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musicals

(Encyclopedia)musicals, earlier known as musical comedies, plays that incorporate music, song, and dance. These elements move with the plot, heightening and commenting on the action. Mixing the sprightly songs and ...

Mostel, Zero

(Encyclopedia)Mostel, Zero mŏsˌtĕlˈ [key], 1915–77, American actor, b. New York City as Samuel Joel Mostel. Mostel made his Broadway debut in Keep 'Em Laughing (1942). A comic actor with an expressive face, h...

Brady, Diamond Jim

(Encyclopedia)Brady, Diamond Jim (James Buchanan Brady), 1856–1917, American financier and philanthropist, b. New York City. He was a bellboy and messenger and then worked for the New York Central RR in various c...

Hare, Sir David

(Encyclopedia)Hare, Sir David, 1947–, British playwright. Hare is a prominent member of the British theatrical left. A founder of the Portable Theatre and the Joint Stock, he became resident dramatist at the Roya...

Ward, Douglas Turner

(Encyclopedia) Ward, Douglas Turner, 1930-2021, African-American actor, director, and playwright, b. Burnside, La., as Roosevelt Ward Jr. Ward’s family ...

Cornell, Katharine

(Encyclopedia)Cornell, Katharine, 1898–1974, American actress, b. Berlin. Cornell made her debut in 1916 with the Washington Square Players. In 1921 she married Guthrie McClintic, a producer-director. From their ...

March, Fredric

(Encyclopedia)March, Fredric, 1897–1975, American actor, b. Racine, Wis., as Frederick McIntyre Bickel. Equally distinguished on stage and screen, he won Academy Awards for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and The ...

Terfel, Bryn

(Encyclopedia)Terfel, Bryn, 1965–, Welsh bass-baritone, b. Pant Glas as Bryn Terfel Jones. One of the most acclaimed singers of his era, he has a voice of rare warmth, richness, and power. His rise to public prom...

Cassini, Oleg

(Encyclopedia)Cassini, Oleg, 1913–2006, American fashion designer, b. Paris as Oleg Cassini Loiewski. Raised in Italy, he came to the United States in 1936, and in the 1940s designed costumes for Twentieth-Centur...

Bowie, David

(Encyclopedia)Bowie, David, 1947–2016, British rock-and-roll singer and songwriter who successfully, merged rock, art, and fashion, b. London as David Robert Jones. After singing with five different bands in the ...