During the past 50 years, Miles Kreuger has amassed the world's largest collection expressly dedicated to the histories of the American Musical theatre and film. I made the 4-minute doc below to introduce you to Miles, founder and president of the Institute of the American Musical.
Next to West Side Story the most popular Shakespeare-inspired musical is, without doubt, Cole Porter's 1948 hit, Kiss Me, Kate.
Beyond "Over the Rainbow," however, The Wizard of Oz proved that Harold Arlen was capable of writing a sophisticated, integrated musical score, creating songs that advanced the plot of a superior story, rather than songs that merely ornamented pedestrian scripts.
He felt like Marlon Brando, and I like Audrey Hepburn. But in the pristine white marble lobby of the grand 1893 Art Deco building, what we looked like, really, was out of place.