Bolossy Kiralfy (1848–1932), one of The Kiralfy Brothers, was a performer, producer, writer and creator of musical extravaganzas in the late 19th, early 20th centuries. He was a "great international showman" and ushered in the "era of the Spectacle".[1][2] Bolossy Kiralfy, born January 31, 1847, in Pest—(since 1873 incorporated with Buda and Óbuda into Budapest)—and died March 6, 1932, in London, England. Elise Marie Waldau, was his first wife which he married approximately 1874 and divorced 1899. His second wife, Helen (Nellie) Dawnay was married on November 23, 1899, in London, England.[3]
The Olympic opened in 1856 and was soon renamed Laura Keene's New Theatre, after the actress of the era (who starred in Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater in Washington the night President Lincoln was shot).
The pantomime musical broadway adaptation of nursery rhyme figure Humpty Dumpty debuted at the Olympic Theatre, (8/31/1871 - 6/11/1872), George L. Fox (clown), named stage manager in 1866, performed.
Kiralfy followed up his 1902 spectacle with the 'A Carnival in Venice' outdoor spectacle at the Toronto fair, performing Italian music as though you were at a carnival in Venice.[7] The stage backdrop was the cityscape of Venice and the Adriatic palaces. Songs would be performed by choruses in gondolas; the musicians and instrumentalists on an island.[7]
References
^Craig, Jenifer; Barker, Barbara M.; Kiralfy, Bolossy (1990). "Reviewed work: Bolossy Kiralfy, Creator of Great Musical Spectacles: An Autobiography, Barbara M. Barker". Dance Research Journal. 22 (2): 34–37. doi:10.2307/1477785. JSTOR1477785. S2CID191595629.
^"FAIR RECORDS ARE GROWING: Press Day Drew Crowds and Distinguished Visitors: THE NEW ART GALLERY". The Globe. September 4, 1902. p. 10.
^ ab"A CARNIVAL IN VENICE: PARTICULARS OF KIRALFY'S EXHIBITION PRODUCTION It is Promised That It Shall be on an Unexampled Scale in an Unexampled Manner". The Globe. July 24, 1903. p. 10.
Further reading
Bolossy Kiralfy, Creator of Great Musical Spectacles: An Autobiography. Edited by Barbara M. Barker. Theatre and dramatic studies, no. 50. UMI Research Press (1988)
