# 2767-70 - 1993 29c Broadway Musicals

U.S. #2767-70
1993 Broadway Musicals
Legends of American Music Series

• Honors four well-known musicals
• Issued for the 100^th anniversary of Broadway
• Part of the Legends of American Music Series

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Broadway Musicals
Series:  Legends of American Music
Value:  29¢, First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue:  July 14, 1993
First Day City:  New York, New York
Quantity Issued:  515,000,000 (Total for all four Broadway Musicals stamps)
Printed by:  Printed for American Bank Note Company by Multi-Color Corporation of Scottsburg, Indiana
Printing Method:  Photogravure
Format:  Booklet, 5 panes of 4 horizonal stamps each, arranged vertically.  Gravure printing cylinders of 220 subjects (11 across, 20 around).
Perforations:  10.9 (L perforator)
Tagging:  Prephosphored paper

Why the stamp was issued:  To celebrate four landmark American musicals and commemorate the 100^th anniversary of Broadway.

About the stamp design:  The designs were created using a large collection of photographs as reference.  New York City artist Wilson McLean created pencil sketches for the approval of the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee before creating final oil paintings to be pictured on the stamps.  Interestingly, McLean received special permission from the Postal Service to make his finished paintings larger than the five-times-stamp-size maximum normally imposed on stamp artists.

First Day City:  The stamps were issued in New York, New York, the home of Broadway and a fitting place for their First Day of Issue.  The day coincided with the second annual “Broadway on Broadway” event in New York City.

About the Legends of American Music Series:  The Legends of American Music Series debuted on January 8, 1993, and ran until September 21, 1999.  More than 90 artists are represented from all styles of music:  rock ‘n’ roll, rhythm and blues, country and western, jazz and pop, opera and classical, gospel and folk.  In addition to individual singers and Broadway musicals, subjects include band leaders, classical composers, Hollywood songwriters and composers, conductors, lyricists, and more.  The Legends of American Music Series was a huge advancement for diversity because it honored many Black and female artists.

History the stamps represent:  The four-stamp set was issued to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of Broadway.  The set pictured scenes from musicals that made their mark on American music:  Show Boat, Porgy and Bess, Oklahoma!, and My Fair Lady.  The Oklahoma! stamp was the same design used earlier in 1993 to commemorate the musical’s 50^th anniversary (although there were some design differences as the two stamps weren’t printed by the same company). 

Art director and project manager for the Legends of American Music series, Terrence McCaffrey chose a musical from each decade (Show Boat from the 1920s, Porgy and Bess from the 1930s, Oklahoma! from the 1940s, and My Fair Lady from the 1950s.  Overall, the set was created based on the desire of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee to honor composers of American musical theater.

McCaffrey also said of the Broadway Musicals designs that he wanted to make sure the stamp designs wouldn’t remind the viewer of the famous actors and actresses most well-known for playing specific roles in these musicals.  He said “We needed to have generic faces as opposed to the more recognizable faces from the actual musicals.”

Here's some history behind the musicals themselves:

Show Boat
Based on Edna Ferber’s novel of the same name, Show Boat paved the way for a form of musical that was distinct from the traditional fast-moving comedies and flamboyant operettas.  Not only was it unique in that it was the first musical based on a serious literary work, but it was also the first musical to tackle such serious themes as racism and poverty.

Composer Jerome Kern and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II adapted Ferber’s epic into a sweeping and dramatic musical that boasted such songs as “Make Believe,” “You Are Love,” and the stirring “Ol’ Man River.”  The two went on to create musical history.  Hailed as an “American masterpiece” by the critics, Show Boat was both an artistic and box office triumph.

Set during the 1880s, Show Boat traces the story of Magnolia Hawks, a performer on the showboat Cotton Blossom, and Gaylord Ravenal, a riverboat gambler.  They fall in love, marry, move to Chicago where Gaylord loses all their money, and finally separate.  Magnolia goes on to become a star on Broadway.  Years later she returns to the Cotton Blossom, where she is reunited with a changed Gaylord.

Porgy & Bess
When Porgy & Bess opened on Broadway in 1935, it was the realization of a longtime dream of George Gershwin’s.  After reading Du Bose Heyward’s book Porgy in 1926, he had written Heyward hoping to use the book as the basis for an opera.  Heyward was interested in the prospect, but both men had other commitments, forcing them to postpone the project.  Finally, in 1933, the two, along with Ira Gershwin and Dorothy Heyward, began work on what would become the most popular opera written by an American composer.

A black “folk opera,” Porgy & Bess is set in Catfish Row, a Negro tenement in Charleston, South Carolina.  Forced to go into hiding after murdering a man, Crown flees, leaving behind his girlfriend Bess, who falls in love with the crippled Porgy.  Crown later returns to take Bess away, but is killed by Porgy out of self-defense.  When Porgy is taken to jail, Sportin’ Life, who is also in love with Bess, tempts her to run off with him to New York.  Believing she will never see Porgy again, Bess agrees.  The play ends with Porgy, who has been freed from jail, leaving in search of Bess.

The 1935 run of 124 performances was modest by Broadway standards; for an opera, it was exceptional.  Since then, it has been performed throughout the world.

Oklahoma!
From the beginning, Oklahoma! seemed destined to fail.  Not only was it based on a play that had been a failure, but it had no stars, no traditional chorus girl numbers, and its dramatic ballets and extended musical sequences seemed too unconventional for most audiences.  Yet Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II defied the odds and went on to create not only one of the most popular musicals of all time, but also to revolutionize the American musical theater as well.

Set in Indian Territory at the turn of the century, Oklahoma! tells of a love triangle between Laurey, Curly, and Jud Fry.  Although Curly and Laurey are in love, both are uncertain of the other’s true feelings.  When Laurey seems to be making no apparent headway with Curly she accepts Jud’s invitation to a “box social,” where Curly expresses his true love for her.  The two marry, but Jud shows up at their wedding and attacks Curly.  In the ensuing brawl, Jud falls on his own knife and is killed.  Curly is tried for murder, but acquitted, and he and Laurey leave for their honeymoon.  Hailed by the critics as “delightful, fresh, and imaginative,” Oklahoma! has been seen in countless productions the world over.

My Fair Lady
Based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, the popular musical My Fair Lady has been called by critics “the best musical of the century.”  Professor Henry Higgins, a distinguished linguist, meets Eliza Doolittle, an illiterate flower girl.  In a bet with Colonel Pickering, he decides to transform Eliza into a fine lady and pass her off as a duchess.  He completes the job successfully and at a glamorous social evening at the Embassy, Eliza plays the role of the duchess beautifully.  The experiment over, Eliza is free to leave Higgins’ home.  Although she has agreed to marry Freddy Eynsford-Hill, a rich man about town, she returns to Higgins in the end.

Although a few minor additions were made, the play remained unaltered except for the end.  For nine years, this delightful musical held the record as Broadway’s longest running show.