Kerr, Walter [Francis] (1913–96), critic and playwright. He was born in Evanston, Illinois, and educated at De Pauw and Northwestern Universities, then from 1938 to 1945 he taught speech and drama at Catholic University in Washington. Kerr wrote librettos and/or sketches for the musicals Count Me In (1942), Sing Out, Sweet Land! (1944), and Touch and Go (1949), directing the last two as well. In 1950 he became drama critic for Commonweal and the next year for the Herald Tribune. It was during his tenure on this paper that he staged his wifeJean Kerr's comedy, King of Hearts (1954), and with her wrote the book for the musical Goldilocks (1958), which he directed. With the demise of the Herald Tribune in 1966, he became drama critic for the Times, but soon confined himself to Sunday critiques. Among his books are How Not to Write a Play (1955), Pieces at Eight (1957), The Decline of Pleasure (1962), Theatre in Spite of Itself (1963), and Journey to the Center of the Theatre (1979). Kerr's writings, known for their insight, readability, and intuitive sense of quality, earned him a Pulitzer Prize, and in 1990 Broadway's Ritz Theatre was renamed after him.
Walter Kerr
| American Theater Guide: Walter [Francis] Kerr |
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Walter Francis Kerr |
Dictionary:
Kerr (kûr)  , Walter
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American playwright, writer, and drama critic for the New York Herald-Tribune (1951–1966) and the New York Times (1983–1996). In 1978 he won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism.
| Works: Works by Walter Kerr |
| 1963 | The Theater in Spite of Itself. Winner of a George Jean Nathan Award for drama criticism, this review collection helps establish Kerr as one of the most respected critics of Broadway and mainstream theater. His previous books included How Not to Write a Play (1955), Criticism and Censorship (1956), Pieces of Eight (1957), and The Decline of Pleasure (1962). |
| Wikipedia: Walter Kerr |
For the RN admiral see Lord Walter Kerr
Walter Francis Kerr (July 8, 1913 – October 9, 1996) was an American writer and Broadway theater critic. He also was the writer, lyricist, and/or director of several Broadway plays and musicals.
Kerr was born in Evanston, Illinois and earned both a B.A. and M.A. from Northwestern University.[1]. He taught speech and drama at The Catholic University of America.[2] After writing criticism for Commonweal he became a theater critic for the New York Herald Tribune in 1951. When that paper ended, he then began writing theater reviews for the New York Times in 1966, writing for the next seventeen years.[1] Kerr won a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1978.[3]
He married Jean Kerr (nee Collins) on August 9, 1943. She was also a writer. Together, they wrote the musical Goldilocks (1958), which won two Tony Awards. They also collaborated on Touch and Go (1949) and King of Hearts (1954).
He was portrayed pseudonymously by David Niven in the 1960 film Please Don't Eat the Daisies based on Jean Kerr's best-selling collection of humorous essays.
In 1990, the former Ritz Theater on West 48th Street in the Theatre District, New York was renamed the Walter Kerr Theatre in his honor.[4]
Contents |
Criticism
Some of the shows he panned over his long career included the musically ambitious shows of Stephen Sondheim. Of Sondheim's Company, Kerr wrote that the show was too cold, cynical and distant for his taste, though he "admitted to admiring large parts of the show."[5] In his review of Sondheim's Follies, he wrote " 'Follies' " is intermissionless and exhausting, an extravaganza that becomes tedious for two simple reasons: Its extravagances have nothing to do with its pebble of a plot; and the plot, which could be wrapped up in approximately two songs, dawdles through 22 before it declares itself done...Mr. Sondheim may be too much a man of the seventies, too present-tense sophisticated...The effort to bind it up inhibits the crackling, open-ended, restlessly varied surges of sound he devised with such distinction for "Company'." [6] He praised A Little Night Music, writing that "The score is a gift, the ladies are delightful, and producer Harold Prince has staged the moody meetings with easy skill."[7]
In reviewing West Side Story he focused on the dancing: "the most savage, restless, electrifying dance patterns we've been exposed to in a dozen seasons...The dancing is it. Don't look for laughter or - for that matter - tears." [8]
In his review of the original 1956 Broadway production of Candide, he wrote that it was a "really spectacular disaster".[9] However, in reviewing the 1973 revival of Candide he wrote that it was a "most satisfying resurrection." " 'Candide' may at last have stumbled into the best of all possible productions...The show is now a carrousel and we are on it quite safely...The design of the unending chase is so firm, the performers are so secure in their climbing and tumbling...that we are able to join the journey and still see it with the detachment that Voltaire prescribes."[10]
Of Frank Loesser's "musical with a lot of music" [sic. opera], The Most Happy Fella he wrote: "the evening at the Imperial is finally heavy with its own inventiveness, weighted down with the variety and fulsomness of a genuinely creative appetite. It's as though Mr. Loesser had written two complete musicals-the operetta and the haymaker-on the same simple play and then crammed them both into a single structure."[11] He wrote a favorable review of The Pajama Game: "a bright, brassy, and jubilantly sassy show [that] takes a whole barrelful of bright new talents, and a handful of stimulating ideas as well, and sends them tumbling in happy profusion over the footlights."[12]
Work
Books (selected)
- How Not to Write a Play (1955)
- Criticism and Censorship (1957)
- Pieces at Eight (1958)
- The Decline of Pleasure (1962)
- The Theatre in Spite of Itself (1963)
- Tragedy and Comedy (1967)
- Thirty Plays Hath November (1969)
- God on the Gymnasium Floor (1971)
- The Silent Clowns (1975)
- Journey to the Center of the Theater (1979)
Broadway
- Count Me In 1942 musical - wrote book
- Sing Out, Sweet Land 1944 musical revue - wrote book and directed
- The Song of Bernadette 1946 play - wrote book with Jean Kerr and directed
- Touch and Go 1949 musical revue - wrote sketches and lyrics with Jean Kerr and directed
- King of Hearts 1954 play - directed (written by Jean Kerr and Eleanor Brooke)
- Goldilocks 1958 musical - wrote book and lyrics with Jean Kerr and Joan Ford (lyrics) and directed
References
- ^ a b Walter Kerr biographylibrary.northwestern.edu, accessed July 4, 2009
- ^ Benedick, Adam."Obituary: Walter Kerr,"independent.co.uk, 21 October 1996
- ^ "Pulitzer Prize for Criticism"pulitzer.org, accessed July 4, 2009
- ^ Rothstein, Mervyn."Broadway Musical Tribute To the Critic Walter Kerr,"The New York Times, March 6, 1990
- ^ Miletich, p.51
- ^ Kerr, Walter. "Follies", The New York Times, p. D1, April 11, 1971
- ^ Kerr, Walter. The New York Times, "Who Could Resist These Women?", p. 119, March 4, 1973
- ^ Block, Geoffrey Holden. Enchanted Evenings (2004), Oxford University Press US, ISBN 0195167309, p. 245
- ^ Candide at Bernstein",leonardbernstein.com, accessed July 4, 2009
- ^ Kerr, Walter. "Best of All Candides?", The New York Times', p. 55, December 30, 1973
- ^ Riis, Thomas Laurence and Block, Geoffrey. Frank Loesser (2008), Yale University Press, ISBN 0300110510, p.161
- ^ Miletich, p.29
Notes
- Miletich, Leo N. Broadway's prize-winning musicals (1993), Haworth Press, ISBN 1560242884
External links
- Gene Doll Clothes samples of some of Kerr's dramatic criticism
- Walter Kerr at Internet Broadway Database
- Biography at filmreference.com
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