The Song of the Lark
is one of several of Willa Cather's novels to focus on the problems faced by a young woman who wants to live her own life in a time — the first decade of the twentieth century — when women's roles were much more prescribed than they are now. In part autobiographical, the book substitutes music — the passion of Thea Kronborg, its protagonist — for literature, the obsession that took Cather out of the Midwest and onto the shelves reserved for America's greatest writers.
THE STORY
This adaptation of Cather's novel, set in Colorado and Chicago during the first decade of the twentieth century, tells the story of a young woman's struggle to
live an artist's life — a struggle that takes her from a dirt-road town to the glittering stages of grand opera, and costs her the love of many of those who are most important to her. Thea Kronborg (Alison
Elliott), the daughter of a minister in the tiny Colorado town of Moonstone, is set apart from those about her by her love of music. Her piano studies with the drunken, emotionally broken Dr. Wunsch
lead eventually to her leaving Moonstone to study piano in Chicago — where she discovers that her true instrument is her voice. By the time she leaves for further vocal study in Europe, she has been
forced to leave behind her family, her friends, and the only man she has ever loved.
THE CAST
Alison Elliott: Allison Elliott comes to the leading role of "Thea
Kronborg" in THE SONG OF THE LARK fresh from her triumphant performances in the film of Henry James THE WINGS OF THE DOVE and the Sundance Festival Award-winner THE SPITFIRE GRILL. She has also had
roles in such motion pictures as WYATT EARP and WELCOME TO L.A. Her television work includes the BBC production of Edith Wharton's THE BUCCANEERS, which won high praise in both America and the United
Kingdom.
Arliss Howard has earned critical and audience praise working for some of the finest directors in motion pictures, in such films as Steven Spielberg's AMISTAD and THE LOST WORLD:
JURASSIC PARK 2; Robert Towne's TEQUILA SUNRISE, and Stanley Kubrick's FULL METAL JACKET. He has starred in a number of motion pictures for television, including YOU KNOW MY NAME, THE OLD MAN, IRAN,
AND LAST FLIGHT OUT.
Maximilian Schell: A distinguished international star, two-time Oscar nominee Maximilian Schell has starred in such films as THE YOUNG LIONS, JUDGMENT AT
NUREMBERG, THE ODESSA FILE, A BRIDGE TOO FAR, A FAR-OFF PLACE, and DEEP IMPACT. He received an Emmy nomination for his performance in the Marian Rees Associate production MISS ROSE WHITE, and his other
television work includes THE THORNBIRDS, PETER THE GREAT, and STALIN.
Tony Goldwyn: The man audiences loved to hate as the best-friend-turned villain in GHOST, Tony Goldwyn is the
voice of Tarzan in the Disney smash movie and a veteran of such films As NIXON, THE PELICAN BRIEF, THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE, and KISS THE GIRLS. On television he has starred in FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON,
IRAN: DAYS OF CRISIS, and a number of hit series. As a stage actor he won an off-Broadway Obie Award.
