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vinyl LP back cover detail
back cover photo by Deborah Berman
photo of album cover by Styrous®
Today is the birthday of American dancer and choreographer of modern dance as well as an avant-garde theater director, Jean Erdman who was born on February 20, 1916, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to John Piney Erdman, a doctor of divinity and missionary from New England,
who settled in Honolulu as a minister at the non-denominational Protestant
Church of the Crossroads where he preached, in both English and
Japanese, to a multi-ethnic congregation. Her mother, Marion Dillingham
Erdman, was a member of one of the founding industrialist families of Hawaii.
Erdman's earliest dance experience was the hula. She attended the Punahou School in Honolulu where she learned, as a form of physical education, Isadora Duncan
interpretive dance. Reflecting on her early dance training, Erdman said
these two influences taught her that "dancing is an expression of
something meaningful to the dancer, not a mere series of lively steps".
Erdman worked with the greats of Avant-Guard and experimental musicians and performers; John Cage, Martha Graham, Louis Horst, Merce Cunningham, Lou Harrison, Alan Hovhaness and many others.
The Coach with the Six Insides premiered at the Village South Theatre in Greenwich Village on November 26, 1962. It ran for 114 performances and received the Obie and Vernon Rice Awards for Outstanding Achievement in theater. She choreographed a few Broadway musicals, one was Two Gentlemen of Verona, a delightful send up of the Shakespeare comedy.
The Coach with the Six Insides was performed on CBS anthology series "Camera Three" in December of 1964 and there is a video of that performance on YouTube (link below).
In 1943, Erdman choreographed Creature On a Journey with, Counterdance in the Spring, composed by Lou Harrison. There is an excellent video of it performed by movement artist, Stephanie Liapis, with a documentary about the costumes, artists and music. The work demonstrates the influence hula and Duncan movement was incorporated into Erdman's work.
In 1945 she choreographed Daughters of the Lonesome Isle with a commissioned solo prepared piano score by John Cage; it premiered in Bronxville, New York, on February 27, 1946 (link below).
In the mid-thirties, Erdman met Joseph Campbell and Martha Graham: both would be immensely influential in her life.
date & photographer unknown
In 1972 Erdman collaborated with Campbell, they had married by that time, to form the Theater of the Open Eye performance group.
The album included a libretto.
There are cover variations as well as label variations in the pressings: The German pressing has text on the labels.
German label pressing, side 2 & side 1
This version, the US pressing, does not have any text, just artwork printed on the labels.
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Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
A1 - Act I Scene 2
A2 - Act I Scene 6
A3 - Act II Scene 5
A4 - Act II Scene 6
A2 - Act I Scene 6
A3 - Act II Scene 5
A4 - Act II Scene 6
Side 2:
B1 - Act II Scene 7
B2 - Act III Scene 1, 3 & 4
B3 - Act III Scene 5
Companies, etc.
Copyright © – ESP-Disk' Ltd.
Credits:
Art Direction – Stephen I. Levitt
Composed By, Performer – Teiji Ito
Cover – Howard Bernstein
Directed By, Choreography – Miss Erdman*
Lacquer Cut By – DBH*
Performer – Genji Ito, Peter Berry
Photography By [Back Cover] – Deborah Berman
Voice Actor [Anna Livia Plurabelle], Written-By – Jean Erdman
Voice Actor [Daughter Iseult] – Sheila Roy
Voice Actor [Shaun, The Older Twin] – Leonard Frey
Voice Actor [Shem, The Younger Twin] – Van Dexter
Voice Actor [Wife And Chairwoman] – Anita Dangler
Notes:
Label variation: This version does not have any text printed on the labels,
just artwork.
Includes an eight page booklet with original lines of the play.
which was Inspired by James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake".
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout): ESPS 1019 A ORT-2 DBH
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout): ESPS 1019 B ORT-2 DBH
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout): ESPS 1019 B ORT-2 DBH
Jean Erdman – The Coach With The Six Insides (Original Cast Album)
Label: ESP Disk – ESP 1019
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1966
Genre: Non-Music, Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack, Musical, Avantgarde, Poetry, Experimental
Label: ESP Disk – ESP 1019
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1966
Genre: Non-Music, Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack, Musical, Avantgarde, Poetry, Experimental
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Northwestern University ~ Cage and Contemporary Choreographers
University of Washington ~ Creature on a Journey
YouTube links:
