Coffee House Wednesday : Talk of the town
Douglas Colby, Victoria Wilson, & Foster Hirsch
Date
Location
Sponsors
Admission
RSVP required
Program is FREE to attend
About the Event
The Coffee House Club invites Salmagundi members to join Victoria Wilson and Foster Hirsch for their Spring 2025 Talk of the Town series, in conversation with Douglas Colby, collector extraordinaire, as they discuss his astonishing collection of set and costume renderings.
Douglas Colby’s collection consists of the work of 150 artists and more than 400 slides – of the musical theater of the past 125 years. Here are set and costume renderings and 3-dimensional models for the original productions of Broadway, Off-Broadway and West End musicals.
Here is the artwork of classic musicals, plus original poster art and caricatures for the musical theater. Included in this historic collection, the original set designs of Donald Oenslager’s (Anything Goes; 1934); Oliver Smith (On the Town; 1944) Boris Aronson (Company; 1970, Follies; 1971, Fiddler on the Roof; 1964); Jo Mielziner (The Most Happy Fella; 1956); Eugene Lee (Sweeney Todd; 1979). Here are the costume designs of Miles White for Oklahoma (1943) and Carousel (1945); Irene Sharaff (Candide; 1956); Robert Edmund Jones (Lute Song; 1945); Cecil Beaton (My Fair Lady; 1956) and here too are the set models by Robin Wagner (A Chorus Line; 1975) and John Napier (Sunset Boulevard; 1987). And much more…
Sure to be an exciting evening in which Wilson, Hirsch and Douglas Colby talk about the collection itself; how it was put together over decades; stories about the pieces themselves, as well as the history of the shows, the designers, the artists, producers, directory. Here is a look at three centuries of theater in America and England.
This is the first time this remarkable collection has been seen in public.
Hungry?
Ticketed attendees are welcome to stay for dinner by indicating so in their Eventbrite RSVP.
There will be an a la carte menu to choose from. On the day of the event, you can pay for your meal with a card or your membership account (no cash).