An exhibit of the work of Broadway poster designer Tom Morrow opened Oct. 8 in the lobby-gallery of The York Theatre Company in Manhattan. Director Harold Prince, whose Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me, Grind (among others) were represented by Morrow images, was one of the attendees.
Morrow, who died in 1995, created indelible, whimsical illustrations for the original productions of Broadway shows from the 1950s to the 1980s. His work was seen in print ads, on sheet music, in Playbills, on cast album covers and on posters.
Among the images he created were the lovesick cupid for She Loves Me, the Chagall-inspired Russian peasant world of Fiddler on the Roof, the dungareed Lucille Ball, leaning on oil gushers, for Wildcat, the svelte, derbied Gwen Verdon caricature of Redhead, and, his final work, the grimy vaudeville billboard signs of Grind.
Other posters and/or sketches in the exhibit include works for the original productions of Auntie Mame, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Candide, Take Her, She's Mine and Norman Mailer's The Deer Park.
Costume designer Miles White (the original Oklahoma! and Carousel) and Charlotte Moore of the Irish Repertory Theatre were among guests at the opening.
The exhibit continues through the season.
-- By Kenneth Jones