pre- and post-War years in concert, It was in 1958, Martin's first unknowns and-if newspaper such as Paul Robeson, Rise Stevens, year as director, that the fl amboyant accounts of Salmaggi's exploits are Richard Tucker, Jan Peerce, Ezio Alfredo Salmaggi brought his special to be believed-amateurs with Pinza, Helen T raubel, Lili Pons, fl avor of opera to the Academy of enough cash to help with the rental Victoria de los Angeles and Renata Music where he and his various of costumes, sets and props. "Satur T ebaldi. progeny reigned for almost a decade. day nights in Brooklyn come close to Julius Bloom engaged the Amer The company, known in prior the real Italian spirit, often showing ican C hamber O pera Society for incarnations as the "99-cent Grand an improvised quality but more concert versions of Otello starring Opera Company" and "The Hippo than making up for it in sheer brio," Jennie Tourel, La Sonnambula with drome O pera," arrived as the Long according to Opera News in January, Cesare Siepi , and Menotti's com Island Opera Company but soon 1965. This was the last season for panion pieces, The Telephone and became the Brooklyn O pera Com the Salmaggi group at the Academy. The Medium featuring Mari e Powers pany. Top price was $4. T he city took responsibil ity for during the mid-fi fties . Fully staged T he repertory, primarily the the Brooklyn Academy of Mu ic's
22 maintenance and capital improve First, the Brooklyn Eagle died in ment program in 1952. A grant was 1955. It had been founded in 1841 soon secured for exterior restoration. as a temporary organ of the Demo The pale cream brick was once cratic Party but had remained to again admired after high-pressure become a daily newspaper with a cleaning washed away its 45-year national reputation. The Eagle, with coat of grime. Much of the interior local news and advertising, cemented was painted a battleship grey by the neighborhoods in Brooklyn, a paint remaindered from the Brook sprawling and diversified urban lyn Navy Yard after the War and community. The end of the Eagle the offices were somewhat modern heralded the end of an era. Two ized. Plans were drawn but never large department stores folded that carried out fo r total rehabilitation of had relied upon it to reach their the building by the city. customers-Frederick Loesser & Co. An Academy Centennial fund with its motto, "In every detail the raising campaign during 1959 leading retail establishment in elicited $100,000 in private dona Brooklyn," and Namm's. tions which was used to repaint the After that, the Dodgers moved Opera House, but the Academy still from the 32,000 seat Ebbers Field to remained vulnerable to the vicissi Los Angeles, ending 100 years of tudes of time. There was talk of professional baseball in Brooklyn. Karl!erine Dunham, in role of Loulouse in tearing the building down or selling Pete Hamill wrote in New York L'Ag'Ya, appeared April 18, 1950. it to Long Island University for Magazine in 1969, "This vast con use as a gymnasium. Memberships fraternity of baseball maniacs held were dropping. The Old Guard was that borough together in a very no longer alive or had moved away. special way . . . people of Brooklyn Young professionals were settling were shocked . . . end of innocence down in new communities outside . . . betrayed." the city. The 1960 census reflected Next, Rheingold and Schaefer, the first decline in Brooklyn's popu the last big Brooklyn breweries, lation since the eighteenth century. began to pull out. A major force in "For the most part, those who fl ed American beer production since . . . did so because they could no the 1870s due to the sizeable Ger longer fulfill their middle-class ideal man population, Brooklyn's beer of rearing their children in a single industry produced as many as 2.5 family home in a good neighbor million barrels in its peak year, hood in the urban milieu .... As 1907. But it never fully recovered the new struggle for status became a from Prohibition. The departure race fo r better housing, only the of Rheingold and Schaefer meant well-to-do, those with cars, could that Brooklyn had no brewery for make their escape and take advan the first time since 1629. tage of the new construction on And, finally, in 1966, the federal Long Island," according to Robert government closed the Brooklyn S. Caro in The Power Broker: Robert Navy Yard, which had been the Moses and the Fall of New York. largest single employer in Brooklyn Martha Graham, seen This exodus not only eroded the during the Second World War years here in her Deaths and Entrances role, Academy's available audience, it with 70,000 men and women on appeared at che Academy set in motion certain wheels that its payroll. for the first time on were to have a damaging effect upon Some of the heart went out of February 24, 1933. the entire borough for a time. the people of Brooklyn.
23 THE REVITALIZATION OF BROOKLYN AND BAM
Newsweek on May 27, 1968, at the The Brooklyn Academy of Music has opening of C unningham's first major gone through a real rebirth in the past New York season since he had begun two years, something that startles old to l choreograph twenty-five years Brooklynites who thought of the Aca earlier. It was the first major presen demy as a shambling pile located down tation by the Brooklyn Academy the street from the Ray mond Street of Music in as many or more years. ]ail, and given over to travel lectures That fall, the Academy initiated about the sex life of West Papuans. its first comprehensive modern dance Pete Hamill, New York, July 14, 1969 seri es. Martha G raham, doyenne of modem dance, opened "Festival Something happened to the Brook of Dance 68-69" with eleven eve lyn Academy in the late sixties- nings of repertoire including Alcestis it was transformed. The once "slum (in which she danced the title role), bering giant," with its rich historical Plain of Prayer and Seraphic Dialogue. and artistic heritage, awoke to a Students and o ther young people, new life. Travelogues, lectures, and anxious to see this li ving legend, dramatic readings were jettisoned traveled from a ll over the metropoli in favor of modern dance and thea tan area each night to stand in line ter seasons. at the box offi ce. After that season, "The darkened stage was illumi Martha Graham, at age 74, retired Poster des1gned by Robert Rauschenberg announcmg Merce C unnmgham's season . nated by li ght glancing off the large from active performing, but her helium-filled pillows .. . the elec company returned to open the Aca Below, left to nght: tronic mu ic assaulted the ears from demy's dance serie the fo llowing Helen McGehee m Martha Graham's Cave of all sides ... with decor by Andy fall. Heart, O ctober 5, 1968. Warhol and David Tudor's elec O ther festival choreographers Paul Taylor m hiS Book of Beasts, November, tronic core, Merce C unningham, included Anna okolow, Erick 1972. )uduh JamiSon and M1guel Goudreau m The the great man of avant-garde dance, Hawkins, Paul Taylor, Merce C un Prod1gal Prmce during the 1969-70 residency renews his uncompromising experi ningham, Alvin Ailey, Jose of the Alvm Ailey American Dance Theatre. ments," wrote Hubert Saal in Limon, and the Alwin N ikolais
24 \1<'t., Curanm~;h.:nra 111m \It, H,up, r rn che \ , u ) ork Cll'\ ("<1'11<'1<' f Runtort•,r, \ 1a' 196'-
Dan~.:e ( \ lmp.m\ E.1L h '' a~ .1ll nrred 26 were Pro peer Park , the Brooklyn ixteen pre-Christmas performance Abowlefr Mu eum, the Botanic Garden , the a we ll . In addition , the Harkness Leon Konmg and /Iannen Trump urth rhe Brooklyn Publ1c L1brary, and the Baller enjoyed a sea on of thirteen 1 erherlanJ.. Dance Thearre m rhe Ne11 York Academy of Mu 1c-all minute performance that fa ll. premiere of lmagmar) Fdm on i\1arch 2 , 1972 away. Mauri ce BeJart's Bru sel -ba ed Academy programming reached Ba ll er of rhe Twentieth Century Abate rrghr far beyond modem dance. Ballet, took ew York by rorm in its Elroc Feld m Ar MrJnrghr twh hr~ American ethn1c dance, music, theater and Baller Com pam. durmg rht? cu·o years ( 1969- American debut the following win 71) rhe company made rhe Academ) rt; home. children' fa re were al o incorporated ter. Wa lter T erry, in the program during the first year of Li chren- note , reported, "T o the world of rein' reward h ip. dance, everything about Bejarr is In 1969 Eliot Fe ld , a 28-year-old en igmatic, except for hi enormous wunderkind dancer/choreographer, ucce with mas es of audiences wa launched wi th h i brand-new in Europe-audience don't que - American Baller Company. Lichten- tion: they accept or reject . . .. tein be lieved in Fe ld and, with In Europe, Bejart i a wonder-boy. the he lp of the Rockefeller Founda H e i considered in the avant of the tion , prO\'Ided h1m wi th twice avant-garde. Kid , by the thou and , yearl y performance ea on for two cheer hi ballet happenmg . " Four year . H e al o provided rhe young teen thousand rudent descended company w1th ren t-free offi ce and upon the Acade my, pu hing the torage pace fo r prop and co tume . chcduled two week re idency into a T he excmng A merican Ball et third week. Theater performed thirty- two time , A nother controver ial European from December I 0, 196 , to January ballet company arrived in March 5, 1969, with the incomparable of 1972. The erhe rland Dance Carl a Fracci and Erik Bruhn in Cop Theatre o ld our the 2, I 00-seat pelw and G1selle. The company O pera Hou e on everal occasions returned the fo ll owing ea on for most notably with a multimedia 27 dance choreographed by G len Tetley this radical theater group had dis pounced upon Lichtenstein's offer of and Hans van Manen. Word had played rampant nudity both in and a permanent theater and free offices circulated through the dance gra out of the theater during earlier at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. pevine that Mutations featured performances at Yale in New Haven. Robert Ka lfin and Michael David, dancers approaching the stage via a He met what he saw as his obliga C helsea's directors, produced white ramp in the center aisle and tion to protect the public morals by unknown plays-play by new young proceeding to perform without bene dispatching patrolmen. An amicable writers, translations of fo reign work , fit of costumes. It was New York's agreement was reached between and unknown plays by well-known first nude ballet. the police and the administration: playwright . The "Afro-Asian Festival" pre the Academy would contain the They opened their fi r t Brooklyn sented six companies in the fall nudity to the theater; the police ea on with the world premiere of of 1971 . T he Sierra Leone Dance would ration themselve outside the lmamu Amiri Baraka' Slave Ship, Company had taken home a gold building. which received rave reviews, plaque as best dance ensemble at the The Becks would seem a hard attracted enthusiastic audiences, and 1964 New York W orld's Fair. The act to fo llow, but, undaunted, Lich won numerous awards. Many more other fi ve never had been seen in tenstein orchestrated the fi rst "firsts" fo llowed: the fi rst full Eng the United States. The C lassical Ameri can appearance of the Polish lish-language production of Genet's Khmer Ballet of Cambodia, the Laboratory Theatre, an amazing The Screens, and the A meri can Senegalese National Dance Com group of actors rarely seen in the premieres of works by European pany, the National Dance Company W est. Jerzy Grotowski, the director, playwrights Peter Handke, David of Morocco, the Ritual Acrobats wa hailed as the most important Storey, Tankred Dar t, Chri topher of Persia and the Dagar Brothers, and controver ial theatrical innova Hampton, tani law Witkiewic:, raga singers from India-all made tor since Stani lavski . Hi training Heathcote William and Edward American debuts. The following of "novitiate " Ia ted a minimum Bond. William' ACIDC and Bond' year introduced Dancers of Mali , of two years and was extremely rigid. Saved between them captured even Whirling Dervishes ofT urkey, and The Constant Prince, Acropolis Obie Award. A Marilyn ta io the Darpana Dance Company of and Apocolypsis were presented in pointed out in Cue on March 7, India. The fifty- member Jamaica repertory. A ll were in Poli h. ei 1976, "In ten year , the company National Dance Company also ther critics nor audience appeared had almo t inglehandedly kept appeared for the fi rst time. to mind. Eighty to one hundred America con ciou of the mo t vital During the late sixties and earl y people were admitted to each per trend in the European theater seventies, Academy audiences were formance at the W ashington Square and it ha a bu hel of international offered some of the most innovative Methodi t C hurch, the site chosen award to prove it." They al o won and stimulating theater of the day by G rotowski to pre ent the Aca the Vernon Rice Award for excel classical, contemporary and experi demy- pan ored work. "It is uch lence in the Off-Broadway theater in mental. T he Living T heater, under rich theater; it techniques-the 1972. the direction of Julian Beck and a toni hing control of the actor in I aac Ba hevt inger' Yentl wa Judith Mali na, made the Academy voice and body, the conden arion of given it world premiere at Chel ea, its home fo r the month of October real time into implo ive unit , the and The Brechti\Veill Happ) End in 1968. T he company had ju t interaction of tmpul e and pattern had tt ew York premiere. Both returned from four year touring are the true, ec tatically my tenou later had ·ucce ·ful run on Broad Europe and brought with it a unique procedure of art rather than the way. Hal Pnnce's productton of production of ophocle ' Anttgone, thin tactic of manipulation or Leonard Bernstetn' Candide was a fa cinating ver ion of Frankenstem , ingratiation employed by mo t thea born tn the Chel·ea' 199-·eat thea and their own Mystenes and Smaller ter," wrote Jack Kroll in ews<~..veek, ter, It ved on Broadway for two years Pieces and Paradise Now. The latter December 1 , 1969. and ha recent!) been remcarnated wa the talk of the theater world. And it wa in 1969 that the by the ew York City Opera. It wa al o the focus of the Brooklyn Chelsea T heater Center, after three The Peter Brook productton of Poli ce Department. Word had years of makeshift quarter tn a A Mulsttmmer 1 tghr's Dream \\ tth reac hed the Precmct Captain that couple of Manhattan churche , the Roval hakesreare Compam ... RrRhr .l.km HPtt ,nd anJ John 1-..tllll (on \It mg>) ll'lth '>anr ht'lt/nrum ,m,/ D 29 Top Nuna £,pnc (le{!) and anocher memher of her compan' 111 chl Amt.'nct~n J>rt.'mlt:rt.' of Yenna, b, ch< .~una b/>t.'T! Compam oj <;pam Ocwh:r 17. 1972. BO(wm The "Cme \ccne" from chc umiJ premiere of Roberc \XIil\on \ The Life anJ Times of agmund heud, December 18, 1969 spent two weeks at the Academy in 197 1 following a limited run in Manhattan. This Dream, a milestone in theatrical concept and execution, placed the ac tion in a white boxlike fore t tudded with trapeze and featuring a huge red feather throne. Brook chose the Academy becau e of it · low-priced ticket poli cy and it audience make-up. It could not have been more fortu itous. People from Manhattan who had never been in Brooklyn arri ved by ubway and car. People from Brookl yn decided to ee what wa going on at the big bui lding on Lafayette Ave nue. A marvelous audi ence resulted. It was during negotiations for the Dream that Lichtenstein devel oped a special, long-la ring relation hi p with the Royal hake- peare Company-one that later enabled him to imporr many of their mo t out tanding production from tratford-Upon-Avon and the Ald wych T heater in London for exclusive ew York or American engagement . An immediate kin hip wa fo rmed with Brook, too, who later returned to the Academy with hi International Center for Theater Re earch. The Jewi h tate T heater of Bucharest offered The Dybbuk and The Pearl ecklace in Yiddi h. uria Espert and her company pre ented Yerma tn pant h with tmultaneous Eng ltsh tran latton, wh tl e tran form tng the Opera I lou e rage tnto a gtant trampoltne whtch mgentoush adjusted ttself to the plam , htlls and cave!'. of Lorca's pam for the productton. C l 1\'C Barnes wrote tn the ew York Times " ... an exctttng, crone and totall y sttmulat mg expcnment . .. tn whtch the actors are tn conttnual half-dance and tn whtch words are torn from them h) the tcnstons ot movement and ~ttllnc~~." )0 Robert Wilson's marathon, The the New World, the Vienna Sym In 1973, C harles Ziff, Director Life and Times of Joseph Stalin, pre phony and the Minnesota Symphony of Promotion and Audience Devel sented a cast of over one hundred, - made tops in Brooklyn. opment, brought automation to including thirty-two dancing In 1970, the Brooklyn Institute's the Academy- and with it, test ostriches and Wilson's own 88-year Board of Trustees and the Acade marketing, electronic forecasting o ld grandmother from Waco, T exas. my' Board of Governor jointly and "product" identification. The Eighteen thou and pounds of sce agreed that it was in everyone's best acronym "BAM" replaced the more nery took twenty technicians six intere t for the Academy to become cumbersome and, by then, mislead day to set up . It was not exactly an independent performing arts ing "Brooklyn Academy of Music" "bu ine s a u ual"; but Stalin was the organiza tion once again. and the BAM logo was created. third Wilson epic of four to be pro A new corporation was fo rmed Sales brochure , tailored specifically duced at the Academy, and the with a separate Board of Directors. to market segments, offered low stage crew wa up for the challenge. Seth Faison was elected C hairman priced packages of mu ic, dance or The piece ran for two consecutive and Donald M. Blinken, President. theater, or a mixture of all three. Friday and Saturday nights begin The new Board assumed the respon The result was large pre-sold sub ning at 7 P.M. and ending at 7 A .M. sibility of running the Academy, scri ption audiences. Box office The other Wilson-penned, W il and renegotiated the agreement with income and cash fl ows could be son-directed, W ilson-designed works the C ity of New York, retaining projected scientifica ll y. at the Academy were The Life and city support for the building's main When Lichtenstein took over as Tim es of Sigmund Freud (1969), tenance and operations. director of BAM, two major spaces Deafman' s Glance (19 71) and The $ A few years later, after helping in the building were leased to out Value of Man (1975), a collabora to chart and steer the Academy's side organizations: a top fl oor studio tion with C hristopher Knowles. new course, Seth Faison stepped was u ed by a karate school; the The Academy and The Black down as Chairman. Paul Lepercq, ballroom, chopped up into class Theater Alliance jointly presented an international investment banker rooms with a false ceiling, three weeks of sixteen different and avid dance enthusiast, accepted accommodated the Brooklyn Aca theater groups with musicals, vaude the position. Forbes magazine had demy Prep School. Income from the ville acts, poetry dramatizations written in 1970: "If you push two rentals in no way offset the and straight plays in 1973. There Lepercq to explain why he's in this problems they presented in regard to was also a "Jazz and Blues" series on stock or that, he'll usually answer: the general ecurity and operation Sunday afternoons which featured 'Good management. If there's one of the building. Therefore, when the such talents as "Big Mama" Thorn thing I've learned, it is to put a leases expired, they were not ton, Odetta, Joe Newman & premium on management. ' " renewed. Friends, Sonny Terry and Brownie He provided strong, po itive At about this time, funds from McGhee, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis leadershi p and became something of the Andrew W. Me llon Foundation Quartet and Sonny Ro llins. Inner a mentor to Lichtenstein. He helped and the city were awarded to BAM C ity Dance Repertory Company, restructure the administrative for the conver ion of the ballroom Manuel Alum Dance Company, and respon ibilities of the enior staff into a pace for experimental work. Mariano Parra Spanish Dance Com and introduced new management Architect Edward Knowles designed pany were engaged for several technique and fisca l controls from and supervi ed the renovation. The performances a well that year. the corporate world. He met regu 60-year-old pia terwork wa so dam The Brooklyn Philharmonia larly with Lichtenstein and the aged that the wall were stripped (now call ed Brookl yn Philharmonic department heads-usuall y over rye to the original brick, the wood par Symphon y Orchestra), with Sieg bagels and coffee at 8 A.M. in his quet fl oors were repaired, and a fri ed Landau conducting, presented handsome, open offi ce space on kitchen, dressing rooms and rest four to five full concerts each year. Park Avenue in Manhattan. room were constructed. The Board T he Boston Symphony gave a regu Lepercq not only gave generously named the space after Paul Lepercq lar seri es of annual concerts, and of his time and advice, but contrib in gratitude for his generosity and other great orchestras- the Pitts uted heavil y to BAM's general service to BAM. burgh Symphony, the Symphony of operating fund each year. Peter Brook, who had contrib- 31 Clocktt l.lt?, from Wf> left Tht? I t?/><:lnJ \pt~cl' the form 1\.:nn.:rh Rmkn, Ro.~t· \l,m, \\"nghr, Tu ,!,_, Tikn1> tllltl Tom R,m,· 111 Tu ,/d Tiknp\ ,\u:\ l e~.: durmg rile 1976 IL'ttlon ,\lrnn" /.orm 111 rltt uvrld />rc.:nucre of Hllllf'l.t, }t111lltll' 26, 1972 uted hi idea on the ballroom Included in the project were a and the fa ll season began on ched conver ion , brought hi Interna two-story roof addition to house ule with a concert by the Brooklyn tional Center fo r Theater Re earch administrative offices, a large Philharmonic on October 15. Mayor company to inaugurate the Lepercq rehearsa l hall, and a canteen for Beame, at the concert, was pre Space in eptember, 1973. The ani ts and staff; in tallation of new sented with a golden bucket for his troup performed their own Festival of computerized lighting y terns and help in "bailing out" BAM. Birds and conducted acting work new ventilation system in the Modern dance continued to be shops during an extended re idency. Opera House and Playhouse; com an essential ingredient of the total everal architecturally undistin plete renovation of five fl oors of BAM menu: the companies of gui hed buildings aero Ashland dressing rooms; a rolling gantry in Merce C unningham, Paul Taylor, Place from BAM were razed to make the Lepercq Space grid; construction Murray Louis and A lwin Nikolais a large, paved lor during this same of access ramps for the handicapped; attracted audiences to the O pera time period. The results were not major renovation of the main lobby; House. Lar Lubovitch , Pilobolus, only attended parking for BAM renovation of public restrooms; Dianne Mcintyre, Annabelle Gam patrons but a view of the building installation of a new coat room; son, Kenneth King, Senta Driver, from bustling Flatbu sh A venue as construction of a patron lounge and Douglas Dunn, Valerie Hammer, well. Food and drink were available a costume shop; exterior marquee Judy Pad ow, Andy deGroat, and in the beautiful lobby and express repainting and masonry repa inting; Nina Wiener performed in the Play buses ran to and from Manhattan for and parking lot refurbishing. house or Lepercq Space. Laura Dean, mo t performances. Just prior to this major construc Lucinda C hilds and Trisha Brown, During 1975-76, the old Music tion work, there occurred the most first seen in the Lepercq, began Hall was transformed into a working potentially devastating crisis since performing on the Opera House theater under the direction of archi fire destroyed the Montague Street stage. tect James Stewart Pol hek. The Academy. On Labor Day morning in T wyla Tharp and Dancers began Booth Ferris Foundation and the city 1977, just as the staff was gearing a six-week residency at BAM in provided the funds with which to up for a new fall season, a city water March of 1976 with ten "sold out" restore the wood paneling of the main broke under the street on performances in the Opera House interior, remove the concert shell to Ashland Place and began flooding led by the world premiere of Give open up wings and fl y space for the building within minutes. Almost and Take. It was the company's first scenery, and to expand the stage. $1 million in damages resulted. major New York season and coin The Helen Owen Carey Playhouse, Lichtenstein recalls, "As grueling as cided with Tharp's tenth anniversary named in honor of Governor Carey's the aftermath was, it was also as a choreographer. The company first wife, opened on May 23, 1976, extraordinarily reassuring to feel the returned the following season for with a gala benefit show hosted wave of support that embraced us. eight performances and, again, in by Alan King. Helen Hayes headed the Emergency February, 1979. Then, starting in 1978, the Campaign, and additional aid came The T wyla Tharp Dance Foun Brooklyn Academy of Music began from the city, the state, Washing dation currently makes BAM its a $4.8 mi llion comprehensive pro ton, D.C., foundations, corporations, home. The management occupies gram of renovation and construction and thousands of individuals, not offices on the top floor, where there involving the entire building, made just from Brooklyn or the other are two rehearsal studios available possible by the U.S. Department boroughs or the metropolitan area, to the dancers. Plans are now being of Commerce's Local Public W orks but from all over the country." developed with the Tharp Founda Program, city capital improvement Mayor Abraham D. Beame tion for a permanent company home funds, private foundation grants responded to the crisis by appointing in Brooklyn. (Booth Ferris, Surdna, Emma an eleven-agency task force headed The Pennsylvania Ballet, consid Sheafer Trust, J.M. Kaplan Fund), by City Director of Operations, ered by many to be the finest and other sources. The architectural Lee Oberst, who was on loan from regional ballet company in America, firm of Hardy Holzman & Pfeiffer New York Telephone Compan y. made BAM its permanent New were commissioned to design and More than 400 city workers were York home from 1973 through 1980. oversee the work. assigned to Oberst's clean-up crew , Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey 33 ~- Kirkland, fo r the first time dancing monic ymphony O rche train 1971. seri e , which concentrates on el together in ew York, appeared Alan Rich, in New York, ovember dom-heard work of twentieth with the Penn ylvanians at a gala 20, 1972, commented, "Lu ka Fo s century campo er . benefit for BAM in ovember, ha been working hard to change A comprehensive chamber mu ic 1974. the image of the Brookl yn Philhar erie wa initiated in 1973 by viol- The an Franci co Ballet monia from just a nice pickup i t carr ickrenz. The erie received uch a warm welcome from orchestra giving imi tation of Man pre ent world-famous ensemble the audience and critics duri ng hattan-e rablishment concerts into uch a rhe Beaux Art Trio, the their BAM sea on in 1978 that they an en emble with a programming Waverl y Con orr, and the Vermeer, inspired a whole ea on of "Ballet per a nali ty of it own; he ha set up C leveland, Juilliard tri ng, and America" in 1980-81. The San his 'Marathon' concerts, great long, Tokyo Quarters. Impresario ick Franciscan returned to kick off the vari ed programs of music by a single renz al o creates new group by six-company serie , followed by compo er or c hool, including pairing well-e tablished mu ician the Lo Angele , C leveland and orche tral, recital and chamber with promi ing you ng performer . Hou ton Ballet companie (all in · work , that make for a fu ll and wide Beside ickrenz him elf, regular their ew York debut ) and the ranging mu ical evening." Fo al o include Paula Robi on, Kenneth Ohio and Penn ylvania Ballet . continued the tradition of offering Cooper, Ant Kavafian, Andre T he 19 2-83 "Ballet Interna everal maJOr concert each year, Michel chub, Yo-Yo Ma, Gerard tional" gave dance buff: a chance to adding renowned in trumental or chwar:, Walter Trampler, Charl e ee ix dramatically different ballet vocal olo isrs to mo t program . Wad worth, Emanuel Ax, Jatme and modern dance companie from Gue r arti r have included, among Laredo and haron Robin on playmg Eu rope: the orwegtan ational other , Ruggiero Ricci, Je ye or a blend of le · er known and con Ballet, the Cullberg Ballet Company man, Peter erkm, Jano tarker, temporary work wtth the cia tc . from weden, the Dutch ational Alicia J e Larrocha, Regine Crespin The ene began with four concert Ballet, the Ba el Ballet, the Ham and Andre Watt . arurday after a year and oon popular demand burg Baller and London Contem noon "Family ymphony" cri es are expanded the ene · to twenty con- porary Dance Theatre. we ll attended throughout the year. cert a ·eason. Lukas Foss rook over a mu te And in 1975 Foss msmured the tckren;: also rrogrammed orne dtrecror for the Brooklyn Philhar- award-wmnmg "Meet the Modern " rolltckmg good "Country Mustc H Oppo,ICt .• 1~;~ It/! co n~hc P,n1l1 R, ,I " 1 t WI'C 111 BA\ I ' , h.nnb,>r :\h,hdlt' Iu,<~ (ttll!<'rl .nu.l P,·lm,,/t,ml•l Rlllt'l ,omp,!m lllt'IIIPt 1' 111 L nJcr dw ::lun. Ballet America a nat ion aI <"elebra tion of dance Abote lefc Lukill Fo~.\ cond11cCmg che Brookhn Philhar momc m t1 reht!tlrst!l Abote nghc "Bt.~llec Amaict.~" poscer de\IJ(IIed b) Exxon Corpomcwn as pare of IC.I TMJOr supporc of che /9 0-8/ dance .1enes. Queen Sdua and Kmg Carl Gw.caf of Sweden (m formal drm), Bn'I~IC Cui/berg and Macs Ek. Ar!ll!lt Co-dm!tWrs of che Cui/berg Bailee (becueen che LJII<'t!n £1lltl kmg) and members of che compa1n che mghc folloumg che compa n)'s Amennm de/me, Nowmber 9, 1982. VioliSC Scocc N1ckrenz, d1reccor of BAM\ chamber mttSIC senes. Festivals" for BAM during the late explained: "I believe th i doubling hake peare' The Taming of the seventies, which tre sed Blue G ras , of the king and Bo lingbroke may Shrew introduced Jane Lapotaire and C reole and old-time folk mu ic. help to reveal the nature of the Jim Dale to ew York audience O pera reappeared briefly fo r a play. Both are character who con- in the Opera Hou e; an adaptation few ea on during the arne era: ciou ly a sumc roles. l would like of Moliere's Scapino starring the first, with Vincent La elva' ew the audience to be more than u ually acrobatic Dale and introducing Ian York Grand Opera and later with aware of thi and of a pecial acting C harl e on (recently een in the Ian Stra fogel' ew Opera Theater. duel between them." Sylvia Plath, award-winning movie, Chariots of The "Briti h Theatre ea on" a dramatization of the late poet' Fire) and T errence Ratigan' French brought the Royal Shake peare work, and two anthologies, The Without Tears both played in the Company back to Brookl yn along Hollow Crown and Pleasure and Lepercq pace. Edith Oliver, with the Young Vic and the Actors Repentance with ir Michael Red reviewing Scapino in the ew Yorker, Company for the "theatrical event grave, followed. Various member of claimed, "The production is a trea of 1974." The R C' production the company al o worked with ure che t-a glorious cornucopia of Richard ll opened thi "Stratford Brookl yn Coll ege performing an of every kind of comedy, with no Upon-Flatbu h" fe rival, employing tudent and faculty that pring. theatrical tradition left untapped." the unusual convention of alternat The Young Vic, Frank Dunlop's T he Actor Company, featuring ing role for the two lead actor - exuberant off hoot of Britain' Ian McKellen, pent a month at Ian Ri chardson and Ri chard Pa co. National Theatre, featured three BAM. They pre ented R. D. Laing' John Barton, the director, plays in it Ameri can debut at BAM: Knots, Chekhov' Wood Demon, Ian McKellen m che Amencan t>remrt>re of che Actors Compan) production of The WooJ Demon, )anuan 29, 1974 Rrghc hm Rrchardson, Sebu.111an Slutu and Rrclutrd Pa.sco m lht Amennm pn.:nlll'T< of lht Ro,,r/ Slurke5peare Comfl 36 Congreve' The Way of the World hake peare' Love's Labours Lost in everal performances that pring. and the premiere of their new pro the Opera Hou e. A small -scale T he Abbey Theatre of Dublin, duction of hakespeare' King Lear. ver ion of hake peare' King Lear with another Bicentennial gift from BAM wa awarded a pecial wa pre ented in the Lepercq pace, abroad, presented ean O'Casey' Obte cttanon by the Village Vozce m along with a new anthology called The Plough and the Stars to capacity June, 1974, fo r the pre entation He That Plays the King. Playhouse audience in ovember, of the "British Theatre ea on." The company returned again in 1976. Siobhan McKenna and Cyril The Royal hake peare Com late April, 1976, under the au pices C u ack tarred in this tirring drama; pany returned again to BAM in of the Briti h Bicen tennial Arts and Eamon Ke ll y, another Abbey 1975 . This vi it was co-sponsored by Committee in celebration of the actor, presented a one-man show the ew York U ni ver ity School 200th Birthday of the United State . entitled In My Father's House. Thi of the Arts. The re idency com- Alan Howard (fir t een at BAM was the fir t Abbey tour of the pri ed a comprehen ive educational in Peter Brook' Midsummer Night's United States in thirty-eight year . component funded by the National Dream in 1971 and, more recently, BAM offered an "American Endowment for the Humanities starring on Broadway in the Royal Theater Season" during December, which involved lecture , eminars Shakespeare Company' production 1975, and January, 1976, by pre and workshops at NYU, the Univer- of Good) led the company in a enting three Kennedy Center ity of Denver and the Univer ity highly praised production of Shake- Bicentennial production : Tennessee of Nebraska at O maha. David Jones peare' Henry V. The antho logy Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth star directed Gorky's Summerfolk and The Hollow Crown al o returned fo r ring Irene W orth and Christopher }rm Dale m the Amerrcan premrere of the Yo11ng Vrc's prod11ction of Scaprno, March, 1974. Left: Angeln Newman, Sroblu.m McKenna, John Kavanagh and Cyrrl C11.sack m the Amencan premrere of rhe Abbey Thearre Company's producuon of The Plough and the tars, ovember 16, 1976 37 Walken; G eorge . Kaufman and Edna Ferber's The Royal Family (whic h later moved to Broadway) starring Eva LeG allienne, Ro emary Harri , George G ri zzard and Sam Levene; and 0 ' eill ' Long Day's journey into Night with Ja on Robard , Jr. , Zoe Caldwell, Michael Moriarty and Kevin Conway. The en thusia tic re pon e by pre and public alike to both the Bri ti h and Ameri can theater ea son persuaded Lichten rein that there was a need and de ire on the part of many ew Yorkers for a cia ical repertory theater company. Frank Dunlop, who had brought the Young Vic to BAM in March , L974 , wa a ked to be artistic direc tor of a new company. Dunlop produced the fir t ew York ha wing of Joseph and the Amazing T echnicolor Dreamcoat tar ring C leavon Little during the C hri tmas ea on of L9 76-77. Lang don Mitchell' The ew York Idea followed in March, L977 , and C hekhov' Three Sisters arrived in Apri I. The econd ea on offered Shaw' Devil's Disciple and Molnar' The Play's the Thing, both in Febru ary , 1978, fo llowed by hakespeare' julius Caesar and Beckett' Waiting for Godot from March to June. The company, over the two sea on , included Rene Auberj onoi , Ell en Bur tyn , tephen Collin , Blythe Danner, Ri chard Dreyfu , Denholm Ell1ott, T ovah Feld huh, Margaret Hamtlton , Ro emary Har Top. ri , Barnard Hughe , Milo 0' hea, Zoe Cu/Ju·e/1 dnd ]cLmn Rob.:mis. ]r . m the A ustm Pendleton, George Ro e, Neu York premwre of th t! K.:nned) Center\ C hn arandon, C arole hellev and produ(Uon of Long Day\ Journc\ Into 1gh t, am Waterston. ]t.tmwn 26. /976 After a year's h taru , a izable Bouom grant fro m the Ford Foundation , Rmemcn'i /lam,, Tm·ah h khhuh and Ellen wh1ch was marched by fu nd from Burlt'l'n m h ank Dunlop\ Jnoducuon of Three Sl>tCr>, Apnl, 1977 member:.; of the BAM Board and van ou foundations and corpora non:.;, helped to redtrect the BAM Theater Company. David Jones, a veteran Royal Shakespeare Com pany director whose productions of Summerfolk and Love's Labours Lost had appeared at BAM during 1975, a embled a company of actors, director , and designers to produce cia ical drama as we ll as le er-known work . The new BAM Theater Com pany pre ented 149 performances of ix play in eighteen weeks during 1979-80: hakespeare' The Winter's Tale, C harle MacArthur's Johnny on a Spot, Gorky's Barbarians (in irs American premiere), Rachael C rorher's He and She, and a double bill of Brech t' The Wedding and Feydeau' The Purging. T he company returned for its second ea on with a core group Above: from the previou year and addi The firs t New York producuon of Jo eph and tional arri ri c per onne l. O nce rhe Amazmg Techn1color Oreamcoar opened again , fi ve ambitious production ar BAM on December 23, 1976. were pre enred: hake peare' A Right: Midsummer Night's Dream, Far Brian M urra)' and She1la Allen m a A Mid quhar' The Recruiting Officer, Ibsen's summer 1ghr\ Dream, wh1ch opened rhe The Wild Duck, Brecht' Jungle of 1980-81 BAM Theater Company season. Cities and Sophocle ' Oedipus the King. An educatio nal component offered audience guides and post performance discussions. Subscri ptions to the BAM Thea ter Company sea on had grown by thirty per cent over the fi rst year; yet production costs had also risen peri lou ly and the general economy was in a down wing. It was not po ible to continue the repertory company, and at the end of the second ea on it was suspended. In the meantime, after eleven year of consi tently high quality productio n and countle s awards, the C hel ea T heater Center moved back to Manhattan in 1978. Con struction on a massive scale was progre sing throughout the bui lding and the C helsea' T hird Theater wa affected by the work. 39 lntemauonal Afnkan Amencan Ballet m For two ea ons ( 197 -79 and and Con Edi on. T he annual Woh.oJong, for "DanceAfnca." dunng 1979- 0), C hel eaite Michael "DanceAfrica" fe rival, conceived in Apnl. 1972 David, De McAnuff, herman 197 , i the fir t and only African Warner and Ed trong, under the American dance fe rival in the banner of Dodger Theater, produced United rare . C huck Davi , a Barri e Keeffe' Gimme Shelter, movement peciali t, educator, and T ankred Dor t' On Mount Chimbor ma ter of African dance, erve a azo, lawomir Mrozek' Emigres arti tic director and help develop and Jeff Wan hel' Holeville. They the program each year. Both ritual al o pre ented the Bread and Puppet and celebratory dance from African Theater for a week each year. nations are featured. On occasion The 1978-79 eason brought there ha been an African bazaar in theater import from a fa r away a the BAM parking lor in connection Pari and London with the ComeJie with the festival. Francai e production of Moliere's "Fe tividad," a celebration of Le M1santhrope and Feydeau' La Hi panic dance anJ mu ic, "Get On Puce a l'Orellle and the ational Board," a go pel fe rival featunng Youth Theatre of Great Britain in evangelt r , smgers, band· and cho Good Lads at Heart, and as close by ru c , and " reps m T 1me" and a Connecticut with the Good peeJ "Tapp tn' Uptown," two tap dance O pera !lou e\ production of George extravaganzas coordmared by Hont anJ Ira Gershwin' 1925 mu ical, oles, rap dancer extraordma1re, Tiptoes. were all part of rhe commumty pro T he la rge Black anJ Hi pamc grammmg. The Jama1ca anonal communities in Brooklyn have Dance Company has come back to enthusiasticall y ·upporred and con thrill BAM audience· three t1mes tributed ro BAM program , many over the Ia t ten years. of wh1ch have been sponsored over Another communtty favonre ha~ rhe ye;m h) Brooklyn Unton Ga~ been the "B1g Band Ja:: enes" 40 Hom Colt'> of rht Cop Gyl \\' which ha featured the legendary level each of the fifteen or twemy Lionel Hampron , Benny Goodman, differem play , dance group , and the Coum Ba ie Band with Cab mu ic program offered each year. Calloway, the Buddy Rich band "With confidence in it program with Mel T orme, Pre ervation Ha ll ming and with pride in it refurbished Jazz Band, and the Tommy Dor ey plam, the Academy ha been able Orche rra with Connie Haines. of late to give more anemion ro the "Dance Black America," with long- range problems of urban renewal Brookl yn Union Gas as it corporate in downtown Brookl yn," reported sponsor, wa produced joi ntly by Brendan Gill in the New York Times the tate University of New York Magazine on Ocrober 24, 1976. and BAM and brough t rogether key That same year BAM helped to form fi gure in Black dance, uch a Pearl the Brooklyn Education and Cul Primu and Katherine Dunham, tural Alliance (BECA) with nine with amhropologi ts, cultural and other private in titution , in or near dance hi rori an , fo lk lori ts, critics downtown Brooklyn , which hare and mu icologi t for four days in the arne concerns about the bor April, 1983. ough. The "BAM Performing Arts In 19 l , BAM decided ro Program for Young People," a com as ume a major role in pearheading Schoolchtlaren and a reacher hoardmg a bus munity ourreach erie , ha touched the revitalization and redevelopment owsrde rhe Academ> afrer allendmg a "Per the li ve of almo t a million and a of its own ixteen-block area. To fonnmg Am for Ymmg People" performance. half choolchildren ince it incep direct the effort, BAM organized a tion fifteen years ago. The program local developmem corporation (the i ba ed upon the conviction that BAM/LDC), embarked upon a cam li ve performances are an imegral paign to fund the ini tiative, and part of every child' education. hired a profe ional director who had Great care is taken in c hoosing and a background in real estate develop recommending ro particular grade ment and fin ance. 41 The project area recently was landscape and buildings restoration made an "area of concentration" by program; Polytechnic Institute of the Local Initiatives Support Corpo New York plans to develop the ration , which matches funds dollar Metropolitan Technology Center on for dollar up to $250,000. Brooklyn sixteen acres surrounding its Jay Union Gas Company has provided Street campus (an investment of an intere t-free loan of $300,000 $210 million); Borough Hall is to to purchase the outstanding mort undergo a total restoration after the gage on the derelict Lafayette Hotel Brooklyn Bridge Centennial celebra directly across from the front tions wind down; the Bridge itself entrance of the Academy, and to is scheduled for a major restoration; assist in its development. The pri the Brookl yn Botanic Garden has vate owner of the hotel donated his a new conservatory and education interest in the building to the LDC, center on the drawing board; and and a 34-unit residential apartment plans for the Fulton Ferry district, building with a ground fl oor restau already active with traffic to and rant and a garden are being from the Ri ver Cafe, Bargemusic, developed. The financing package and the Ferry Bank restaurant, are for the T wyla Tharp company's projected for major development, permanent home at the Strand including housing and recreational Theater on Fu lton Street is now and commercial space. Left to nght: M1ke Teatum, Area Development being negotiated. Brownstoning by residents Director for Brooklyn Union Gas's Cinderella During the 1970s, sections of continues to thrive in many sections Projects, Hadd1e Bowers, community leader, downtown Brooklyn witnessed a of Brooklyn through a combined and Dav1d H 1rsch, architect, m from of project me. remarkable rejuvenation: the first effort of individuals and businesses. office building in New York to And according to Peter D. Satins install its own independent power in New York Affairs, spring 1974, generating plant was built at 111 "Because much of the west central Livingston Street; Con Edison and portion of the borough is dominated the New York Telephone Company by brownstone neighborhoods, by both erected handsome new build the end of the century Brooklyn will ings designed by Skidmore, Owings be home to the most exclusive col and Merrill that incorporated such lection of restored nineteenth urban ameni ties as arcades and new century townhouses in the United subway entrances; Fu lton Street, State , outshining Boston, Philadel from Adams to Flatbush , was turned phia, Washington and ew into a mall for easy-access shopping Orleans." with Abraham & Straus on one Complementing Brooklyn end and the new Albee Square Mall Union's Cinderella Program, Con (a pleasant indoor shopping center) Edison' Renai sance effort give at the other; and Atlantic Avenue technical a i tance to non-profit became a mecca of antique shops, neighborhood organizations that are regional restaurants and converted rehabi li tating multi-family trucrure li ving lofts. for co-op conversion. Since it 197 Relocation of everal large tart, thi project also ha helped organizations and city agencies to spur many rehabs. Brooklyn ha brought an influx of Flatbu h A venue between new worker to the downtown area. Atlantic A venue and Grand Army Prospect Park, a national landmark, Plaza i now experiencing a revitali is in the midst of a $40 million zation. "An improved environment 42 fo r bu ine activity grew out of G overnment in 1970, i hawing Lucmda Child, Dance Compan) m che Amen the effort of the Triangle Parks sign of renewed vigor. There is a can premrere of Rdamc Calm, December A ociation in the 1970 . It mem drive to attract mJu try to the 4 .3 18, 1981, m pare of cht! ";\:t!\1 \\'ate" serres. ber were community activist who million ·quare feet of pace in it worked ucce full y at clearing and 178 building , Its six acre of p1er land caping the tri angular ' afery space and it ix graving dock . The zone ' . . . a long tanding bl ight," U . . avy i using the Yard fo r according to O lan . 0 er in the refitting several ship . New York Tim es on ovember 14, And, in cooperation with the 1982. There are now 173 businesses O ffi ce of the Mayor, the O ffi ce in 194 torefront - bui ldings that of the Borough Pre ident, the were all but de erred te n years ago. Brookl yn C hamber of Commerce The Bedford- tuyvesant Restora and other interc ted busine s groups, tion Corporation , tarred in 1967 a concerted effort has been made through the intere t of Jacob Javits to attract other A rmed Forces' oper and Robert Kennedy and the know ation to the Brooklyn avy Yard how of John Doar and Franklin and other areas in the ew York Thoma , ha continued to a ist harbor. with phy ical rehabilitation , mixing "In fact, a ll over Brooklyn , in economic growth, cultural activitie a ll aspect of Its li fe 1 a new vital and ocial ervice . It wa Re tora ity . ... T his .spint abound in the tion that attracted the IBM plant to hundred block associations, the a lea ed building and then con core of community group , the vinced the management to buil d a borough pl anning boards . . . shar new 170,000- quare-foot factory ing a commitment to Brooklyn ," there which provides over 400 job . conc luded Brooklyn USA in its In the other d irection , the epil ogue. Brooklyn avy Yard , bough t by the A t BAM, the" ext Wave," C ity of ew York from the Federa l devoted to new masters of variou 43 art forms, wept in during the fall of 198 1 with the New York C ity pre miere of Philip G la s' opera about Mohanda K. Gandhi, Satyagraha. Call ed by ewsweek "that rare thing-a though tful new opera that ucceed , " the piece artracted a broad audience pecuum. Dance by Laura Dean Dancer and Mu ician , a premiere by Tri h a Brown Dance Company to mu ic by Robert Ashley, and an evening- length coll aboration of a dance work involving Luc inda C hild , Roberr Wil on and Jon G ib on completed the "Next Wave" season. "It could have been a ri ky program to pre - enr. But it wa · a clear ucce s, with fu ll houses cheering things as dra tic a a an krit opera (to c ite the mo t triking example) night after night," wrote David territt in the Chnstwn crence MonitOr, eptember 27, 19 2. For" ext Wave" 19 2- 3, teve Reich and Mu ician pre ented what amounted to a twelve-year ret ro pective in two program over four evenings du ri ng which fluti t Ran om Wilson performed the world premiere of Reich' newe t work. The Flying Karamazov Brother then surfaced with their pecial brand of "le nouvelle Vaudeville." G lenn Branca, one of the more mnovattve and contro\·er ral young compo er~. rattled wmdow and ear drums after Retch; mtxed-medra uper~tar Laune Ander on pre enred the wo rld premrere of Umted tate . Dougkll Pcrr\ tl\ \lulwnJ..L, K GanJlu m Pans I-IV rn etght" o ld out" per rht: opt:rtl .It\ ,1gr.1h.1 m 1!.\ .'Jeu York C11' formance~; then Dana Rtet: and f>rfmlt:r< on Nm.:mber 6. /9 I Dancer" appeared, followed by cho reographer" Btl! T. ]one and Amre Zane, who JOmed force wrth Jazz drummer Max Roach and ptantst Connte Crothers ro complete the senes. "ArdeJ grearh lwer the years b\ such ad\ rsors a" t mon Karl wets and Judith Daykin, hi current asso have been inconceivable for most ciate, Li chten re in has scouted of them a few year ago." In A pril , ta lent from around the world, always Lichtenstein received the 1983 trying to bring New York audiences Capezio Dance Award , which hon a balance of tradition and innova ors lifetime achievement in the tion , fore ign and dome tic art, the dance fi eld. controver ia l and the commercia ll y Almost a century and a quarter viable. H e manage to keep a canny have passed since Madame Colson, balance between bu ine s sense and the leading diva of 1861, graced uperb ani tic ta te, keeping him the A cademy rage. Laurie Ander self-and BAM--open to change," son , magic media weaver, took her wrote Rob Baker in the Daily News, place in 1983. But so did the H am October 10, 1982. burg Ball et, the Li ttle Theatre of In Jan uary, 1983, the Village the Deaf, and DanceAfrica, a Voice bestowed a "hero" award upon we ll as the Brooklyn Phil harmon ic. Lich tenstein , citing h is support of BAM mainta in a balanced diet the avant garde. "Nobody's done as by feasting on the "new" whil e par much to make what used to be fa r taking of traditional fare as well. out respectable, or to give artists T his is "G rowing U p in a shot at large- cale work that would Brooklyn." Laune Anderson m !he world prem1ere of the complete cycle UntteJ States: Parts I-IV, February 3, 1983 Parnc1panrs m !he "Nex! Wave" senes, lef! !0 nght: Minam Degan, Tnsha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Robert Wilson, Constance de l ong (siwng), Douglas Perry, Morris Moshe Cote/ (sitting), Brenda Feliciano, Robert Cornman, )on Gibson. 45 ON STAGE AT BAM (A Partial Roster) Abbey Theatre of Bill Balcom Calvin Coolidge Lehman Engel Dublin Edwin Booth Kenneth Cooper Jean Erdman Loretta Abbot John Wilkes Booth The Copasetics Nuria Espert Actors Company of Victor Borge Aaron Copland Company of G reat Britain Boston Symphony Katherine Cornell Spain Maude Adams Orchestra Regine C respin Simon Estes Larry Adler Charles Boyer Richard C rooks Alvm Atley Glenn Branca Milton C ross C lifton Fadiman Woody Allen Bread and Puppet Connie C rothers Viola Farber Manuel Alum Theater Rachel C rothers Geraldine Farrar Amencan Ballet Bunny Briggs C ullberg Ballet Suzanne Farrell Company Brooklyn Mcree C unnmgham Eliot Feld Amencan Ballet Philharmonic Cyril C usack T ovah Feldshuh Theatre Tnsha Brown Jose Ferrer C leveland Amory Dave Brubeck Dagar Brothers Fires of London Judtth Anderson Eric Bruhn Jim Dale Kirsten Flagstad Laune Anderson William Jennings W alter Damrosch Eugene Fodor Marian Anderson Bryant Dancers of Mali Lukas Foss Sherwood Anderson Frank Buck Alexandra Danilova Carla Fracci Louis Armstrong Pearl S. Buck Blythe Danner Robert Frost The Art of Black Budapest String Oarpana Dance Dance and Music Quartet Company of India Annabelle Gamson Chester A . Arthur Ellen Burstyn Bette Davis George and Ira Vladimtr Ashkenazy Lt. Comm. Richard C huck Davis Gershwin Robert Ashley E. Byrd Laura Dean Jon Gibson Rene Aubeqonots Carmen de Lavallade Walter Gieseking Emanuel Ax Shtrley Caesar Victon a de los Jack Gilford Lew Ayres John Cage Angeles Dizzy Gillespie Sarah Caldwell Agnes de Mtlle Lillian Gish Btl and Cora Batrd Zoe Caldwell Altcia de Larrocha Philip Glass Fatth Baldwm Cab Calloway Thomas E. Dewey Bonita Glenn Ballet Caravan John Carradine Omtzulu's Afncan Benny Goodman Ballet Htspantco Joe Carroll Dancers Morton Gould Ballet Russe de Enrico Caruso Dean Otxon Martha Graham Monte Carlo Pablo Casals Anton Dolm Percy Grainger Ballet of the Bennett Cerf T om my Dorsey Jose Greco T wentteth Century Marge and Gower Orchestra C huck Green Carmen Balthrop Champion John Dos Passos George Grizzard Mikhail Baryshnikov llka C hase Paul Draper Walter Gropius Count Baste Ray C harles Ruth Draper Danny Grossman Basler Ballet of ian C harleson Theodore Dretser Horacia Guitterrez Swttzerland C helsea Theater John Drew Peg Leg Bates Center Rtchard Dreyfuss Connte Hames T alley Beatty Lucinda C htlds Senta Dn ver Arthur Hall's Afro- Juhan Beck Randolph C hurchtll Jeff Duncan American Ensemble Wtlltam Beebe Wmston C hurchtll Isadora Duncan Rtchard Halltburton Str T homas C lassical Khmer Kathen ne Dunham W alter Hampden Beecham Ballet of Cambodta Douglas Dunn Hamburg Ballet Harry Belafonte O mar C lay Wtll Durant Margaret Hamtl ton Davtd Belasco G rover C leveland Eleanora Duse Ltonel Hampton Constance Bennett C leveland Ballet Samuel Duskm Cednc Hardwtcke Lazar Berman C leveland Q uartet Rtchard Oyer- Harkne Ballet Sarah Bernhardt Van C ltburn Bennett Ro emary Ham s Leonard Bernstem C harles Coburn Coleman Hawkm Beaux Arts T no Hont Coles Amelta Earhart Enck Hawkms T heodore Btkcl Leon Collms Jultus Eastman Jascha Heifetz Jusst BJnerlmg Stephen Collms Duke Ellmgton Skttch Hender on Eubte Blake Comedte Franc:;atse Denholm Elltott Myra He Marc B lt t~ste m Kevm Conway Mtscha Elman Hal Holbrook Adolf Bohm Ba llet Altstatr Cooke Faye EmeNm Hanya Holm 46 John Lee Hooker Jane Laporaire Max Morath Pennsylvania Baller Paul Sanasardo Glen T etley Vladimir Horowi tz Jaime Laredo Mikhai l Mordkin Rudy Perez Carl Sandburg Twyla Tharp Edward Everett Sir Harry Lauder J. P. Morgan lrzhak Perlman C hris Sarandon John C harles He rron Charles Laughton Michael Moriarty AI Perryman Andre- Michel Schub T homas Barnard Hughes Eva LeGallienne Joan Morris Roberta Peters Ernestine Leon Thomas Langston Hughes Lorre Lehmann Esther Morrow Mary Pickfo rd Schumann-Hemk Lowell Thomas Doris Humphrey Tania Leon Moscow State Pilobolus Gerard Schwarz Dorothy Thompson Fanme Hurst Les Grands Ballet Symphony Ezio Pinza Andres Segov1a "B1g Mama" Aldous Huxley Canadiens Patrice Munsel Pittsburgh Senegalese National Thornton Sam Levenson Symphony Dance Company Laurence T ibberr Inner C ity Dance James Levine Ogden Nash Polish Laboratory Peter Serkm Tokyo String Repertory Sinclair Lewis National Baller Theater Rudolf Serkm Quartet Company Bella Lewirsky National Baller of Li ly Pons T ed Shawn Countess T olstoy lnsritunonal Rad1o Jose Limon Canada Rosa Ponselle Carole Shelley Mel Torme C ho1r C leavon Linle National Dance Tyrone Power Dinah Shore Arturo Toscanini lnrem anonal Center The Living Theater Company of Marie Powers Cesare Siepi T amara T oumanova for Theater London Morocco Preservation Hall Sierra Leone Dance Jennie T ourel Research Contemporary National Theatre of Jazz Band Company Walter Trampler International Dance Theater the Deaf J. B. Priestley Beverly Sills Trapp Family C hoir Afrikan-American London Festival National Youth Pearl Primus Nina Simone Helen T raubel Dance Company Ballet Theatre of G reat Sandman Sims Arthur T reacher Ron Isaac Los Angeles Baller Britain Carmel Quinn Zoot Sims Richard Tucker Jose lturbi Murray Louis Neptune Theatre of Upton Sinclair Lar Lubovitch Canada Sergei Rachmaninoff Noble Sissie Vermeer Quartet Jamaican National Netherlands Dance Basil Rathbone Cornelia O tis Shirley Verrett Dance Company Yo-Yo Ma Theatre Sir Michael Skinner Vienna Boys C hoir Harry James Archibald MacLeish New Opera Theater Redgrave O tis Skinner Vienna Symphony Joseph Jefferson Gustav Mahler New York Grand Steve Reich Mia Slavinska Jerusalem Symphony Elaine Malbin Opera Dana Reitz AI Smith C harles Wadsworth Jewish State Theater Judith Malina New York Pro Ruggiero Ricci Anna Sokolow C hristopher Walken of Bucharest Thomas Mann Musica Ian Richardson E.H. Southern Booker T. Jeffrey Baller Alicia Markova Joe Newman Captain Eddie Ruth St. Denis Washington Hall Johnson C hoir John Marrin The Nicholas Rickenbacker Janos Starker Sam Warersron Bill T. Jones John Masefield Brothers Ritual Acrobats of Rise Stevens Andre Watts Elvin Jones Raymond Massey Scott N ickrenz Persia Adlai Stevenson Waverly Consort Robert Edmond Johnny Mathis Romola Nijinska Max Roach Edward Steichen Charles Weidman Jones Benjamin Matthews Vaslav Nijinsky Jason Robards, Jr. Gertrude Stein H.G. Wells Thaddeus Jones Elsa Maxwell Alwin Nikolais Paul Robeson Isaac Stem Whirling Dervishes Joos European Ballet John McCormack Jessye Norman Sharon Robinson Rex Stout of Turkey Juilliard String Brownie McGhee Norwegian Ballet Paula Robison Michael Strange J. C. White Singers Quarter Frank McHugh Rudolf Nureyev Will Rogers, Jr. Igor Stravinsky Mary Wigman Dianne Mcintyre's Sonny Rollins Ann Sulli van Thornton Wilder H. V. Kaltenbom Sounds in Motion Odetta Eleanor Roosevelt Yma S umac Roger Williams Flying Karamazov Donald McKayle Donald Oenschlager Franklin D. Symphony of the Wendell L. Willkie Brothers Ian McKellen Ohio Ballet Roosevelt New World Robert Wilson Ani Kavafian Siobhan McKenna Garrick Ohlsson Theodore Roosevelt T eddy Wilson Kurt Kasznar Marian McPartland David O istrakh George Rose William Howard Woodrow Wilson Christopher Keene Nellie Melba Milo O'Shea Mstislav Taft Anna May Wong Helen Keller Laurirz Melchior Rosrropovich Rabindranarh Peggy Wood Rockwell Kent Yehudi Menuhin Ignace Jan Royal Danish Ballet Tagore Irene Wonh Stan Kenton Gary Merrill Paderewski Royal Shakespeare Marjone Tallch1ef Frank Lloyd Wright Emily Kimbrough Robert Merrill Mariano Parra Company Helen Tamiris Richard Wright Alan King James Michener Richard Pasco Anur Rubinstein Tashi Gelsey Kirkland Edna St. Vincent Anna Pavlova Anna Russell Billy Taylor Blanche Yerka Ko-Thi Dance Millay Drew Pearson Bertrand Russell Paul Taylor Sergeant Alvin C. Company Glenn Miller Rear Admiral Lillian Russell Renata Tebaldi York Serge Koussevitsky Minnesota Robert E. Peary Alec Tempelton The Young Vic Fritz Kreisler Symphony Jan Peerce Alfredo Salmaggi Ellen Terry C harles Moore Edward Peirson Salzburg Marionerres Sonny Terry Arnie Zane Fiorello H. LaGuardia Agnes Moorehead Austin Pendleton San Francisco Ballet Walter Terry Efrem Zimbalist 47 BIBLIOGRAPHY "Academy Bums." The New York Times, Hillyer, Sidney. "The O ld Academy." Schonberg, Harold C. Facing the Music. New December I, 1903. Brooklyn Eagle, March 9, 1934. York: Summit, 1981. "All About Brooklyn." Brooklyn Council for "History of Brooklyn Union Gas 1825- Seiden , Rita, ed. Brooklyn USA. Borough Socwl Plannmg, 1957. 1963." Brooklyn Union Gas, 1963. President Golden's Offi ce, 1979. Baker, Rob. "BAM Spotlights European Huxtable, Ada Louise. "Blooming of Stasio, Manlyn . "The Theatre Upstairs." Dance G roups." Daily News, October 10, Brooklyn." The New York Times, March 30, Cue, March 7, 1976. 1975. 1982. Sterritt, David. " 'The Next Wave' Will Barnes, C li ve. "Garcta Lorca Play, Yerma." Jacobs, Ellen W. "A Giant Awakens." Shake Up Conventtonal Ideas of What Art The New York Times, October 19, 1972. Brooklyn Academy of Mustc, Ocrober, 1970. Is All About." The Chnsttan Science Momtor, September 27, 1982. Berlmer, Eve. "BAM is Booming." Cue, Kahn, Roger. The Boys of Summer. New March 6, 1976. York: Harper & Row, 1972. Stiles, Henry R. A Htstory of The City of Brooklyn. Brooklyn, 1867. Bradley, Bill. "Brooklyn Academy of Music." Kroll, Jack. "Polish Lab." Newsweek, Unpublished chronology, 1966. December I , 1969. Stoddard, George D. "New Departures for The Brooklyn Institute." Brooklyn lnstttute of Brooklyn Academy of Music Annual Report: Leiter, Samuel L. m The Legitimate Theatre Arts and Scrences. 196 7. 1970- 1982. Brooklyn, 186 1-1898. NYU Ph.D. dissertation, 1968. Swan, Annalynn : "Gandhi- ln Good "Brooklyn Bridge." The New York Times, Voice." Newsweek, November 16, 1981. May 24, 1883. McCullough, David. The Great Bridge. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972. 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