The run closed April 28, 1945
- Opened
- March 22, 1945
- Closed
- April 28, 1945
- Performances
- 43
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- Neil Simon Theatre
Of the 890 productions we hold that opened in the 1940s and record a performance count, this is the 361st longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Who was in it34 named
Lynn Alden
Paul Best
Mary Alice Bingham
Doris Blake
John Cassidy
Perdita Chandler
James Dobson
Rose Marie Elliot
Bert Freed
Norma Gentner
Walter Graf
Jean Guelis
Yvette Heap
Boyd Heathen
Ferdi Hoffman
Marya Iverson
Eric Kristen
Kenneth Leroy
Don Marshall
Allen Noel
Gedda Petry
Walter Rinner
Charles Sheldon
Frank Stevens
Randolph Symonette
William Vaux
Billy Williams
7 of these 34 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 27 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name — so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.
Creative team
- Director
- John Murray Anderson, John
- Choreographer
- Catherine Littlefield
A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.
Around this production
The Firebrand of Florence is a Broadway operetta in two acts, written by Kurt Weill (music), Ira Gershwin (lyrics), and Edwin Justus Mayer and Gershwin (book), based on Mayer's play. The show opened at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon) on March 22, 1945, and closed on April 28 that year after 43 performances. The original production was directed by John Murray Anderson, choreographed by Catherine Littlefield, and conducted by Maurice Abravanel; it featured Lotte Lenya as Duchess. In 2017, Kim H. Kowalke and John Baxindine conceived a suite of dances from The Firebrand of Florence named Much Ado about Love (the original title of the show) which was performed at the Brevard Music Center,…
First performance of Much Ado about Love (eventually retitled The Firebrand of Florence) at the Colonial Theatre, Boston. The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin Gershwin Ira 1896 1983, p. 30
- Cooper’s other musicals were the short-lived Jubilee (1935) and The Firebrand of Florence (1945), both with glorious scores but disappointing runs. Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 64
- The Firebrand of Florence was a failure, opening at the Alvin Theater. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 215
- Weill and Gershwin reteamed for the unsuccess- ful The Firebrand of Florence (3/22/45; 43 perfor- mances). Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 577
- The Firebrand of Florence, which examined episodes in the life of Benvenuto Cellini to a beguiling Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin score; Broadway Musicals the 101 Greatest Shows of All Time Bloom Ken 1949 Vlastnik Fra, p. 113
- Two years after the disastrous Firebrand of Florence in 1945 (43 performances), Weill too composed an integrated dramatic work, Street Scene (148 performances), that would eventually achieve a commercial success roughly commensurate with its critical acclaim. Enchanted Evenings the Broadway Musical From Show Boat Block Geoffrey Oxford New, p. 183
Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.
What this page does not know
- No photograph of this staging. 48 of 13,459 productions hold one.
- No character names. We can say who was in the company and not who they played.
- No recording is held for The Firebrand of Florence at all.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.