- Description
Tap Dance America is a reference work of bibliographic information and does not point to digitized versions of the items described. The Library of Congress may or may not own a copy of a particular film or video. To request additional information Ask a Librarian.
See Also:
From:
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Memphis Bound / Bill "Bojangles" Robinson [theatrical performance]
- Title
- Memphis Bound [Theatrical Performance]
- Performers
- Robinson, Bill "Bojangles"
- Long, Avon
- Published/Created
- 1945-05-24
- Genre
- Theatrical Performance
- Venue
- Broadway Theatre
- Abstract
- Sixty seven year old Bill Robinson tapped his way up and down flights of stairs, spelled by the more sinewy, soft-shoe routines of a lavender garbed Avon Long. Bill Robinson opens as the star of his own company, in a satire on Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, "HMS Pinafore." The piece was well staged, with fine costumes, special scenery, singing and Robinson performing his dancing specialties. However, an audience which pays $4.80 and $6.00 top for a theatre ticket wants more than scenery and costumes. Whether old or young, white or colored, and whether you like it or not, people who go to an all-colored musical look forward to spending an evening watching good dancing, hearing good singing and laughing at the original funny sayings...When they don't get that they get very disappointed. This is what happened with "Memphis Bound." They got the dancing, but the other elements were not there. Though Robinson was considered by the cast the greatest dancer who ever lived, there was nothing in the show to really make you laugh. (Fletcher 322-23)
- Source
- Bordman, Gerald: American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. New York: Oxford University Press (1992).
- Fletcher, Tom: 100 Years of Negro in Show Business. New York: Burge (1954).
Last Updated: 12-16-2015