1947 Song of Norway VTG Theater Program Curran Theatre San Francisco Musical

Description

Song of Norway Vintage Theater Program and Playbill/Broadside Curran Theatre San Francisco 1947 Musical.
June 21, 1947
Program-- 24 pages
Very Good Condition--b
ackside has paper stuck to it as it came from scrapbook
--see photos.
12" x 9" (when closed)
2 sided playbill program-- with credits, names of cast, songs and acts listed.  Includes ticket stub!
18" x 5 3/4"
Fair Condition--top part has tear, plus folded.
Song of Norway
was originally developed and presented in Los Angeles by
Edwin Lester's Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
in 1944, with essentially the same cast as seen later on Broadway. After successful runs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the show opened in New York on August 21, 1944, and ran for 860 performances. It was also popular in London running for 526 performances at the Palace Theatre, the first Broadway show to cross the Atlantic after the end of the Second World War.
The show is set in and around Norway
; as well as Copenhagen
and Rome in and after 1860. It follows the fictionalized lives of three childhood friends: Edvard Grieg,
Nina Hagerup
and Rikard Nordrak
. The play tells of the early struggles of Edvard Grieg and his attempts to develop an authentic Norwegian national music. Grieg dreams of being a great composer and these dreams are shared by his friend Nordraak and Grieg's sweetheart, Nina. Grieg is lured to Italy by the great prima donna Louisa Giovanni, but he finds he cannot create amid all the glitter and excitement and so returns to Norway and his beloved Nina to write his music.
The original Broadway cast featured Irra Petina as a fictional opera singer Louisa Giovanni. The show featured dances, both ballet and Norwegian folk dances.