A Life & Legacy: The Joanne Woodward & Paul Newman Collection
A Life & Legacy: The Joanne Woodward & Paul Newman Collection
Martha Graham | Typed letter signed ("Martha Graham") to Joanne Woodward
Lot Closed
June 12, 06:21 PM GMT
Estimate
800 - 1,200 USD
Lot Details
Description
Martha Graham
Typed letter signed ("Martha Graham") to Joanne Woodward
One page (270 x 208 mm) on Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance Inc letterhead, 8 March 1985, announcing a new ballet for the 1985 season of the Martha Graham Dance Company at the State Theatre and asking if Woodward and Paul Newman would be able to play a part. Matted and framed. Accompanied by a color photograph (483 x 330 mm) of Rudolph Nureyev bringing Graham onstage, apparently for the curtain call of her ballet "Lucifer." Matted and framed.
"The ballet is called "Song" and it takes as its point of departure lines from the Song of Songs. As I now see the ballet the lines will be spoken on stage. I had first thought of one speaker but now feel it should be both a man and a woman. … I write to you in the hope that you would participate in the World Premiere not because of our past relationship at the Neighborhood Playhouse but because of my belief in your gifts as I have witnessed them develop over the years. The same feeling motivates my asking if Paul would do the narration with you. I of course more than understand if it is not within your areas of possibilities, but I so hope they are."
Woodward and Newman were not able to accommodate Graham's request, and the premiere of "Song," 2 April 1985, was narrated by Jeremy Brett, offstage.