{"id":14707,"date":"2022-11-08T01:43:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T01:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=14707"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:21","slug":"about-this-orbit-from-ballet-to-broadway-and-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2022\/11\/08\/about-this-orbit-from-ballet-to-broadway-and-back\/","title":{"rendered":"(P3) About This Orbit: From Ballet to Broadway and Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

About This Orbit: From Ballet to Broadway and Back<\/h1>\n

Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1939<\/h2>\n

Synopsis<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>The show Blackbirds of 1939 was one of the many musical revues created by Lew Leslie.\u00a0 In the years before this there were the Blackbirds of 1928, 1930, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, and 1937. A revue is a form of entertainment that involves sketches, songs, and dances. This revue consisted of solely African American performers, and was performed at the Hudson Theatre.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this performance only ran nine times before eventually shutting down.<\/p>\n

There were two acts. The first act consisting of 12 scenes while the second act had 9.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cast (Dancers)<\/h3>\n

Hazel Spence<\/a> (ANB)…………………………………………………Van Grona\u2019s Swing Ballet. Act 1: scene 1. Scene 12. Act 2: scenes 8 and 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coleman Hill<\/a> (ANB)……………………………………………………Van Grona\u2019s Swing Ballet. Act 1: scene 1. Scene 12. Act 2: scenes 8 and 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Muriel Cook<\/a> (Negro Unit)……………………………………………….Dancing Chorus. Act 1: scene 5.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Al Bledger<\/a> (ANB)……………………………………………………………Van Grona\u2019s Swing Ballet. Act 1: scene 1. Scene 12. Act 2: scenes 8 and 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marion Brown<\/a> (ANB)……………………………………………………….Van Grona\u2019s Swing Ballet. Act 1: scene 1. Scene 12. Act 2: scenes 8 and 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beryl Clarke (ANB)…………………………………………………………..Van Grona\u2019s Swing Ballet. Act 1: scene 1. Scene 12. Act 2: scenes 8 and 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Edith Hurd<\/a> (Negro Unit)……………………………………………………Van Grona\u2019s Swing Ballet. Act 1: scene 1. Scene 12. Act 2: scenes 8 and 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dorothy Jones Williams<\/a> (ANB, Negro Unit)…………………………Van Grona\u2019s Swing Ballet. Act 1: scene 1. Scene 12. Act 2: scenes 8 and 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Edith Ross<\/a> (Negro Unit, ANB, Dunham)………………………………Van Grona\u2019s Swing Ballet. Act 1: scene 1. Scene 12 Played Minnie. Act 2: scenes 8 and 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elizabeth Thompson<\/a> (NYNB, Negro Unit, Radio City)……………Van Grona\u2019s Swing Ballet. Act 1: scene 1. Scene 12. Act 2: scenes 8 and 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lavinia Williams<\/a> (ANB, Negro Unit, Dunham)………………………..Van Grona\u2019s Swing Ballet. Act 1: scene 1. Scene 12.\u00a0 Played Frankie. Act 2: scenes 8 and 9.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Production<\/h3>\n

Production Staff:<\/b><\/p>\n

Produced by Lew Leslie<\/span><\/p>\n

Book by Lew Leslie<\/span><\/p>\n

Lyrics by Johnny Mercer<\/span><\/p>\n

Choreographed by Rube Bloom<\/span><\/p>\n

Swing Ballet Directed by Eugene Von Grona<\/a><\/p>\n

Scenic Design by Mabel A. Buell<\/span><\/p>\n

Costume Design by Frances Feist<\/span><\/p>\n

Theatres: Hudson Theatre (Feb 11, 1939 – Feb 18, 1939)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Andrei Iosivas and Lauren Okamoto<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.playbill.com\/playbillpagegallery\/inside-playbill?asset=00000150-aea3-d936-a7fd-eef7ea460001&type=InsidePlaybill&slide=1<\/p>\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Blackbirds_of_1939<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About This Orbit: From Ballet to Broadway and Back Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1939 Synopsis The show Blackbirds of 1939 was one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"universe-template.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[301,253],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-ballet-to-broadway-and-black","category-universe"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14707"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18478,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14707\/revisions\/18478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}