Hasty Pudding Theatricals

For other uses, see Hasty pudding (disambiguation).
The Hasty Pudding Lobby

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, known informally simply as The Pudding, is a theatrical student society at Harvard University, known for its burlesque crossdressing musicals. The Hasty Pudding Theatricals was described by John Wheelwright in 1897 as a "kindly association of men of all ages in a gay evening of simple enjoyment".[1]

History

Formed in 1795 as an artistic-minded fraternity, the Pudding began hosting mock trials of such phenomena as timely Harvard presidents and the study of mathematics. The Pudding put up its first full performance, of a well-known tragic burlesque entitled Bombastes Furioso, on December 13, 1844. It has performed a production every year since, except twice during World War I and twice during World War II. After a period of producing popular comedies written by established playwrights, the Pudding began to write its own shows, starting with a production of Dido and Aeneas written by Owen Wister in 1882.[2]

Previous members of Hasty Pudding have included Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Randolph Hearst, lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, Oscar winner Jack Lemmon, humorist Andy Borowitz, artist Henry Ives Cobb, Jr., and former Massachusetts governor William Weld.[3] In 1948, Felisa Vanoff (1925–2014) became the first female choreographer of the company.[4][5]

Although the cast remains all-male (with female parts performed by actors in drag), women participate in the productions as writers, composers, orchestra, and members of the business staff and tech crew.[2] Each spring, the Pudding's Theatricals holds a 5-week run in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then tours to New York City and Bermuda.[6]

The Pudding is, maybe paradoxically, both a museum for antique theatrical practices and a magnet or training ground for innovative new talents. On the one hand its deliberately retro theatrical trappings (all-male cast; all-live pit orchestra with no computers or synthesizers; silly plots full of crude jokes, low-tech production values, collegiate humor and anachronistic puns) seem to preserve a museum-piece approach to musical theater.[2]

Yet for decades the Pudding has been incubating new talents at a steadily increasing rate. Pudding graduates are leaders in the fields of writing, directing, and performing in theater, television, movies and the other arts. At least three winners of the prestigious annual Ed Kleban Award for achievement in lyric writing have each been Pudding graduates. Pudding librettist Mark O'Donnell won a Tony Award in 2003 for co-authoring the book for Hairspray. He also co-authored the book for the Broadway musical Cry-Baby; its lyrics were penned by fellow Pudding alum David Javerbaum, who has won eight Emmy Awards as head writer for The Daily Show—which also featured comedian Mo Rocca, a former Pudding librettist and President. Pudding Actor Jerry Colker won the Drama Desk Award for authoring the book for the Off-Broadway musical Three Guys Naked From the Waist Down. Actress Rashida Jones (seen in Parks and Recreation, The Office, Boston Public, and the film I Love You, Man) co-composed the score of the show during her senior year. Paris Barclay wrote two Pudding shows and is now an Emmy-winning director and producer for dozens of film and television projects including "NYPD Blue", "Sons Of Anarchy" and "Glee", and in 2013 was elected President of the Directors' Guild Of America. Pudding actor and composer Laurence O'Keefe wrote the music and lyrics for the Off-Broadway shows Bat Boy: The Musical and "Heathers: The Musical". O'Keefe co-wrote the score to the Broadway musical Legally Blonde with his wife, Pudding librettist Nell Benjamin, who herself wrote the award-winning play "The Explorers' Club" and is currently collaborating with Tina Fey on the musical adaptation of the film Mean Girls. Pudding bookwriter Mark O'Keefe co-wrote and co-produced the movies Bruce Almighty and Click. Pudding librettist Megan Amram became famous shortly after graduating for her comic Twitter feed and now writes for television shows like "Parks And Recreation" and "Silicon Valley", and her co-writer Alexandra Petri now writes a regular column for the Washington Post, a newspaper. BJ Averell, a Pudding actor alumnus, was a Grand Prize winner of The Amazing Race and is also an accomplished sea captain. And John Berman, a Pudding actor and President, is now a news anchor for CNN and has written two books about his struggles with illiteracy.

Origins of name

The name comes from a Colonial era (originally British) dish called hasty pudding, a kind of porridge made from cornmeal with molasses, honey or other ingredients, a New World cousin to the Italian polenta; called "hasty" because it is cheap and easy to make. It is not clear whether the dish was originally a staple or a dessert, but it is now served for dessert at the banquets thrown by the Pudding, such as opening night celebrations and the annual 'roasts' for their Man/Woman of the Year (see below).

Honorary awards

The society is notable for their annual selection of famous entertainers as Woman of the Year (since 1951) and Man of the Year (since 1967). These awards are usually treated with great seriousness by the honorees, who, since the unanticipated personal appearance of Jane Fonda to accept her award, always attend the awards ceremony, and are treated to a celebratory "roast," and a parade.

List of annual productions

  • 2016 That 1770s Show
  • 2015 ¡Oops!... Madrid It Again
  • 2014 Victorian Secrets
  • 2013 There's Something About Maui
  • 2012 There Will Be Flood
  • 2011 Kashmir If You Can
  • 2010 Commie Dearest
  • 2009 Acropolis Now
  • 2008 Fable Attraction
  • 2007 The Tent Commandments
  • 2006 Some Like It Yacht
  • 2005 Terms of Frontierment
  • 2004 As the Word Turns
  • 2003 It’s A Wonderful Afterlife
  • 2002 Snow Place Like Home
  • 2001 Fangs for the Memories
  • 2000 The Jewel of Denial
  • 1999 I Get No Kick From Campaign
  • 1998 Paradise Lost-and-Found
  • 1997 Me and My Galaxy
  • 1996 Morocco ‘Round the Clock
  • 1995 A Tsar is Born
  • 1994 A Forum Affair
  • 1993 Romancing the Throne
  • 1992 Up Your Ante
  • 1991 Safari Sagoodi
  • 1990 Suede Expectations
  • 1989 Whiskey Business
  • 1988 Saint Misbehavin’
  • 1987 Bye Bye Verdi
  • 1986 Between the Sheiks
  • 1985 Witch and Famous
  • 1984 Jungle Belles
  • 1983 Of Mines and Men
  • 1982 Sealed with a Quiche
  • 1981 Serf’s Up!
  • 1980 A Little Knife Music
  • 1979 Overtures in Asia Minor
  • 1978 A Thousand Clones
  • 1977 Cardinal Knowledge
  • 1976 Tots in Tinseltown
  • 1975 Put Up Your Dukes
  • 1974 Keep Your Pantheon
  • 1973 Bewitched Bayou
  • 1972 The Wrongway Inn
  • 1971 Rhinestones in the Rough
  • 1970 The Boy Who Cried Beowolf
  • 1969 Bottoms Up
  • 1968 All the Queen’s Men
  • 1967 A Hit and a Myth
  • 1966 Right Up Your Alley
  • 1965 No Hard Feelings
  • 1964 William Had the Words
  • 1963 Tickle Me Pink
  • 1962 Peace Decorum
  • 1961 Pro and Con
  • 1960 Run for the Money
  • 1959 Busy Bodies
  • 1958 The Big Fizz
  • 1957 On the Rocks
  • 1956 Love Rides the Rails
  • 1955 Happy Medium
  • 1954 Ad Man Out
  • 1953 Strike While It’s Hot
  • 1952 Seeing Red
  • 1951 Buddha Knows Best
  • 1950 Heart of Gold
  • 1949 Tomorrow is Manana
  • 1948 Here’s the Pitch
  • 1947 Speak for Yourself
  • 1946 G.I. Joe
  • 1945 The Proof of the Pudding
  • 1944 Life With John
  • 1943 (No Production)
  • 1942 (No Production)
  • 1941 One on the House
  • 1940 Assorted Nuts
  • 1939 Fair Enough
  • 1938 So Proudly We Hail
  • 1937 Come Across
  • 1936 The Lid’s Off
  • 1935 Foeman of the Yard
  • 1934 Hades! The Ladies!
  • 1933 Step Lively
  • 1932 Pudding on the Ritz
  • 1931 Bulls and Belles
  • 1930 Face the Music
  • 1929 Fireman, Save My Child
  • 1928 Not Now…Later
  • 1927 Gentleman, the Queen!
  • 1926 1776
  • 1925 Laugh It Off
  • 1924 Who’s Who
  • 1923 Take a Brace
  • 1922 It’s Only Natural
  • 1921 Wetward Ho!
  • 1920 Barnum Was Right
  • 1919 Crown and Clowns
  • 1918 (No Production)
  • 1917 (No Production)
  • 1916 A White Elephant
  • 1915 The Fattest Calf
  • 1914 The Legend of Loravia
  • 1913 Panamania
  • 1912 Below Zero
  • 1911 The Crystal Gazer
  • 1910 Diana’s Debut
  • 1909 The Builders of Babylon
  • 1908 The Fate Fakirs
  • 1907 The Lotos-Eaters
  • 1906 The Wanderer
  • 1905 Machiavelli
  • 1904 Boodle and Co.
  • 1903 The Catnippers
  • 1902 Hi-Ki-Ya
  • 1901 The Dynamiters
  • 1900 Wytche Hazelle
  • 1899 Proteus
  • 1898 Boscabello
  • 1897 The Flying Dutchmen
  • 1896 Branglebrink
  • 1895 Prosperpina
  • 1894 Granada
  • 1893 Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
  • 1892 The Sphinx
  • 1891 The Obispah
  • 1890 Helen and Paris
  • 1889 The Duenna
  • 1888 Constance
  • 1887 The Talisman
  • 1886 Papillonetta
  • 1885 Joan of Arc and Robin Hood
  • 1884 Hernani
  • 1883 Masaniello
  • 1882 Dido and Aeneas
  • 1881 Lady of the Lake
  • 1880 Euphive
  • 1879 Chang Ching Foo
  • 1878 Romulus and Remus
  • 1877 The Puddifoots
  • 1876 Breach of Promise
  • 1875 Old Gooseberry
  • 1874 Which Is Which?
  • 1873 Bamboozling
  • 1872 Don Juan
  • 1871 Abélard and Heloïse
  • 1870 Don Giovanni
  • 1869 Othello: The Moor
  • 1868 Slasher and Crasher
  • 1867 Blue Beard
  • 1866 Babes in the Wood
  • 1865 Macbeth
  • 1864 That Nose
  • 1863 The Jealous Wife
  • 1862 The Serious Family
  • 1861 A Duel for a Duchess
  • 1860 The Lady of the Lions
  • 1859 Geraldine
  • 1858 Raising the Wind
  • 1857 The Rivals
  • 1856 The Phantom Breakfast
  • 1855 Loves of Lord Bateman
  • 1854 The Grand Opera of Tom Thumb
  • 1853 Mrs. Wiggins
  • 1852 Did You Ever Send Your Wife to Brookline?
  • 1851 Wilful Murder
  • 1850 Lend Me Five Shillings
  • 1849 Slasher and Crasher
  • 1848 Damon and Pythias
  • 1847 Chrononhotonthologos
  • 1846 Box and Cox
  • 1845 Martin Chuzzlewit
  • 1844 Bombastes Furioso[7]

References

  1. ↑ "An Illustrated History of the Hasty Pudding Club Theatricals". Hasty Pudding Club. Retrieved 2014-12-14.
  2. 1 2 3 "History". Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  3. ↑ "History". Alumni. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  4. ↑ Dagan, Carmel (10 June 2014). "Felisa Vanoff, Dancer, Patron of the Arts, Dies at 89". Variety. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  5. ↑ Brown, Emma S. (25 June 2014). "Obituary: Felisa Vanoff / Groundbreaking dancer and choreographer, June 11, 1924 – May 29, 2014". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "Past Show Titles". Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Past Show Titles | Hasty Pudding Theatricals". Hastypudding.org. Retrieved 2012-04-23.

External links

Coordinates: 42°22′21.2″N 71°7′5.2″W / 42.372556°N 71.118111°W / 42.372556; -71.118111

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