Major Barbara (2001) Production Files

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Identifier: MJRBARBARA2001
Inclusive Dates: 2001
Extent:
Production Files documenting the 2001 production of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara at the American Airlines Theatre.  Directed by Daniel Sullivan, with set design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by Jane Greenwood, lighting design by Brian MacDevitt, original music by Dan Moses Schreier, and hair and wig design by Paul Huntley.  The production was funded in part by a generous grant from The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

The production starred Cherry Jones as Barbara Undershaft, Dana Ivey as Lady Britomart Undershaft, David Warner as Andrew Undershaft, Denis O'Hare as Adolphus Cusins, Zak Orth as Stephen Undershaft, and David Lansbury as Bill Walker (though he seems to have left the show early as he is not listed in the September 2001 Stagebill); with Henny Russell as Sarah Undershaft, Rick Holmes as Charles Lomax, Jenny Sterlin as Rummy Mitchens, Brennan Brown as Snobby Price, Kelly Hutchinson as Jenny Hill, Richard Russell Ramos as Peter Shirley, James Gale as Bill Walker, Beth Dixon as Mrs. Baines, and Nathan Darrow, Jared Geller, Jeremy Lewit and Peter Shaughnessy as Factory Workers.  Understudies included Henny Russell, Beth Dixon, James Gale, Robert Elliott, Martin LaPlatney, Lucy Martin, Brian Shoaf, Nathan Darrow and Jen Davis.

David Warner was the only award nominee from the production; he was a recipient of the 2002 Theatre World Award, and a nominee for the 2002 Drama Desk Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play award.
Major Barbara was written and premiered in 1905 and was first published in 1907. "The story involves an idealistic young woman, Barbara Undershaft, who is engaged in helping the poor as a Major in the Salvation Army in London. For many years Barbara and her siblings have been estranged from their father, Andrew Undershaft, who now reappears as a rich and successful munitions maker. Undershaft, the father, gives money to the Salvation Army, which offends Major Barbara, who does not want to be connected to his "tainted" wealth. However, the father argues that poverty is a worse problem than munitions, and claims that he is doing more to help society by giving his workers jobs and a steady income than Major Barbara is doing to help them by giving them bread and soup... Although Barbara initially regards the Salvation Army's acceptance of Undershaft's money as hypocrisy, Shaw did not intend that it should be thought so by the audience. Shaw wrote a preface for the play's publication, in which he derided the idea that charities should only take money from "morally pure" sources. He points out that donations can always be used for good, whatever their provenance, and he quotes a Salvation Army officer, 'they would take money from the devil himself and be only too glad to get it out of his hands and into God's'. "  --"Major Barbara", www.wikipedia.org, accessed 4/18/2016
Production Files are contained in one Hollinger box, and consist of 15 folders, 3 Stagebills, marketing flyers and the cast/family photo.

Digital files on the Archive 1 server include the following folders:
Education (Pdf of the study guide and transcript of interview with Daniel Sullivan)
Media (Mp3 and .wav files of interviews with Cherry Jones, Daniel Sullivan, and designers Jane Greenwood and John Lee Beatty)
Playbill (29 Archive-scanned jpegs)
Press (Archive-scanned selects)
Production Photographs (Captioned selects only)
Show Art
Stage Management (Scenic bid session documents, flame permits, contracts, opening night invitations, etc)

There is a related collection of Marketing materials on the Marketing Shelves.  Contracts and other confidential documents have been moved to the Contracts cabinets, and access is restricted.  There is a hard copy of the show poster on the Poster shelves.

There is a folder in the Photographs cabinet which includes film negatives, color contact sheets and additional black and white prints of the cast/family photo; color slides of production photographs and an enlarged black and white print of a production photograph depicting Cherry Jones. 
Access Restrictions: Open and available to approved researchers by appointment only. See folder details for specific restrictions.
Preferred Citation: Major Barbara 2001, Roundabout Theatre Company Archive
Related Staged Production

Major Barbara


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