Roaring 20′s-style songs flirt with opera in a musical about William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies. Visit their website here.

Dedicated to the fond memory of Robert White

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

William Randolph Hearst (W.R.) and Marion Davies (Daisy) were larger than life Americans. Reigning from their “palace” San Simeon, they lived life extravagantly, and personified, in the 1920s and 30s, the heady mix of power, money and glamor that fascinates still.

W.R. was a powerful newspaperman, known for the sensational headlines in his papers. His political influence was major and had, it is believed, a great deal to do with the U.S. entering the Spanish American War. He owned magazines, radio stations, and a movie studio.

Daisy, W.R.’s companion for over thirty-five years, was a fifteen year old chorus girl when he met her and became a movie star under his watchful eye. He saw her as a romantic actress but she is most remembered for being a gifted comedienne.

Together they threw glittering parties that drew the glamorous and famous up the California coast to San Simeon and to the Santa Monica Beach House, now the Annenberg Community Beach House. Daisy’s flair for fun, her wit and good humor charmed her guests, even George Bernard Shaw and Calvin Coolidge.

W.R. and Daisy looks underneath the public façade at two people with conflicting needs: W.R., who needs to believe in his romantic dream of Daisy, and Daisy who has never had the chance to find out who she really is.  It is also a love story.

Glenn Paxton, Robert and Phyllis White, in their words and music, have captured the spirit and flavor of these amazing times.