Index (and links to less active productions at bottom of the index page)  
Abe Lincoln in the 21st Century  |  Coming Together Coming Apart  |  To Kill a Mockingbird  |  The Dickens!  
Fred and Adele Astaire: The Last Dance  |  Mark Twain: Telling Tales  |  The Belle of Amherst  |  Fahrenheit 451 
Study in Scarlet
  |  Joy Comes in the Morning  |  Wait Till Next Year


Melanie Lipton and Steve Corbellini in

Fred and Adèle Astaire:
The Last Dance

A one-act musical play by David Houston

  

Fred Astaire and his sister Adèle were the most popular dance team of their day.  An odd pair, to be sure: a novelty dance act when as children they toured in Vaudeville, a box-office bonanza when they reached Broadway, ultimately stellar talents on the great stages of New York and London—until Adèle retired in 1932 when they were in a hit show and at the peak of their fame.  And she was widely thought to be the more talented of the two! 

The Last Dance imagines a scene backstage between Broadway performances of The Band Wagon when the show is ending its New York run and Adèle is still intent upon leaving their act, and show business, to marry into British royalty.  Applause in the theater has barely died down (Fred and Adèle just stole the show again with “Dancing in the Dark”) and now they both just need to rest!  But reminiscence sets in; and with a piano and a stack of practice records of the tunes of Porter, Kern, Kreisler, Gershwin, and others, they sing and dance some remembered favorites—culminating in an improvised ballroom turn to the big Broadway number Fred will now have to do without Adèle next season in Gay Divorce: Cole Porter’s great but as-yet-unknown “Night and Day.”

 

This production is for non-commercial venues, for libraries, schools, organizations, etc., 
that charge no admission fees.

 

Contact
David Houston

(516) 293-2638 / DH@davidhouston.net
700 Fulton Street, M-1, Farmingdale, NY 11735

Performance runs about 65 minutes
$385 fee includes 3 actors, stage manager, small stage setting,
music recordings and player, and travel (Long Island); facility is asked to supply a piano and a playing area 10 x 16 feet or larger (can be an actual stage or floor-level in a meeting hall), basic stage lighting, and amplification if the auditorium is large

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Bios: Melanie Lipton, Steve Corbellini, David Houston

Background: Literary Entertainments

Scheduled Performances

About Fred and Adele
Program Notes by Kathleen Riley

Songs in The Last Dance
References, Reviews, Comments
Sources
  

Melanie Lipton -- Adèle Astaire

—is equally at home in drama, comedies and musicals. Her starring roles include Lilli in Kiss Me Kate, Tracy in High Society, Mary in Cyrano Dot Com (world premiere), Maggie in The Man Who Came to Dinner, Luisa Contini in Nine, Johanna in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Meredith in Bat Boy, Eve in Applause, and Lois Lane in a rare revival of It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman. She has performed in other Houston shows for schools and libraries: her acclaimed Emily Dickinson in William Luce’s play The Belle of Amherst, Joan Crawford in Houston ’s Jazz Baby Joan and Mrs. Fitzgerald in Great Scott and Zelda. An educator with a background in music, voice, and theatre, Melanie spent two seasons as teacher and choreographer at Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Center.   

Steve Corbellini -- Fred Astaire

is a young leading man much in demand on Long Island . Among his many and varied appearances, he was Paul in Barefoot in the Park, Hamlet and Juliet in The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr Abridged, Mortimer in Arsenic and Old Lace, Percy in The Scarlet Pimpernel, Mike in High Society, Bobby in Crazy For You, Cliff in Cabaret, Mitch in Tuesdays With Morrie, Finch in How To Succeed, and F. Scott Fitzgerald in Houston’s Great Scott and Zelda. He collaborated on the creation of They Can’t Take That Away: The Music of George and Ira, which he also co-directed and starred in.  He has a Bachelor’s in music and theater and a Master’s in Elementary Education.

David Houston -- Writer/Director; and Georgie, Fred's Valet

David has appeared in leading roles in scores of plays and musicals, including Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet, Sir in The Dresser, Senex in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Ben in Death of a Salesman, Mayor Shinn in The Music Man, Herr Shultz in Cabaret and Horace Giddens in The Little Foxes.  He is a published and produced writer of fiction and non-fiction.  His original plays, including Let's Do It!, The Ghost of Dorothy Parker, Great Scott and Zelda, Murder and Madness and Poe, and The Dickens! have been seen at a number of Long Island libraries.  His Joan Crawford biography Jazz Baby (St. Martin's Press) was optioned for movie production, as was his mystery novel Shadows on the Moon.  He wrote and narrated the documentary films They Went to the Stars and Voyage to Darkness.

Literary Entertainments

David Houston's series of small-scale theatrical productions, on themes of history and literature, got its start in 2000 when he portrayed Charles Dickens, circa 1867, at a New York theatre and gathered impressive reviews. In 2001 he toured THE DICKENS! to Long Island libraries—where interest in additional plays was expressed. Houston—an accomplished writer and experienced actor—jumped at the opportunity.  He wrote, produced and directed GREAT SCOTT AND ZELDA, with Melanie Lipton and Steve Corbellini, which toured libraries during the 2002 “Long Island Reads” celebration of THE GREAT GATSBY.  Since then he has added other original plays to the repertoire: LILLIE ALONE, a one-woman tour-de-force starring MaryEllin Kurtz as Lillie Langtry backstage in 1900 as she prepares lies to tell an interviewer and presents monologues from her classic stage successes; MARK TWAIN TELLING TALES, in which Houston, as the elderly Twain, gives a lecture on humor and wit, derived from Mark Twain essays and stories; MURDER AND MADNESS AND POE, starring Rick Heuthe as Edgar Allan Poe attempting to secure a lucrative lecture tour in 1848 quoting and reading poetry and stories in the process; LET'S DO IT!, developed at the request of the Port Washington Library, a one-act musical in which Noel Coward (Houston) and Cole Porter (Heuthe) test material for Coward’s cabaret debut in Las Vegas, ending with Coward's outrageous lyrics for Porter's "Let's Do It"; JAZZ BABY JOAN, with Melanie Lipton as Joan Crawford in 1934 defending her career and reliving her childhood, based on Houston's Crawford biography Jazz Baby (St. Martin's Press, 1984); THE GHOST OF DOROTHY PARKER with actress Diana Heinlein as the famed Algonquin Round Table wit trying to make sense of her turbulent life through her poetry and stories; WALT WHITMAN, TO BEGIN WITH in which Houston impersonates Whitman and his critics; FRED AND ADELE ASTAIRE: THE LAST DANCE, starring Melanie Lipton and Steve Corbellini, in which, backstage in 1931, Fred and Adele reminisce in song and dance as she leaves their famous act; and a new edition of THE DICKENS! featuring “The Chimes.”  In addition to original plays, Houston's group currently presents Melanie Lipton as Emily Dickinson in William Luce's Broadway play THE BELLE OF AMHERST; Houston in a reading of the first Sherlock Holmes novel STUDY IN SCARLET; Houston in readings of three short stories of ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER; a three-actor "radio style" dramatization of Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451 with Houston, Lipton and Matt Stashin.  For Long Island Reads in past years, Houston provided "dramatic readings in the form of radio drama" in 2003: HOW THE GARCIA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS, with Houston and Lipton; 2004: SNOW IN AUGUST with Houston and Stashin; 2005: Houston ’s solo reading from Steinbeck’s TRAVELS WITH CHARLIE; 2006: Houston’s solo reading from Mark Mills’s AMAGANSETT. And for 2007: THE COLOR OF WATER with Houston and Debbie Starker.

Scheduled Performances

Friday, March 9, 2007, 8:00 p.m., Port Washington Public Library
Thursday, March 22, 2007, 7:00 p.m., Manhasset Public Library
Friday, March 23, 2007, 2:30 p.m., Jericho Public Library
Thursday, June 7, 2007, 8:00 p.m. Peconic Landing Senior Residence, Greenport
Saturday, June 16, 2007, 1:30 p.m., Floral Park Public Library
Thursday, July 19, 2007, 1:30 p.m., East Meadow Public Library
Thursday, July 19, 2007, 7:30 p.m., Rogers Memorial Library, Southampton
Wednesday, August 8, 2007, 2:00 p.m., Oceanside Library
Saturday, August 11, 2007, 2:00 p.m., North Shore Public Library, Shoreham
Saturday, September 15, 2007, 8:00 p.m., Plainview Old Bethpage Public Library
Saturday, September  27, 2008, 7:00 p.m., The Montauk Library
Sunday, November 4, 2007, 2:00 p.m., Babylon Public Library
Saturday, January 19, 2008, 7:00 p.m. South Huntington Public Library
Saturday, January 26, 2008, 2:00 p.m., West Babylon Public Library
Saturday, May 17, 2008, 2:00 p.m., The Bryant Library, Roslyn
Saturday, September 27, 2008, 7:00 p.m., The Montauk Library
Sunday, November 9, 2008, 2:00 p.m., The Riverhead Free Library
Sunday, December 7, 2008, 7:00 p.m., The Farmingdale Public Library

About Fred and Adèle 

1896

Adèle is born to Frederic and Joanna Austerliz on September 18, in Omaha

1899

Fred (Frederic Austerliz Jr.) is born on May 10

1905

Joanna leaves Omaha with Fred and Adèle, traveling to New York and auditions for vaudeville 

1906

"Juvenile Artists presenting an Electrical Musical Toe Dancing Novelty"

1908

Phyllis Baker is born (later to become Mrs. Fred Astaire)

1910

Hermes Panagiotopolos is born (Hermes Pan will later be Fred's choreographer)

1917

Over The Top with music and lyrics by Sigmund Romberg, Herman Timberg and Charles J. Manning, opens in New York at the 44th Street Roof Theater, starring Fred and Adèle (their first Broadway show) and Charles Ruggles

1918

The Passing Show of 1918 opens in New York at the Winter Garden, with music and lyrics by Sigmund Romberg, Jean Schwartz and Harold Atteridge, with the hit song, "I Can't Make My Feet Behave," starring Fred and Adèle and John Charles Thomas  

1919

Apple Blossoms opens in New York at the Globe Theater, with music and lyrics by Fritz Kreisler, Victor Jacobi and William LeBarron, including "A Girl, A Man, A Night, A Dance," starring Fred and Adèle, John Charles Thomas, and Alice Brady; their first "book" musical

1921

The Love Letter opens at the Globe in New York, with music and lyrics by Victor Jacobi and William LeBarron (only 31 performances); Fred and Adèle meet Noel Coward in New York

1922

For Goodness Sake opens in March at the Lyric Theater in New York, music and lyrics by Paul Lannin and Arthur Jackson with the popular number "The Whichness of the Whatness," starring Fred and Adèle, in November, Fred and Adèle star in The Bunch and Judy, music and lyrics by Jerome Kern and Anne Caldwell, with "Morning Glory," and "Every Day in Every Way"

1923

For Goodness Sake, now called Stop Flirting opens in London starring Fred and Adèle; Fred meets the Prince of Wales

1924

Lady Be Good! opens at the Liberty Theater in New York on December 1 and runs for 330 performances, starring Fred and Adèle, music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin including the enduring "Oh Lady, Be Good" and "Fascinatin' Rhythm 

1926

Lady Be Good! opens in London, starring Fred and Adèle, where it runs for 326 performances; Fred meets the newborn Princess Elizabeth; Phyllis Baker makes her debut

1927

Funny Face opens at the Alvin in New York (250 performances), starring Fred and Adèle, Betty Compton, and Victor Moore, music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin with the hits "Funny Face," "High Hat," S'wonderful," "My One and Only," "He Loves and She Loves," "Let's Kiss and Make Up"; Phyllis Baker marries Eliphalet Potter III in December

1928

Funny Face opens in London, runs for 263 performances

1930

Smiles opens at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York (63 performances), starring Fred and Adèle, Marilyn Miller, Eddie Foy Jr., and Frank Morgan, music Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Clifford Grey, Harold Adamson and Ring Lardner, including "Love I'm Glad I Waited" and "Say, Young Man of Manhattan"; Liz Altemus weds Jock Whitney

1931

The Band Wagon opens at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York in June (260 performances), starring Fred and Adèle, Frank Morgan, Helen Broderick, music and lyrics: Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, with "Sweet Music," "New Sun in the Sky," "I Love Louisa," "The Beggar Waltz";  Fred meets Phyllis Potter 

1932

Adèle's final performance in The Band Wagon on March 5, marriage to Lord Charles Cavendish in Ireland in May, leaves show business forever; Fred opens in Gay Divorce co-starring Claire Luce, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York, November 29

1933

Phyllis and Eliphalet divorce; Fred marries Phyllis; Gay Divorce, with Fred Astaire and Claire Luce opens in London; Fred signs contract with RKO and moves to Hollywood

Program Notes

 The Astaires
By Kathleen Riley, author of a forthcoming history of 
Fred and Adèle Astaire’s career, Fascinating Rhythms.  
Copyright © 2007, Kathleen Riley

If Fred Astaire had been the first or only child of Frederic and Johanna Austerlitz we might remember him very differently. For he literally followed in the footsteps of his older sister Adèle, co-opted by circumstance rather than obvious talent or burning ambition, into an extraordinary adventure.

Had he never entered films he would still have a secure place in entertainment history as one half of a legendary partnership and as an innovator in dance and musical comedy. The shows written for the Astaires’ unique talents changed the shape of the American musical itself. Their final collaboration, The Band Wagon, began, in Brooks Atkinson’s words, “a new era in the artistry of the American revue,” with its inventive dance stories, sophisticated comedy, and revolutionary scenics.

Partly what made Fred and Adèle such an effective team was that, as artists and personalities, they were perfect foils for one another. Adèle was born with “star quality.” She was an exuberant gamine who, according to one critic in 1919, danced “like a lilac flame.” Her artistry was intuitive and often improvisatory. She was a natural clown, a wonderful madcap, outrageous, and dazzling. She once attended a costume party, hosted by Elsa Maxwell, dressed as an angel, complete with wings, a halo, and a copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Fred was a famous workhorse and worrier, “Moaning Minnie” to his sister’s “Good-Time Charlie.” Although Adèle’s star was the more radiant, he supplied the team’s creative energy, choreographic brilliance, and discipline. 

On stage he masked a seething powerhouse of perfectionism with an appearance of elegant effortlessness, and a shy and serious temperament beneath an urbane insouciance. Above all Fred was innately musical. Balanchine likened him to Bach “who in his time had a great concentration of ability, essence, knowledge, a spread of music. Astaire has that same concentration of genius; there is so much of the dance in him that it has been distilled.”

The Astaires’ complementary gifts and combined magnetism made them the toast of two continents, the darlings of royalty and literary lions, of the raffish and social-registered alike. At the height of their success in the mid-1920s they seemed to define the Jazz Age: a pair of ragtime pixies, impish, imaginative, young, and wholly captivating. They were modern; they were twentieth-century; they were Gershwin’s music in motion; a fascinating pair who wove fascinating rhythms in song and dance.

Songs in The Last Dance

From THE BAND WAGON 1931-32:

Dancing in the Dark” (Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz)

From GAY DIVORCE 1932-33:

“Night and Day” (Cole Porter)

From Fred and Adèle’s final Vaudeville tour, 1916:

“I’ve a Shooting Box in Scotland ” (Cole Porter)

“They Didn’t Believe Me” (Jerome Kern)

From APPLE BLOSSOMS 1919-20:

“Tambourin Chinois” (Fritz Kreisler)

“Who Can Tell?” (Jacobi and Kreisler)

From STOP FLIRTING (NY, London) 1922-24:

“I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise ” (George and Ira Gershwin)

  From Noël Coward’s LONDON CALLING 1924:

“You Were Meant For Me” (Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake)

  From LADY BE GOOD 1924-27 (NY and London ):

“Oh, Lady Be Good!” (George and Ira Gershwin)

“The Man I Love” (Gershwins)

“Fascinatin’ Rhythm” (Gershwins)

  From FUNNY FACE 1927-29 (NY and London ):

“He Loves and She Loves” (Gershwins)

“S’Wonderful” (Gershwins)

From GIRL CRAZY 1930:

“Embraceable You” (Gershwins)

Not from Astaire stage shows:

“I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan” (Dietz and Schwartz, 1929)

“I’ll Get By” (Turk and Alert, 1928)

From GAY DIVORCE (and movie THE GAY DIVORCEE):

“Night and Day” (Cole Porter)

 

Recorded accompaniments are from:

The Gershwin Songbook, Guy Campion and Mario Vachon (FL 2 3074)

Kreisler Plays Kreisler (RCA Gold Seal 09026-68448-2)

Wild About Gershwin, Earl Wild (Quintessence PMC 7060)

Kern and Porter Favorites, Morton Gould (RCA 09026-68478-2)

Cole Porter From Rare Piano Rolls (Biograph BCD 143)

            Preshow overtures are from rare recordings of 
the famous pit-orchestra duo-pianists 
Victor Arden and Phil Ohman – 1925-33

Sources  

  • Adler, Bill, Fred Astaire: A Wonderful Life, Carroll & Graff Publishers, Inc., NYC 1987

  • Astaire, Fred, Steps in Time, forward by Ginger Rogers, Cooper Square Press, NYC 2000 (first edition Harper-Collins 1959)

  • The Band Wagon (movie adaptation of Fred and Adèle's Broadway show) Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse MGM 1953 

  • The Gay Divorcee (movie of Broadway's Gay Divorce) Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, RKO 1934, 

  • Giles, Sarah, Fred Astaire: His Friends Talk , Doubleday, NYC 1988

  • Royal Wedding (movie based loosely on the lives of Fred and Adèle) Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, MGM 1951 

  • Satchell, Tim, Astaire: The Biography, Century Hutchinson Ltd., London 1987

References and Comments
David Houston's Literary Entertainments

Fred and Adèle Astaire: The Last Dance

(Melanie Lipton as Adèle; Steve Corbellini as Fred)

Christine Langerfeld, President, Friends of the Montauk Library: "Hosting a David Houston production is a sheer pleasure. The entertainers are professionals, everyone arrives on time, all details are attended to, and everyone leaves happy!"  Rose Ann Norman, Co-President, Babylon Village Arts Council: ‘Excellent. Great Show. The Audience loved it.” Michelle Young, Program Director, Oceanside Library: "Wonderful show. Our audience left happy and inspired by this lively pair." Marcia Johnson, Adult Program Coordinator, North Shore Public Library, Shoreham: "David, as always you delivered a seamless, well rehearsed and professional performance. Thank you." Don Neuhaus at Shoreham:A thank-you to all three of you for a delightful afternoon. It was a long drive from Huntington but it was worth it. I don't know how you can do the show over and over and still make it look so fresh and new, but please know that you've made a lot of people very happy."  Penelope Wright, Rogers Memorial Library, Southampton: "Superb acting in a beautifully executed wonderful original by always-inspired David Houston."  Joe Cantardi, AARP, at Floral Park Public Library: "I cannot say enough, can't praise enough, the talented performers, and the performance. Very imaginative setting considering the location: a library meeting room.  I felt I was really in their backstage dressing room.  Also, thank you for the education; I did not know much about the Astaires' life." Marcella Kaiser, Vice President, Floral Park Women's Club, at Floral Park Public Library: "Melanie Lipton and Steve Corbellini infected the audience with their singing and dancing talent, sense of comedy, and great enthusiasm for the material. The gossip tidbits concerning all the creative talents of years ago made us all feel very 'in the know.' We will all look forward to your future appearances in the area." Connie Ellis, Community Enrichment Manager, Peconic Landing Senior Residence, Greenport: "A great performance. Steve and Melanie were terrific." Jessica Ley, Program Coordinator, Port Washington Public Library: "David Houston has crafted an original highly-entertaining scenario that takes his audience to an imagined place and time, with verve and élan.  Lipton and Corbellini earn gold stars for their singing, dancing and acting.  What a talented duo!  The whole production was fabulous." Debbie Starker, Editor and Reviewer, Deb's Web Internet Theatre Newsletter: "I've been raving about 'Fred and Adele The Last Dance.'  Really well done - literate, enlightening, and very entertaining." Adult Programs Department, Manhasset Public Library: "It was very well received: nostalgic subject matter with two exceptionally talented people."

Great Scott and Zelda
(Steve Corbellini as F. Scott Fitzgerald; Melanie Lipton as his wife Zelda)

Patricia Brandt, Program Director, John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor, comments from the capacity audience: "Loved the writing."  "Loved the actors; they were great."  "Just the right amount of time."  "I wish it could have been longer."  "Enchanting."  "When will this group be back?"  "Wonderful show."  "Done so professionally in such a small space."  "Thank you, thank you!"  Michelle Young, Program director, Oceanside Library: "This thoroughly delightful show sparkled with the romantic chemistry between Steve Corbellini and Melanie Lipton."  Rated "excellent" in all evaluation categories, including audience response, literary content, and performance quality."  Jessica Ley, Program Coordinator, Port Washington Public Library: "Exceptionally well crafted and presented.  The script went a long way toward providing background for anyone who wasn't already familiar with The Great Gatsby without overstating it for those who were.  Steve Corbellini as F. Scott Fitzgerald was the perfect 'Novelist,' while Melanie Lipton's Zelda was the personification of the 'Novelty.'  They performed with great verve and exuberance and certainly brought the characters to life.  We've had a number of calls from people expressing delight at being entertained and educated at the same time.  The work deserves to be appreciated by a much wider audience than libraries."  Aviva Crown, Cultural Program Specialist, Plainview / Old Bethpage Public Library: "The enchanting 'Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald' performed beautifully in the very literary, very theatrical Great Scott, and Zelda. Our audience was mesmerized!  I don't think anyone moved—so intent were they on catching every word."  Joy Tepedino, music professional, audience at Brentwood Public Library: “The dialog was so well written you actually felt that you were taking a glimpse into Scott and Zelda’s private conversations.  It was true to the historic information that has surrounded these people, and it also (especially in the slightly unbalanced character of Zelda) was consistent with the future outcome.   I’ve always been a Gatsby fan, and I feel closer to its creator in a strange way after having seen this.  Obviously I really enjoyed the play.”  Debbie Starker, in "Deb's Web" Internet Theatre Newsletter: "For an hour we are permitted to eavesdrop on the private goings on of F. Scott and Zelda during the period when Scott was writing The Great Gatsby.  Steve Corbellini and Melanie Lipton are perfect as the Fitzgeralds.  You feel their great love (and jealousy) and intellectual admiration for each other at the outset when they arrive home from a party all effervescent, to the more intimate moments when they are sensually playful.  David Houston has done a masterful job of researching, writing, directing, choosing costumes, set pieces, music, etc.   When this show gets more venues (and I know it will), take an hour out of your hectic schedule to visit with Great Scott & Zelda."  Charles Sleefe, director, Mineola Memorial Library: "Everyone enjoyed the show.  It was a wonderful addition to the Gatsby theme week."  The Mineola American, May 22, 2002: "The main event was the live one-act play Great Scott, and Zelda, which dramatized a day in the life of Fitzgerald and his wife.  Everyone who attended had a wonderful evening at the library." Barbara Sussman, Program Coordinator, Port Jefferson Free Library: "On behalf of the Port Jefferson Free Library, I want to thank you for presenting the play Great Scott, and Zelda.  The presentation received rave reviews;  I hope that next year we can have the pleasure of seeing another of your shows.  Please also thank your wonderful actors." 


Copyright © 2006, David Houston