ADRIANNE LOBEL (1955-)

"My One and Only." 26 original scenic concept designs for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical that premiered at The St. James Theatre May 1, 1983. Collage, colorade paper, and photographic reproduction. 216x254 mm; 8½x10 inches, mounted to 14x17-inch sheets. Laid into artist's signed board portfolio case. My One and Only was the breakthrough production for Lobel, the award-winning American scenic designer and producer for theatre, opera, and dance, and a fine artist. Her bright, graphic sets based upon Russian Constructivist art perfectly set the stage for the hit musical starring Tommy Tune and Twiggy, based on the book by Peter Stone and Timothy S. Mayer and featuring music and lyrics by the Gershwin brothers. The show's road to success was fraught with controversy, having suffered difficult out-of-town tryouts in Boston which resulted in most of the original creative team being fired, including its original director, Peter Sellars, along with Tim Mayer, the musical director and arranger, and Lobel. While Tommy Tune nominally took over the direction with his co-director / -choreographer Thommie Walsh, Lobel's contribution was deemed too integral to the production and her work was kept largely unaltered. The show became one of the most celebrated musicals of the decade and ran for 767 performances through March 3, 1985. Lobel has designed sets for Broadway, off-Broadway, and metropolitan and regional theater productions worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, Le Chatelet, The Royal National Theater, BAM, the Yale Repertory Theatre, Théatre Royal de la Monnai, New York City Opera, SUNY Purchase, and Central Park's Delacorte Theater. Her prolific work for the Mark Morris Dance Group is widely acclaimed. Many of her stage maquettes and designs are housed in the permanent collection of the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas, including those for the Houston Grand Opera productions of "Nixon in China" and "Street Scene." In 2002 she produced and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical for "A Year With Frog and Toad" based upon the famous children's books by her late father, Arnold Lobel, whom she credits for instilling much of her work ethic and love of art.