EVENT: Redlands Presents "Red, Hot, & Blue:
A Salute to American Musicals"
DATE: February 3 - March 28
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In the "show must go on" tradition, Red, Hot & Blue: A Salute to American Musicals has hit the road for a national tour and will be in El Reno, Oklahoma February 3 through March 28. The exhibition will be in the Redlands Community College Art Gallery and will be open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Organized as a collective biography, this vital retrospective on Broadway and Hollywood musicals captures the magic and dynamism musical theater created for diverse audiences over the past century. During its 1997 debut at the National Portrait Gallery, Red, Hot & Blue attracted record-breaking audiences of all ages and backgrounds, and underscored the need for a larger artifact-based version to reach a wider public.
Named for Cole Porter's 1936 Broadway musical, Red, Hot & Blue describes the changing moods of the nation over the course of the 20th century, as diverse ethnic and cultural influences blended to form a brilliantly colorful American mosaic.
Red, Hot & Blue showcases the stars, on and off stage, who gave voice and vision to the American experience over the past 100 years. Beginning with 19th-century vaudeville and the slapstick humor of such comedy greats as Harrigan and Hart, Williams and Walker, and Weber and Fields, the exhibition covers the century's astonishing range of stage entertainment, from the showmanship of Florenz Ziegfeld and the Shuberts to the rise of the first great musical stars, Al Jolson, Ethel Merman and Sophie Tucker. It brings back the incredible song and dance styles of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers, Gene Kelly, and Judy Garland, and the socially conscious musicals of the 1960s.
The core of the small-format exhibition is an original video highlighting some of the greatest musical performances on film. It will be available for anyone who wants to view the video during their visit to the exhibition. Musical theater stars featured in the video appear again—in photographs, posters and biographies—on exhibition panels designed to recall the interiors of America’s most beautiful theaters.
A book to accompany the exhibition has been published by Smithsonian Institution Press. Red Hot & Blue: A Salute to American Musicals was developed and organized by the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. The exhibition has been made possible, in part, through the generous support of Turner Classic Movies.
The exhibition is hosted by Redlands Community College with assistance of the Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Visit the Smithsonian Web site at www.sites.si.edu for additional information on this exhibition.
The exhibition may be viewed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, February 3 – March 28 in the Redlands Gallery. Admission is free. For more information call 405-262-2552, ext. 2635 or e-mail arts@redlandscc.edu.