| I Am a Camera | |
| Characters: | Christopher Isherwood Fraulein Schneider Fritz Wendel Sally Bowles Natalia Landauer Clive Mortimer Mrs. Watson-Courtneidge |
| Setting: | A room in Fraulein Schneider's flat in Berlin 1930 |
| Premiere: | November 28, 1951 |
| Place: | Empire Theatre, New York City |
| Subject: | An English writer living in Berlin before the rise of the Hitler regime |
| Genre: | Drama |
I Am a Camera is a 1951 Broadway play by John Van Druten[1] [2] adapted from Christopher Isherwood's 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin, which is part of The Berlin Stories. The title is a quotation taken from the novel's first page: "I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking."[3] The original production was staged by John Van Druten, with scenic and lighting design by Boris Aronson and costumes by Ellen Goldsborough.[1] It opened at the Empire Theatre in New York City on November 28, 1951 and ran for 214 performances before closing on July 12, 1952.[4]
The production was a critically acclaimed success for both Julie Harris as the insouciant Sally Bowles, winning her the first of five Tony Awards of her career for Best Leading Actress in a play, and for Marian Winters, who won both the Theatre World Award and Tony Award for Featured Actress in a Play. The play also won for John Van Druten the New York Drama Critics' Circle for Best American Play (1952).[4] It also earned the famous review by Walter Kerr, "Me no Leica".[5] [6]