The Bix Pieces On Camera 3
From left to right: Garcia-Lorca, Tharp, Wright, and Rudner performing for camera in 1973.
Brief excerpts of the premiere cast from the televised performance.
Tharp in twirling baton solo in The Bix Pieces On Camera 3 in 1973.
Rinker and Rudner performing in The Bix Pieces On Camera 3 in 1973. Photo by Tony Russell.
From left to right: Tharp and Rudner in two frames from televised performance.
Premiere
Production
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Choreographer
Twyla Tharp
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Director and Producer
Merrill Brockway
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Composers
Bix Beiderbecke (In The Mist, 1927),
Willard Robinson (‘Tain’t So Honey, ‘Tain’t So, 1928),
Bud Green and Sam Stept (That’s My Weakness Now, 1928),
Walter Donaldson (Borneo, 1920 and Because My Baby Don’t Mean Maybe Now, 1928),
Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar (I Want To Be Happy, 1925),
Joseph Haydn (Opus 76 no. 3 Adagio, 1796),
William Henry Monk and Henry Francis Lyte (Abide With Me, 1847)
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Music by
The Paul Whiteman Orchestra
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Speaking by
Marian Hailey
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Lighting Designer
Hal Lautner
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Costume Designers
Kermit Love
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Scenic Designer
Henry Hubbert
Dancers
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Number of Dancers
5
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Runtime
00:27:50
Description
The Bix Pieces on Camera 3 was Tharp’s first television production. The program is a straightforward presentation of The Bix Pieces (1972) choreography. There is no additional documentary or rehearsal sequence; simply a stage performance retrofitted for the one-size-fits-all television studio at CBS. As there were no wings for entrances and exits, the choreography was adjusted slightly to fit within the perimeter of the cyclorama. A stationary camera recorded from the center edge of the stage.
The Bix Pieces on Camera 3 was the start of Tharp’s collaborations with Merrill Brockway, which would later include Sue’s Leg: Remembering the Thirties (1976) and Confessions of a Cornermaker (1981).
Created in cooperation with the N.Y. State Education Department
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Commissioned by