A Portrait Through Stamp Art

Broadway

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Show Boat stamp art

Broadway is much more than a major thoroughfare running through Manhattan. The word evokes the section of Broadway between 42nd Street and 53rd Street, which includes Times Square and is home to more than 40 professional theaters. This is the "Great White Way,” where theater marquees illuminate the evening and convey the pulse of a city that never sleeps. Broadway has helped make New York City a cultural capital of the world.

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Show Boat stamp art
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Show Boat stamp

Show Boat was one of the first Broadway productions with a bi-racial cast. Written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II and based on Edna Ferber’s bestselling novel of the same name, the show premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre on December 27, 1927 and ran for 77 weeks.

SHOW BOAT Legends of American Music Series
MEDIUM canvas, oil
ILLUSTRATOR Wilson McLean (b. 1937)
ART DIRECTOR Terry McCaffrey
FIRST DAY OF ISSUE July 14, 1993

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Moss Hart stamp art
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Moss Hart stamp

Moss Hart was an award-winning dramatist, director, performer, producer, theater owner and writer. He won a Tony Award as director of the musical My Fair Lady. This portrait shows Hart surrounded by marquee-style titles of three of his famous plays. A fourth marquee displays his name and evokes the iconic feel of Broadway at night.

Moss Hart Literary Arts Series
MEDIUM board, oil
ILLUSTRATOR Tim O’Brien (b. 1964)
ART DIRECTOR Ethel Kessler
FIRST DAY OF ISSUE October 24, 2004

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George Gershwin stamp art
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George Gershwin stamp

George Gershwin was one of America’s greatest Broadway writers, orchestral composers, and popular songwriters. His satirical play Let Them Eat Cake was the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer Prize. Porgy and Bess, Gershwin’s greatest Broadway play, was widely regarded as America’s first folk opera.

GEORGE GERSHWIN American Arts Series
MEDIUM board, gouache, acrylic, colored pencil
ILLUSTRATOR Mark English (b. 1933)
ART DIRECTOR Terry McCaffrey
FIRST DAY OF ISSUE February 28, 1973

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Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II stamp art
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Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II stamp

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II won Pulitzer Prizes, Tony Awards, Academy Awards, Emmys and Grammys. Their timeless productions include Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Flower Drum Song, South Pacific, and The King and I. Their final collaborative play, The Sound of Music, won five Tony Awards.

ROGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN Legends Of American Music Series
MEDIUM board, gesso, acrylic, colored pencil
ILLUSTRATOR Drew Struzan (b. 1947)
ART DIRECTOR Howard Paine
FIRST DAY OF ISSUE September 21, 1999

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Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne stamp art
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Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne stamp

Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, one of the greatest husband and wife acting teams on Broadway, performed together in more than 40 plays and became stars of stage, screen and radio. Inseparable on and off stage, they were married 55 years.

ALFRED LUNT AND LYNN FONTANNE Performing Arts Series
MEDIUM board, gesso, acrylic, color pencil
ILLUSTRATOR Drew Struzan (b 1947)
ART DIRECTOR Carl Hermann
FIRST DAY OF ISSUE March 2, 1999