Descrizione

8vo (155 x 227 mm). IX, (1), 109, (1) pp. In dust jacket. First print edition of the American musical, signed on the half title by the play's German-American composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950), and signed on front free endpaper by Weill's co-writer Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959) and fellow producers of the Playwrights' Company, S. N. Behrman (1893-1973, twice), Robert E. Sherwood (1896-1955), and Elmer Rice (1892-1967), along with performers Walter Huston (1883-1950) and Richard Kollmar (1910-71). - Weill was one of the great composers of operas and early musicals in both Germany and, following the rise of Nazism, in America. "Knickerbocker Holiday" was his and Maxwell Anderson's first Broadway musical and one of Weill's great hits. "September Song", the solo co-written with Anderson which ended Act One, swiftly became an American classic, covered by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra to Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham. Weill, who did not live past fifty, nevertheless had an incredible impact on musical theatre. - Jacket gently toned and chipped. Some pages uncut, two cuts slightly jagged. Occasional insignificant stains; in good condition. - With the pencil ownership signature of Elizabeth Wall to the verso of the last leaf.