She Stoops to Conquer, 1963
Posted by Adam Immerwahr on August 31st, 2009So I was over at Princeton University’s Mudd Library (which houses McCarter Theatre’s archives), looking for some archival photos of Nicholas Martin—the director of the upcoming production of She Stoops to Conquer. Nicholas started out in the profession as an actor, and he earned his equity card while performing at McCarter in the 1960’s. I was searching for a picture of him in the 1960 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (I think I found some!), but while I was there I also stumbled into the archives for the 1963 McCarter production of She Stoops to Conquer (after Nicholas had left McCarter).
It was fascinating! The archives included the program, the advertisements, the stage manager’s promptbook (with the 1963 blocking), the set design groundplan, a hand-drawn illustration for the show curtain, the lighting design (hand-written on two pieces of yellow legal paper!), and lots of pictures. The show ran in repertory with another play, and I noticed in the calendar that the November 16th 8:30pm perforamnce was followed by a midnight concert by “America’s fastest-rising young folksinger”—yup, you guessed it, Bob Dylan!
According to the program, “illumination” was “created by Mr. Gilbert V. Hemsley, Jr.”. The show featured a grand total of 17 light cues—undoubtedly a far cry from the hundreds that lighting designer Ben Stanton will create for our 2009 production. Of course, Ben has the advantage of computerized lighting operation, while poor Gilbert had to design the show to be run on three “two-scene preset” manually faded boards (and according to his notes, the light board operator had to sometimes take breaks to help with scene changes).
The cast included: Karl Light (as Mr. Hardcastle), Anne Murray (as Mrs. Hardcastle), Clarence Felder (as Tony Lumpkin), Christine Pickles (as Miss Kate Hardcastle), Angela Thornton (as Miss Neville), Grenville Cuyler (as Sligo), Donald Moffat (as Young Marlow—and also the director of the production!), Edward Zang as Mr. Hastings, Edward Groves as Diggory, Virginia DeAngelis as Pimple, Edward Grover as Sir Charles, and an ensemble of Jack Dreifert, Apollo Dukakis, Dennis Gilliland, William Smith and James Stripp.
As I was flipping through the program, I noticed something very, very familiar. An ad for Lahiere’s! Forty-six years later, this Princeton restaurant is still one of our regular program advertisers. Thanks, Lahiere’s, for your sustained support of the arts in your community. Some things never change.
Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.
One Response to “She Stoops to Conquer, 1963”
January 16th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Yes,I was in the ensemble of SHE STOOPS TO CONQUERat McCarter when I was 26 years old. I remember it well since it was the day when Kennedy was shot and we were performing PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD(in which I had a non-speaking part) which opened right after CONQUER. Just prior to a matinee we got the news and hysteria and much crying broke out backstage. We performed the play and after the curtain call the Artistic Director of the theater,Arthur Lithgow(John’s father) came out and announced to the shocked and stunned audience that the President had been killed in Dallas. To this day I can’t forget the loud gasps and cries I heard from the audience!
An interesting footnote: I will soon be playing Pegeen’s father in a production of PLAYBOY this Spring at A Noise Within(a classical repertory theater) in Los Angeles. So 46 years later,as a seasoned player(I’m 72 years old) it is quite a coincidence that I would stumble across your website at this moment!!!
Ahhh,Kismet!!!!