Shall we dance?

If you haven’t seen the music and dance extravaganza that is Strictly Gershwin, you’re in for a treat when it hits the stage this September at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC.

Paying homage to the big Hollywood musicals of the 1930s and ‘40s, Strictly Gershwin’s challenging choreography demands impeccable technique and versatility from our dancers, with the much-loved music of George and Ira Gershwin paired with tap, ballroom, musical theatre and jazz dance, alongside classical ballet. Choreographed by Derek Deane in 2008 for the English National Ballet, we last presented it in 2016 to sell-out audiences across the season; we can’t wait to bring it back to the stage this year.

But who were the Gershwins and why was their music so influential?

• Brothers George and Ira Gershwin were born in New York City in 1898 and 1896 respectively to Russian Jewish parents who had moved from St Petersburg due to the growing anti-Jewish sentiment.
• They grew up in many different residences, mostly in the Yiddish district, and frequented the local Yiddish theatres as they grew older, with George occasionally gracing the stage as an extra.

• At 10-years-old, their parents bought a piano for Ira; however, George was immediately drawn to playing and took the lessons instead. He was taught by acclaimed piano teacher Charles Hambitzer who wrote “I have a new pupil who will make his mark if anybody will. The boy is a genius”.— George left school at 15 to work as a song plugger in Tin Pan Alley. He published his first song When You Want ‘Em, You Can’t Get ‘Em, When You’ve Got ‘Em, You Don’t Want ‘Em in 1916, earning him 50 cents. His first hit was Swanee, composed in 10 minutes on a bus. It became the biggest-selling song of the Gershwin’s career.
• In their twenties, the brothers began composing musical theatre songs. In 1924, George wrote A Rhapsody in Blue – now hailed as a hallmark in American music. 
• George moved to Paris shortly afterwards where he wrote the acclaimed An American in Paris. His aim was to ‘portray the impressions of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city, listens to various street noises, and absorbs the French atmosphere’.
• From 1924 until George’s unfortunate death in 1937, George and Ira worked together almost exclusively, creating iconic pieces of America’s musical history that include Girl Crazy and Strike up the Band. Ira continued working in film and theatre, writing standards such as Long Ago (and Far Away) and The Man That Got Away, both nominated for Academy Awards.