The Hollywood Musical, A Four-Part Class & Movie Experience: SHOWBOAT (1936)

Description

One of the most successful transfers from Broadway to the big screen, starring Helen Morgan and Paul Robeson, with an unforgettable score by George and Ira Gershwin.

Part history class, part film festival, Town Hall Theater’s Director in Residence Doug Anderson takes you through the glorious history of the Hollywood musical. Each session will begin with Doug lecturing about the studios, the directors and the stars who defined each era, followed by one of the key films of those years, shown the way they were meant to be seen, on the big screen in the THT Rothrock Mainstage.

The 4-session Fall course will explore the early years, when Hollywood searched for ways to transfer the success of Broadway musicals into film, only to realize that film – and especially the moving camera – opened up entirely new possibilities for the musical. This course will be followed by a spring series focused on Broadway in film.