Strauss:The Great Waltz On DVD

Actor :       Keith Andes, Gordon Dilworth, Lee Goodman, Bert Lahr, Patrice Munsel
Director:   Bill Hobin, Max Liebman
Genre:       Music Video - Classical
Year:         N/A
Studio:      Video Artists Int'l
Length:     90
Released: November 11, 2003
Rating:      Not Rated (MPAA Rating)
Format:     DVD
Misc:          Black & White
Language:English
Subtitles : N/A

DESCRIPTION:

American coloratura soprano Patrice Munsel was the youngest singer who ever starred at the Metropolitan Opera, making her debut at the age of 18. Sir Rudolf Bing called her a "superb soubrette." The great Czech soprano Jarmila Novotna was also a Met mainstay, and both were renowned for their singing and comic acting in Strauss's Die Fledermaus. The role of café proprietor Hans Ebesteder is played by Bert Lahr, the star of vaudeville and radio best known as The Wizard of Oz's Cowardly Lion. This musical biography is one of the "Spectaculars" presented in the mid-1950s by pioneer TV producer Max Liebman, whose early efforts yielded television's first variety show, The Admiral Broadway Review, which later evolved into the legendary Your Show of Shows. "A beautiful woman, with a beautiful soprano voice, Jarmila Novotna was a noted performer in operetta as well as opera."-The Independent