I Am a Camera
| I Am a Camera | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Adapted from the Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood |
| Characters |
Christopher Isherwood Fraulein Schneider Fritz Wendel Sally Bowles Natalia Landauer Clive Mortimer Mrs. Watson-Courtneidge |
| Date premiered | November 28, 1951 |
| Place premiered | Empire Theater, New York City |
| Subject | An English writer living in Berlin before the rise of the Hitler regime |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | A room in Fraulein Schneider's flat in Berlin 1930 |
I Am a Camera is a 1951 Broadway play by John Van Druten[1] [2] adapted from Christopher Isherwood's novel Goodbye to Berlin, which is part of The Berlin Stories. The title is a quote taken from the novel's first page: "I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking."[3] The original production was staged by John Van Druten, with scenic and lighting design by Boris Aronson and costumes by Ellen Goldsborough.[1] It opened at the Empire Theatre in New York City on November 28, 1951 and ran for 214 performances before closing on July 12, 1952.[4]
The production was a critically acclaimed success for both Julie Harris as the insouciant Sally Bowles, winning her the first of five Tony Awards of her career for Best Leading Actress in a play, and for Marian Winters, who won both the Theatre World Award and Tony Award for Featured Actress in a Play. The play also won for John Van Druten the New York Drama Critics' Circle for Best American Play (1952).[4] It also earned the famous review by Walter Kerr, "Me no Leica".[5][6]
Original Broadway Cast (1951)
- Christopher Isherwood - William Prince
- Fraulein Schneider - Olga Fabian
- Fritz Wendel - Martin Brooks
- Sally Bowles - Julie Harris
- Natalia Landauer - Marian Winters
- Clive Mortimer - Edward Andrews
- Mrs. Watson-Courtneidge - Catherine Willard
Adaptations
- Film - I Am a Camera (1955) - screenplay by John Collier, music by Malcolm Arnold, starring Julie Harris, Laurence Harvey and Shelley Winters.
- Broadway Musical - Cabaret (1966) - directed by Hal Prince, book by Joe Masteroff, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, starring Jill Haworth, Bert Convy, Lotte Lenya, Jack Gilford, and Joel Grey.
- Film Musical - Cabaret (1972) - directed by Bob Fosse, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, starring Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey and Michael York.
References
- 1 2 Van Druten, John (1951). I Am a Camera. Random House, Inc.
- ↑ Van Druten, John (1998). I Am a Camera. Dramatists Play Service, Inc. ISBN 0822205459.
- ↑ Isherwood, Christopher (1963). The Berlin Stories: the Last of Mr. Norris and Goodbye to Berlin. New Directions. ISBN 0811200701.
- 1 2 Playbill Vault. "I Am a Camera on Broadway". Retrieved 2013-10-27.
- ↑ Botto, Louis."Quotable Critics" playbill.com, May 28, 2008
- ↑ Friedman, M. (1989). "Commercial expressions in American humor: an analysis of selected popular-cultural works of the postwar era". Humor - International Journal of Humor Research. 2 (3): 265–284. doi:10.1515/humr.1989.2.3.265. ISSN 1613-3722.