Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
| Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music | |
|---|---|
1981 Broadway poster
|
|
| Productions | 1981–1982 Broadway 1982–1983 US National Tour, Canada 1984 West End, Stockholm, Sweden |
| Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
CD album cover
|
||||
| Soundtrack album by Lena Horne | ||||
| Released | 1981 | |||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||
| Genre |
Traditional pop music Vocal jazz |
|||
| Length | 102:44 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Qwest | |||
| Producer | Quincy Jones | |||
| Lena Horne chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
  link
|
Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music was a 1981 Broadway musical revue, written for and starring American singer and actress Lena Horne. The musical was produced by Michael Frazier and Fred Walker, and the subsequent musical cast album was produced by Quincy Jones. The show opened on May 12, 1981, and after 333 performances, closed on June 30, 1982, Horne's 65th birthday. Horne then toured the show in the U.S. and Canada, and performed the show in London and Stockholm in the Summer of 1984.
Lena Horne (born June 30, 1917– May 9, 2010), is an American singer and actress. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a band singer and nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood where she had small parts in numerous movies, and much more substantial parts in the films Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather (1943). Due to the red scare and her progressive political views, Horne found herself blacklisted and unable to get work in Hollywood. She then returned to her roots as a nightclub performer. In the 1960s Horne took part in the March on Washington, and continued to work as a performer, both in nightclubs as well as television. Horne announced her retirement in March 1980, and performed a two-month farewell tour of the United States that June. Only months later, Horne and her manager, Sherman Sneed, conceived of a one-woman show for Broadway which became Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
Throughout the show Horne sang and danced to a variety of popular songs, songs from Tin Pan Alley and jazz standards, music from films in which she had appeared, and songs specifically written for her. The show sought to portray Horne's life, from her beginnings in show business to the present day.
During the show Horne spoke frankly of the racism that she had encountered in her career, describing how Hollywood producers told her that she opened her mouth too big when she sang, and had devised a special make up for her, "Light Egyptian", which was then applied to white actresses such as Ava Gardner and Hedy Lamarr, who took roles that Horne could have possibly played.
...
Wikipedia