Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has written some of the most commercially successful musicals of the last quarter of the 20th century. Among his most popular shows are “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” (1967), “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1971), “Evita” (1974), “Cats” (1981), “The Phantom of the Opera” (1986), and “Sunset Boulevard” (1993). Lloyd Webber’s gift for melody has spawned such classic musical theater songs as “Memory” and “Music of the Night.”

Lloyd Webber was born in London on March 22, 1948. His father was a faculty member at the Royal College of Music and his mother was a piano teacher. Andrew showed musical aptitude at a very young age, and, while still a youth, composed short musical entertainments for his family.

His first musical was “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” (1967). With lyricist Tim Rice, Lloyd Webber created an eclectic score to accompany the Old Testament story of Joseph and his brothers. Musical numbers ranged in style from Elvis-style rock to calypso and soft rock ballads. Joseph’s two big songs, “Any Dream Will Do” and “Close Every Door,” became hit singles.

“Jesus Christ Superstar” (1971), another collaboration with Rice, began life as a double album. Concert tours of the “rock opera” followed, and ultimately, a stage version emerged. “Superstar,” the story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of Pontius Pilate, garnered seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Score. Mary Magdalene’s song “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” became a pop standard. The 1973 film version starred Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson.

“Evita” (1974), based on the life of Eva Peron, also began as a concept album. Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin starred in the Broadway version. The show received numerous Tony Awards, including Best Actress (LuPone). For the 1996 film which starred Madonna and Antonio Banderas, Lloyd Webber wrote a new song, “You Must Love Me.” The song earned an Academy Award for the composer.

 

“Cats” (1981), based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical “Cats,” is Lloyd Webber’s longest-running show in both London’s West End and on Broadway. … Like “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Cats” contains songs written in a variety of musical styles. “Memory,” the show’s climactic number, is a sentimental ballad, which has been championed by singers Elaine Paige and Barbra Streisand, among others.

“Song and Dance” (1982) consisted of two parts: “Tell Me on a Sunday,” a one-woman show, and “Variations,” a set of variations on Paganini’s famous caprice for cello and rock band. Variations was written for Andrew’s cello-playing brother Julian.

“Starlight Express” (1984), a train epic with music, followed. The cast of the high-tech fantasy dash around the ramp-enhanced theater on roller skates. Rock, blues, and country elements are apparent in the amplified score. A 90-minute version of “Starlight Express” opened in 1993 at the Las Vegas Hilton, the first major legitimate stage production to play in the famed gambling city.

“The Phantom of the Opera” (1986) is perhaps Lloyd Webber’s best-known work. Based on Gaston Leroux’s novel, the musical included the songs “Music of the Night,” “All I Ask of You,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” and “Think of Me.” Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman, then Lloyd Webber’s wife, starred in the original production. “Phantom” is indicative of a trend in the late 1980s toward a “sung-through” musical — one in which spoken dialogue is limited and often replaced by operatic recitative (speech-singing). The lavish sets, impressive special effects, and hauntingly beautiful musical score have made the show one of the most popular musicals worldwide.

“Aspects of Love” (1989) launched the career of its male lead, Michael Ball. The sung-through musical was an adaptation of David Garnett’s tale of intergenerational love and included the ballad “Love Changes Everything.” The show played for over three years in London, but its 1990 Broadway run lasted only 377 performances.

“Sunset Boulevard” (1993), based on the film of the same name, included some spectacularly romantic music. Two songs, “With One Look” and “As if We Never Said Goodbye,” both of which are sung by the lead character Norma Desmond, have entered the repertories of singers as diverse as Kiri TeKenawa and Barbra Streisand. As with “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Sunset Boulevard” includes elaborate and impressive sets. John Napier’s grandiose staircase is as much a character in the musical as are any of the humans. The London production starred Patti LuPone, while the Los Angeles and New York productions featured Glenn Close. Betty Buckley succeeded both LuPone and Close in their respective runs.

“Whistle Down the Wind” (1998), inspired by the film of the same name, is set in Louisiana in 1959. A collaboration with Jim Steinman, the score includes typically romantic love songs and explosive rock music. In addition to his musical theater works, Lloyd Webber has also written concert works. “Variations” also exists in a version for cello and orchestra. “Requiem” (1985), written for Lloyd Webber’s father, included the memorable duet “Pie Jesu.”

With his impressive array of commercially and artistically successful shows, Lloyd Webber is one of the most important composers for the musical theater in the last decades of the 20th century. Both his innate gift for melody and his ability to create music, which live up to the dazzling special effects characteristic of so many of his shows, have contributed immensely to his worldwide success.

Source: Excerpted from ST. JAMES ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR CULTURE. 5 VOLS., St. James Press, © 2000 St. James Press. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

Photo credits: Photofest

A distinguished composer, often for the musical theater, Weill studied piano and composition as a child, and at the age of 20 was conducting opera with local companies. By the mid-’20s he had established a reputation as a leading composer in the modern idiom. He was eager to make opera a popular form, accessible to the widest audience, and was also politically aware, wanting his work to have social significance. In collaboration with Bertolt Brecht he composed “Little Mahagonny” (later expanded to become “The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny”) and then achieved success with “The Threepenny Opera” (1928). Although a massive hit in Germany, the show failed in the USA in 1933, but was well received when it was revived in 1954-55. It has since been continually restaged all over the world. The show’s best-known song, “Mack the Knife,” became a standard in the repertoires of numerous singers. Weill and his wife, singer Lotte Lenya, emigrated to the USA in 1935. En route, he spent some time in England, working with Desmond Carter and Reginald Arkell on the musical satire, “A Kingdom for a Cow,” which was presented at the Savoy Theatre.

On arriving in the USA, he formed a working association with Group Theater, the influential left-wing drama company that was home to such rising talents as Lee J. Cobb, John Garfield, Clifford Odet, Frances Farmer, and Elia Kazan. He also wrote scores for the theater, including “Johnny Johnson” (1936, with Paul Green), “The Eternal Road” (1937, Franz Werfel), and “Knickerbocker Holiday” (1938, with Maxwell Anderson). The last show starred the nonsinging actor Walter Huston, but ironically his version of “September Song” proved to one of the most memorable and enduring moments in popular music. In 1941 Weill collaborated with Ira Gershwin (lyrics) and Moss Hart (book) for “Lady in the Dark,” which starred Gertrude Lawrence, and featured “My Ship,” “The Saga of Jenny,” and “One Life to Live.” Two years later came “One Touch of Venus” (Ogden Nash and S.J. Perelman), in which the lovely “Speak Low” was introduced by Mary Martin and Kenny Baker. This was followed by “The Firebrand of Florence” (1945, Ira Gershwin and Edwin Justus Mayer), “Street Scene” (1947, Langston Hughes and Elmer Rice), “Down in the Valley” (1948, a 20-minute folk opera for radio), “Love Life” (1948, Alan Jay Lerner), and “Lost in the Stars” (1949, Anderson).

Weill was working on “Huckleberry Finn,” an adaptation of Mark Twain’s celebrated novel, when he died in 1950. In 1995, a new production of “The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” was presented by the English National Opera at the Coliseum in London. In the following year Weill and Lerner’s 1948 “Love Life” received its “first production outside the USA for 48 years.” The show’s European premiere took place at the Grand Theatre Leeds. In 1999, Weill’s “Der Silbersee” (The Silverlake) was presented by the Broomhill Opera at the new refurbished Wilton’s Music Hall in London in a translation by the popular UK impressionist Rory Bremner. Also in 1999, the opera “He Who Says Yes/He Who Says No,” by Weill and Brecht, was presented Off-Off Broadway.

FURTHER READING:
THE DAYS GROW SHORT: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF KURT WEILL, Ronald Saunders.
KURT WEILL: COMPOSER IN A DIVIDED WORLD, Ronald Taylor.
SPEAK LOW (WHEN YOU SPEAK LOVE): THE LETTERS OF KURT WEILL AND LOTTE LENYA, Lys Symonette and Kim Kowalke, eds.

Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. Excerpted from the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Colin Larkin. © 2004 MUZE UK Ltd.

Photo credits: Photofest

Brilliant, prolific tunesmith who, over the course of a nearly 75-year long career, composed 2,000 songs, published 1,500 of them, and had somewhere around 200 of them become enormous hits or later song standards.

Jule (pronounced JOO-lee) Styne was playing solo piano with the Chicago Symphony at age eight, worked during the Jazz Age in bands, which also featured the up-and-coming likes of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and Charlie Spivak, and entered films in the 1930s as an arranger and vocal coach for Alice Faye and Shirley Temple at 20th Century-Fox. Styne next worked for Republic Pictures on melodies for various B musicals, and in the early ’40s began his famous, though never exclusive, partnership with lyricist Sammy Cahn. Some of Styne and Cahn’s biggest hits during the ’40s and ’50s were sumptuous romantic ballads, many of which Frank Sinatra helped propel to the top of the weekly Hit Parade. One example was the lovely “I Fall in Love Too Easily” from the film ANCHORS AWEIGH (1945), while another, the lush title song from the feature THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN, also won an Oscar as Best Song in 1954.

The early Styne songs, full of wartime longing and nostalgia, often seem atypically softer and gentler than his later sharp, showbizzy Broadway anthems like “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “Let Me Entertain You” from “Gypsy” (1959), or “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from “Funny Girl” (1964). Even a later ballad like “People” (from “Funny Girl”), which became a song standard for Barbra Streisand, has more brass than, say, “It’s Magic,” a rich number from the film ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS (1948), which became another signature tune for an equally feisty song stylist, Doris Day. Still, the sense of rhythmic and melodic flow remained a constant, as did the craftsmanship of a song’s syncopation and drive as well as the sensitivity to lyrics and emotion. If Styne often did not have the star clout on Broadway in the ’50s that Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter did a generation earlier, it was partly because, as he himself realized, “I am the greatest collaborator there is,” often letting a show’s star or a musical’s lyricist set much of the tone for his work.

Although Styne wrote a number of classic songs especially for film, including “(It Seems to Me) I’ve Heard that Song Before” from “Youth on Parade” (1942) and “I’ll Walk Alone” from TONIGHT AND EVERY NIGHT (1945) and lent his talent for infectious, buoyant melodies to such film scores as ANCHORS AWEIGH (1945), THE KID FROM BROOKLYN (1946), and IT HAPPENED IN BROOKLYN (1947), he preferred writing for the stage. He first took a crack at writing a full Broadway score with “High Button Shoes” (1947) — the result, with choreography by Jerome Robbins, was a Broadway landmark. His encore triumph came in collaboration with snappy, witty lyricist Leo Robin, “Gentleman Prefer Blondes” (1949), which gave Carol Channing an enduring theme song with the delicious “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

Styne would collaborate with Robin on the bright score for the Betty Grable film MEET ME AFTER THE SHOW (1951) and the less successful feature remake MY SISTER EILEEN (1955) and would create tunes with Cahn for THE WEST POINT STORY (1950), but around mid-decade he firmly decided to commit his songwriting energies to Broadway rather than to film. His work with Cahn came to an end as a result, but a recurring collaboration with the playful, inventive duo of Betty Comden and Adolph Green began with a revue “Two on the Aisle” (1951) and would later include the charming “Bells Are Ringing” (1956). Through the late ’60s, Styne’s genius for writing slam-bang Broadway hits for strong leading women came to the fore; one not only links Channing with “Gentleman” and Streisand with “Funny Girl,” but also Judy Holliday with “Bells,” Mary Martin with “Peter Pan” (1954), featuring the famous “Never Never Land”) and Ethel Merman with “Gypsy” (1959), which includes the powerhouse anthem “Rose’s Turn.”

Although Styne always felt he had more creative freedom on Broadway, most of his major musicals were eventually adapted for the big screen. Beginning in 1957 with a musicalization of RUGGLES OF RED GAP, he also began writing (and later producing) TV musical programs as well. The ’60s had its leaner moments (“Do Re Mi,” “Subways Are for Sleeping,” both 1960 Broadway shows), but, besides “Funny Girl,” this era also saw Styne finally win Tony Awards for his high energy “Hallelujah, Baby!” (1967). He continued with shows like “Sugar” (1972) and “Lorelei” (1974) and created tunes for the Broadway musical rendition of “The Red Shoes” (1993) less than two years before he died.

A stocky, feisty man much loved in showbiz circles for his sputtered, incomplete sentences, his wit, adaptability and showmanship, Styne was a lively interview subject and sometime performer up until the end. The creator of songs ranging from the joyous “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” and “Make Someone Happy” to the heartbreaking melancholy of “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry” to the triumph of “Just in Time” received many deserved honors before his death at age 88.

Source: Excerpted from Baseline. BaselineStudioSystems — A Hollywood Media Corp. Company.

Photo credits: Photofest

A composer who has experienced the sweet taste of Broadway success — but not for some considerable time. When Strouse graduated from the Eastman School of Music he intended to make a career in the classical field, and studied for a time with Aaron Copland. After meeting lyricist Lee Adams in 1949 he changed course, and during the early ’50s they contributed songs to revues at the popular Green Mansions summer resort, and in 1956 they had some numbers interpolated into the Off-Broadway shows “The Littlest Revue” and “Shoestring ’57.” Their big break came in 1960 with “Bye Bye Birdie,” which is often cited as the first musical to acknowledge the existence of rock ‘n’ roll. It starred Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera and ran for 607 performances. The witty and tuneful score included “Kids!”, “A Lot of Livin’ to Do,” and “‘Put on a Happy Face.” Ironically, two years earlier, Strouse, with Fred Tobias, had written a bona fide rock ‘n’ roll hit, “Born Too Late,” which the Poni-Tails took to number 7 on the U.S. chart. As for Strouse and Adams’ shows, “All American” (1962), a musical about college football, failed to score heavily, but “Golden Boy” (1964) lasted for 569 performances on the sheer strength of Sammy Davis Jr.’s appeal. “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman” (1966), which was based on the syndicated comic strip, came down to earth with a bump after only 129 performances.

It was four years before Strouse and Adams took off again with “Applause,” their second big hit, which ran for over two years, and, like “Golden Boy,” had a gilt-edged box office star in Lauren Bacall. In 1971 Strouse wrote his own lyrics for “Six” — which ran for eight — performances, that is, Off Broadway. The composer collaborated once again with Adams for “I and Albert” in 1972 — presented in London only — but audiences there were definitely not amused. Strouse’s hit of a lifetime came five years later — but not in collaboration with Lee Adams. Martin Charnin provided the lyrics for another Strouse show that was based, like “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane,” on a comic strip — in this case, “Little Orphan Annie.” Together with librettist Thomas Meehan they turned it into “Annie” (1977), the hottest Broadway ticket of the ’70s, which ran for 2,377 performances. Since then, Strouse has had a string of flops — and some real beauties at that: “A Broadway Musical” (one performance), “Flowers for Algernon” (London 28 performances) — adapted for New York as “Charley and Algernon” (17), “Bring Back Birdie” (four), “Dance a Little Closer” (one), “Mayor” (268, but still a failure), “Rags” (four), “Lyle” (did not reach Broadway), “Annie 2,” the follow-up to his megahit (closed in Washington), and “Nick & Nora” (nine). In 1991, the 1986 disaster, “Rags” — which has a truly delectable score — was revived Off Broadway, and two years later a scaled-down version of “Annie 2,” retitled “Annie Warbucks,” was also presented there.

During the remainder of the ’90s Strouse hosted “An Evening with Charles Strouse” in the renowned “Lyrics and Lyricists” series and at “Lincoln Center, as well as working on a variety of projects reported to include a musical adaptation of Theodore Dreiser’s 1924 novel, AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY (with Adams) and a new musical based on the film comedy, THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY’S (with Susan Birkenhead). There were also several projects honoring his previous works, such as the revues “Simply Strouse” at New York’s Rainbow & Stars (1996) and Barbara Siman’s “A Lot of Living!” at London’s Jermyn Street Theatre (August 1997), with Dave Willetts, Bonnie Langford, Joanna John, and Chris Coleman. Cabaret performer Jason Graae also released a “sensational” collection of Strouse’s songs on YOU’RE NEVER FULLY DRESSED WITHOUT A SMILE. His career honors have included three Tony Awards for his work on “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Applause,” and “Annie,” a Grammy for the “Annie” original cast album, and an Emmy for the song “Let’s Settle Down” (with Adams) from the 1996 television version of “Bye Bye Birdie.” Strouse has also composed several operas, a piano concerto, various chamber music, and several film scores, including BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967), THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY’S (1968), THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN (1970), JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT (1980), and ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN (1989). The concerto for piano and orchestra, which he wrote when he was in his twenties, finally received its world premiere in October 1995 when Barbara Irvine played it with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra. In 1998, the piece was included in a program called “The Other Side of Broadway,” in which Irvine also previewed works by Harvey Schmidt (“The Fantasticks”) and David Shire (“Big”).

Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. Excerpted from the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Colin Larkin. © 2004 MUZE UK Ltd.

photo credits: Photofest

Peter Stone was an acclaimed Tony- and Oscar-winning writer who began in TV and moved to motion pictures and the theater. The son of a schoolteacher turned motion picture producer, Stone was raised in L.A., and after heading east for schooling, began his career in live TV. He went on to script such well-received motion pictures as CHARADE (1963) and FATHER GOOSE (1964, for which he won an Academy Award) and has provided the book for several Broadway musicals, notably “1776” (1969) and “Woman of the Year” (1981).

Stone’s theatrical work began in 1958 when his play, “Friend of the Family,” was produced in St. Louis. By 1961, he had written the book for the unsuccessful Broadway musical “Kean.” His second venture, “Skyscraper” (1965), also didn’t fare well at the box office. His first real success was “1776,” an unlikely but powerful musical about the creation and signing of the Declaration of Independence. Winning the Tony as Best Musical, it had a healthy run on Broadway and was a modest success in London. Stone adapted Clifford Odets’ “The Flowering Peach,” about Noah and the ark, as a musical vehicle for Danny Kaye, with a score by Richard Rodgers. He later adapted the classic 1959 Billy Wilder film SOME LIKE IT HOT as “Sugar” (1972), which earned mixed reviews, and turned the 1942 Tracy-Hepburn comedy WOMAN OF THE YEAR into a 1981 star vehicle for Lauren Bacall. His polish of the book for “My One and Only” (1983) helped solidify Tommy Tune’s reputation, and Stone reportedly did uncredited work on Tune’s staging of “Grand Hotel” in 1990. He and Tune again collaborated on the award-winning “The Will Rogers Follies” in 1992, and Stone wrote the poorly reviewed “Titanic” in 1997.

In motion pictures, Stone was a success almost immediately. His first produced screenplay, CHARADE (1963), which he also novelized, was a mystery with romance that paired Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. It offered more twists, turns, and surprises than one might think a movie could hold as a bevy of unsavory characters try to discover where Hepburn’s deceased husband hid $250,000. Oddly, Stone won the Academy Award for his next screenplay, FATHER GOOSE, again starring Grant as a beach bum turned lookout for the Australians during World War II who doubles as a guardian of schoolgirls. Although the 1964 film was well received, it garnered neither the critical acclaim of CHARADE nor the box office success. Stone continued to excel at adaptations, with the musical SWEET CHARITY (1969) and THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1-2-3 (1980), based on the mystery novel about a nefarious gang who hijack a subway train. Later came WHY WOULD I LIE? (1980), which put Treat Williams as a social worker trying to unite a youth with his ex-con mother. Stone took a long sojourn from the big screen until JUST CAUSE (1995), which starred Sean Connery as a famed law professor trying to prove Blair Underwood innocent of a crime for which he was convicted.

The writer’s small-screen work dates back to an episode of STUDIO ONE (CBS, 1956), and also includes episodes of THE DEFENDERS (CBS, 1961-62). Stone was involved in the creation of the TV adaptation of ADAM’S RIB (ABC, 1973-74), a sitcom based on the 1949 Tracy-Hepburn classic, and IVAN THE TERRIBLE (CBS, 1976), a short-lived but witty series with Lou Jacobi as the head of an extended Moscow. Stone also adapted George Bernard Shaw’s ANDROCLES AND THE LION (NBC, 1968) and penned GRAND LARCENY, a 1989 syndicated TV movie about a female master thief. Stone has also appeared on talk shows and retrospectives, and was a frequent panelist on the PBS show THE WEEK IN REVIEW.

Source: Excerpted from Baseline. BaselineStudioSystems — A Hollywood Media Corp. Company.

Photo credits: Photofest

Active in major Broadway productions of American musical theater beginning in 1957, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim (born 1930) redefined the Broadway musical form with his innovative and award winning productions. He continued to be a major force in the shaping of this genre into the 1980s.

American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim is mainly known for his stage works, which include “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (1962); “Anyone Can Whistle” (1964); “Company” (1970); “Follies” (1971); and “A Little Night Music” (1973). He is known for his collaborations with Leonard Bernstein as lyricist for “West Side Story” (1957) and “Candide” (1974), and with Richard Rogers on “Do I Hear a Waltz” (1965). Sondheim’s partnership with the director/producer Hal Prince resulted in Tony Awards for Best Musical Scores for three consecutive years (1971-1973), and “Pacific Overtures” (1976) was hailed as a landmark in American musical theater because of its masterful use of traditional Japanese theater elements. In 1984, Sondheim paired himself with James Lapine to put together “Sunday in the Park with George,” a musical inspired by a Georges Seurat painting.

Sondheim was born into a prosperous business family on March 22, 1930. He studied piano for two years while very young and continued his interest in the musical stage throughout his education. Sondheim’s parents divorced in 1942 and his mother took up residence in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, close to the summertime residence of Oscar Hammerstein II. As a friend of Hammerstein’s son, Sondheim was able to ask the famous librettist for an evaluation of his first stage work, a high school production produced at the age of 15. Hammerstein’s critical evaluation of “By George” initiated a four-year relationship that was decisive in formulating the young artist’s style. As Hammerstein’s personal assistant, Sondheim gained entry into the world of professional theater.

While attending Williams College he performed duties in the preparation and rehearsals of the Rogers and Hammerstein productions of “South Pacific” and “The King and I.” Upon graduation he won the Hutchinson Prize, which enabled him to study composition at Princeton University with Milton Babbitt.

Sondheim began his professional career in television by writing scripts for the TOPPER and THE LAST WORD series and incidental music for the Broadway musical “Girls of Summer.” Shortly thereafter he made the acquaintance of Arthur Laurents, who introduced him to Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein as the possible lyricist for “West Side Story,” which was produced in 1957. The young songwriter found himself involved in one of the most successful shows ever produced on Broadway. Sondheim followed this success by collaborating on the Broadway production of “Gypsy” in 1959, distinguishing himself as one of the great young talents in American musical theater.

Intent on broadening his talents, Sondheim sought productions where he could use his musical as well as lyrical expertise. He produced “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” in 1962 … a bawdy farce based on the plays of Plautus. The show had an impressive run of almost 1,000 performances, won the Tony Award for Best Musical, and was made into a successful film in 1966.

Sondheim followed with two less successful ventures: “Anyone Can Whistle” (1964) and “Do I Hear a Waltz” (1965). Although both failed commercially, Sondheim contributed songs of high quality.

In 1970 Sondheim produced “Company,” which once again won him unanimous praise from the critics. The production was awarded the Drama Critics and Tony Awards for Best Musical of the season, and Sondheim received awards for the best composer and best lyricist. One critic commented that “Company” “is absolutely first rate … the freshest … in years … This is a wonderful musical score, the one that Broadway has long needed. …” The following year Sondheim produced “Follies,” a retrospective of the “Ziegfield Follies,” in which the composer blended the nostalgia of popular songs of the past with his own style of sentimental ballad. He was awarded both the Drama Critics and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical of 1971.

In “A Little Night Music” (1973) Sondheim exposed his strong background in classical music. It was described by critics as reminiscent of Mahler, Strauss, Ravel, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff. Another Tony Award winner, “A Little Night Music” also included his first commercial hit song, “Send in the Clowns.”

Noteworthy as a relentless innovator, Sondheim collaborated with Hal Prince on “Pacific Overtures” (1976). In an attempt to relate the westernization of Japan with the commercialized present, Sondheim fused the unlikely elements of Haiku poetry, Japanese pentatonic scales, and Kabuki theater with contemporary stage techniques in a production that was hailed as a successful Broadway hit. He followed this with “Sweeney Todd” (1979), the melodramatic story of the demon barber of Fleet Street who conspired with the neighborhood baker to supply her with sufficient barbershop victims for her meat pies. Less funny than tragic, “Sweeney Todd” explored the dark side of the 19th-century English social system.

Sondheim’s talent derived from his ability to cross genres of music and theater to offer Broadway audiences works of remarkable craft on unexpected subjects that challenged and tested the form of the American musical. Sondheim explored issues of contemporary life; marriage and relationships in “Company”; madness and the human condition in “Anyone Can Whistle”; nostalgia and sentiment in “Follies”; Western imperialism in “Pacific Overtures”; and injustice and revenge in “Sweeney Todd.”

Sondheim avoided filler in his lyrics and concentrated on direct impact through verbal interplay. His lyrics were witty without his ever sacrificing integrity for superficially clever rhyme. Similarly, he maintained his musical individuality even while operating in the adopted Eastern musical style of “Pacific Overtures.” Sondheim’s consistent ability to merge words and music that hint at the deeper personality beneath the prototype character distinguished him as a composer of rare ingenuity and talent.

“Side by Side by Sondheim,” a musical tribute to the artist, was successfully produced in 1976. Sondheim’s later works included the film score for REDS (1981) and “Sunday in the Park with George” (1984), which won a 1985 Pulitzer Prize. “Into the Woods” was another musical hit on Broadway in 1987.

Sondheim participated on the council of the Dramatists Guild and served as its president from 1973 to 1981. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1983. He won the 1990 Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)” from the movie DICK TRACY.

Sondheim composed the music for the ABC television presentation TIME WARNER PRESENTS THE EARTH DAY SPECIAL (1990). In 1992, he declined a National Medal of Arts Award, from the National Endowment for the Arts.

On July 4, 2000, Sondheim was given the Praemium Imperiale award by the Japan Art Association. He was honored for his work in film and theater.

Source: Excerpted from ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY, 2ND ED. 17 VOLS., Gale Research, © 1998 Gale Research. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

Photo credits: Photofest and Martha Swope

Sissle’s early career was spent largely in vaudeville as a singer, and he also sang with the orchestra of James Reese Europe. However, his talents as a songwriter gradually drew him to Broadway where, in collaboration with Eubie Blake, he achieved a major breakthrough. Before Sissle and Blake, it was rare for a black entertainer to gain acceptance along the “Great White Way,” but the success of their 1921 show, “Shuffle Along,” changed all that. “Shuffle Along” starred Florence Mills, and among its memorable tunes were “In Honeysuckle Time,” “Love Will Find a Way,” and the hit of the show, “I’m Just Wild About Harry.”

In this and succeeding shows, such as “Chocolate Dandies,” the collaborators presented a succession of songs, dances, and sketches that were attuned to the new musical sounds of the day — unlike most other Broadway shows, which, also performed by all-black casts, had ignored ragtime and the emergence of jazz. In these and later years Sissle led a number of fine orchestras that featured some of the best musicians available, among them Sidney Bechet, Otto “Toby” Hardwicke, Tommy Ladnier, and Buster Bailey. In the late ’20s Sissle led a band in Paris and London and during the ’30s led successful bands in New York and elsewhere in the USA. He continued touring during the ’40s and ’50s but gradually directed his attention to music publishing.

FURTHER READING:
REMINISCING WITH NOBLE SISSLE AND EUBIE BLAKE, Robert Kimball and William Bolcom.

Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. Excerpted from the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Colin Larkin. © 2004 MUZE UK Ltd.

Photo credits: Photofest

One of the few new theatrical composers and lyricists to emerge in the ’70s, Schwartz studied at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he majored in drama, and at Juilliard. He worked as a record producer for RCA Records before deciding to make a career as a songwriter. In 1969 he contributed the title song to Leonard Gershe’s play “Butterflies Are Free,” which ran on Broadway for more than 1,000 performances, and was filmed in 1972. In 1971, Schwartz had a smash hit with his rock-pop score for the off-Broadway “biblical” musical “Godspell,” which ran for over 2,500 performances in New York, and featured the hit song “Day by Day.” He also produced the Grammy-winning original cast album. Later that year, Schwartz collaborated with Leonard Bernstein on additional text for Bernstein’s “‘theater piece,” “Mass,” which was commissioned for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. During the early ’70s, Schwartz enjoyed more success with “Pippin” (1972), which had another agreeable song, “Magic Do,” and “The Magic Show” (1974). Each show ran for nearly five years in New York. Subsequently, he seemed to lose the magic formula. “The Baker’s Wife” (1976) closed out of town although it has since become something of a cult item, and “Working” (1978), “Rags” (1986), and “Children of Eden” (London 1991), could only manage 132 performances between them.

Schwartz turned his attention to the screen, and collaborated profitably with Alan Menken on the Walt Disney animated features POCAHONTAS (1995) and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1996). For POCAHONTAS, the duo won Oscars for Original Musical or Comedy Score and Original Song – “Colors of the Wind” (Schwartz was also given an ASCAP award for Most Performed Motion Picture Song) — and were nominated for their work on THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. In 1999 Schwartz won another Oscar for one of his songs, “When You Believe,” from the DreamWorks animated Bible epic, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. Having successfully demoed his material for some years, in 1997 he released a compelling album on which he sang all nonshow songs, with the exception of “The Hardest Part of Love,” from “Children of Eden.”

Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. Excerpted from the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Colin Larkin. © 2004 MUZE UK Ltd.

Photo credits: Photofest

While still attending school Rome played piano in local dance bands and was already writing music. Despite this early interest in music, he went on to study architecture and law at Yale. In 1934 he practiced as an architect in New York City, but studied piano and composition in his spare time. This was a fortunate decision because by the following year, with work opportunities diminishing with the depression, he was obliged to turn more and more to his second-string activity for support. Much of the music Rome was writing at this time was socially conscious and was thus of little interest to Tin Pan Alley. Nevertheless, he was engaged to write a revue for the International Garment Workers’ Union. To everyone’s surprise, the revue, “Pins and Needles” (1937), staged for members of the union, became a popular success and one song, “Sunday in the Park,” established a life outside of the show. Rome was now much sought-after, although his next show displayed similarly political concerns.

This was “Sing out the News” (1939) and, once again, there was a universally accepted hit song, “F.D.R. Jones.” In the early ’40s Rome wrote songs for several revues and shows, but it was not until after the end of World War II that he had his first major success. This was “Call Me Mister” (1946), from which came “South America, Take It Away.” More revues followed until his first fully fledged musical show, “Wish You Were Here,” in 1952. Two years later he wrote “Fanny,” his most popular Broadway show, which included “Love Is a Very Light Thing.” This was followed by “Destry Rides Again” (1959) and “I Can Get It for You Wholesale” (1962), in which Barbra Streisand made her Broadway debut. In the mid-’60s Rome showed that the social conscience that had marked his early work was still intact when he wrote “The Zulu and the Zayda” (1965), which dealt with racial and religious intolerance. In 1970 he wrote “Scarlett,” based upon the novel GONE WITH THE WIND, for a Japanese production in Tokyo. More than with any other American composer in the field of mainstream popular music, Rome’s work consistently demonstrated an awareness of social issues, often to the extent that it kept him from the massive successes enjoyed by many of his contemporaries. He was also a gifted painter and a dedicated art collector.

Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. Excerpted from the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Colin Larkin. © 2004 MUZE UK Ltd.

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Richard Rodgers demonstrated his musical talent at an early age. By the time he was four he had begun to pick out tunes from “The Merry Widow” on the piano and ten years later he wrote his first song, “My Auto Show Girl.” Soon he began to compose songs for amateur productions. While attending Columbia College he was honored to be the first freshman ever to write the score for the annual varsity show.

At Columbia, Rodgers met Lorenz Hart and the two became collaborators for the next 20 years. The vastly different life styles and temperaments of the men made them seem unlikely associates, with the disciplined and meticulous Rodgers playing “Teacher to Hart’s Errant Schoolboy,” as Bobby Short described it. It was “a case of love at first sight,” however, and the two formed a successful Broadway partnership until shortly before Hart’s death in 1943. Some of their hit songs included “My Funny Valentine,” “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” “Manhattan,” “Thou Swell,” “Johnny One Note,” “Blue Moon,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” and “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.”

In 1943, Rodgers teamed up with another Columbia friend, Oscar Hammerstein II, forming one of the best known songwriting teams in the history of the American musical. Their first collaboration was the Pulitzer Prize winning play, “Oklahoma!” This innovative play was the first ever to fully integrate music and dance into the plot. Critics praised the songs for their appropriateness to the mood and character of the play. Several of the songs became popular hits, especially, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'” and “People Will Say We’re in Love.”

Rodgers and Hammerstein proceeded to produce a continuous stream of Broadway hits until Hammerstein’s death in 1960. Many of the plays were adapted as motion pictures, the most profitable being THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Some of their best-loved songs included: “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” and “If I Loved You” from “Carousel”; “I Enjoy Being a Girl” from “Flower Drum Song”; “Getting to Know You” from “The King and I”; “Some Enchanted Evening” and “I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair” from “South Pacific”; and “My Favorite Things” and “Edelweiss” from “The Sound of Music.”

Though Hammerstein’s passing left him without a permanent lyricist, Rodgers continued on his own, composing works for television and the stage. He served as his own lyricist for “No Strings” in 1962.

Commenting on his work, Rodgers told Mary Tanenbaum, “I guess I am proudest of ‘Carousel,’ because I like the score best and what the show has to say — based, of course, on the ‘Liliom’ of Molnar — about a man who really didn’t know how to love his wife and child until too late. …”

Rodgers’ autobiography, MUSICAL STAGES, contains anecdotes about the composer’s experiences writing Broadway musicals. Margo Jefferson remarked that “in his implacably good-tempered, judiciously written autobiography, Richard Rodgers emerges as all of a piece: a man who knew what he wanted, who got it through a dedication to work that has been total but dispassionate, and one whose supreme gifts as a writer of popular songs remain a mystery — above all to himself.” Mel Gussow reflected, “What makes this book a special pleasure are the reminiscences of those thriving days when songwriting seemed like the headiest occupation in the world.”

Source: Excerpted from CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS ONLINE, Gale Group, © 2003 Gale Group. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

Photo credits: Photofest and the Library of Congress

Tall and silver-haired, Rice began his lyric writing career in partnership with fellow music student Andrew Lloyd Webber in the mid-1960s. Their first produced musicals were drawn from Biblical themes: “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat” (1967) and “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1969). Rice and Lloyd Webber pioneered the use of concept albums in raising both money for and public awareness of their music. The apotheosis of their collaboration was “Evita” (1979), a pop opera about Argentina’s first lady, Eva Peron that was a success both in London and in New York and earned Rice two Tony Awards. After nearly a decade and a half, it was finally filmed in 1996 with Madonna in the lead.

Following “Evita,” Rice and Lloyd Webber went their separate ways creatively (except for the 1986 operetta “Cricket” commissioned for presentation before Queen Elizabeth II). Rice collaborated with composer Stephen Oliver on the medieval story “Blondel” (1983) and later wrote “Chess” (1985) with pop artists Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson (of ABBA). The latter went through several incarnations, beginning as a concept album and later staged in London by Michael Bennett and Trevor Nunn and in New York by Nunn. While the pop score produced the hit singles “One Night in Bangkok” and “I Know Him So Well” in England, “Chess” failed to capture the American public’s attention, partly because its use of a chess match as a metaphor for the Cold War seemed dated by its 1988 American premiere.

Rice had contributed lyrics to several songs used in features including “Hearts Not Diamonds” (music by Marvin Hamlisch) in THE FAN (1981) and “All Time High” (music by John Barry) in OCTOPUSSY (1983). In 1992, he was selected to help augment the score for Disney’s animated feature ALADDIN after lyricist Howard Ashman had succumbed to AIDS. Collaborating with composer Alan Menken, Rice provided the words for the Oscar-winning “A Whole New World.” He and Menken further collaborated on the stage version of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” (1993). Rice then teamed with Elton John for the songs for Disney’s THE LION KING (1994), for which he received his second Oscar for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” Rice picked up a third Oscar for the ballad “You Must Love Me” written for Madonna to sing in EVITA (1996). The song also marked the first collaboration between Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber in over a decade.

Source: Excerpted from Baseline. BaselineStudioSystems — A Hollywood Media Corp. Company.

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American composer Cole Albert Porter (1891-1964) wrote songs (both words and music) for over 30 stage and film musicals. His best work set standards of sophistication and wit seldom matched in the popular musical theater.

Cole Porter was born in Peru, Indiana, on June 9, 1891, the son of a pharmacist. His mother was as determined that her only son become a creative artist as his wealthy midwestern pioneer grandfather was that he enter business or farming. Kate Cole’s influence proved stronger, and Porter received considerable musical training as a child. By 1901 he had composed a onesong “operetta” entitled “The Song of the Birds”; then he produced a piano piece, “The Bobolink Waltz,” which his mother published in Chicago.

Porter attended Worcester Academy, where he composed the class song of 1909. At Yale (1909-1913) he wrote music and collaborated on lyrics for the scores of several amateur shows presented by his fraternity and the Yale Dramatic Association. Porter then entered Harvard Law School; almost at once, however, he changed his course of study to music. Before leaving Harvard he collaborated on a comic operetta, “See America First” (1916), which became his first show produced on Broadway. It was a complete disaster.

In 1917 Porter was in France, and for some months during 1918-1919 he served in the French Foreign Legion. After this he studied composition briefly with the composer Vincent d’Indy in Paris. Returning to New York, he contributed songs to the Broadway production “Hitchy-Koo of 1919,” his first success, and married the wealthy socialite Linda Lee.

The Porters began a lifetime of traveling on a grand scale; they became famous for their lavish parties and the circle of celebrities in which they moved. Porter contributed songs to various stage shows and films and in 1923 composed a ballet, “Within the Quota,” which was performed in Paris and New York. Songs such as “Let’s Do It” (1928), “What Is This Thing Called Love” (1929), “You Do Something to Me” (1929), and “Love for Sale” (1930) established him as a creator of worldly, witty, occasionally risqué lyrics with unusual melodic lines to match.

In the 1930s and 1940s Porter provided full scores for a number of bright Broadway and Hollywood productions, among them “Anything Goes” (1934), “Jubilee” (1935), “Rosalie” (1937), “Panama Hattie” (1940), and “Kiss Me, Kate” (1948). These scores and others of the period abound with his characteristic songs: “Night and Day,” “I Get a Kick out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “Anything Goes,” “Begin the Beguine,” “Just One of Those Things,” “Don’t Fence Me In,” “In the Still of the Night,” and “So in Love.”

Serious injuries in a riding accident in 1937 plagued Porter for the remainder of his life. A series of operations led, in 1958, to the amputation of his right leg. In his last years he produced one big Broadway success (“Can-Can,” 1953). He died on October 15, 1964, in Santa Monica, California.

Porter’s songs show an elegance of expression and a cool detachment that seem to epitomize a kind of sophistication peculiar to the 1930s. He was also an authentically talented creator of original melodies. Like George Gershwin, he frequently disregarded the accepted formulas of the conventional popular song (usually a rigid 32-measure framework) and turned out pieces of charm and distinction.

Source: Excerpted from ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY, 2ND ED. 17 VOLS., Gale Research, © 1998 Gale Research. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

Photo credits: Photofest and the Cole Porter Trust

A director, producer, actor, and author, Joshua Logan had more Broadway hits than almost anyone else. In the late 1940s Logan directed and co-authored two of Broadway’s most popular productions — “Mister Roberts,” written with Thomas Heggen, and “South Pacific,” for which he shared a Pulitzer Prize in drama with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. His many other director’s credits include the Broadway shows “Annie Get Your Gun” and “The World of Suzie Wong” and the films BUS STOP and CAMELOT. Logan worked in theater and film throughout his career, showing talent from the time he was a young student at Princeton University. He acted on stage before achieving his first major success as a director with “I Married an Angel,” in 1938; he also produced several shows. For many years Logan struggled with manic-depressive illness, and late in life he toured the country to offer encouragement to fellow sufferers. In addition to plays, his writings include the screen adaptation of MISTER ROBERTS; its sequel, ENSIGN PULVER; and the autobiographies JOSH: MY UP AND DOWN, IN AND OUT LIFE and MOVIE STARS, REAL PEOPLE, AND ME.

In his first book of memoirs, JOSH: MY UP AND DOWN, IN AND OUT LIFE, Logan “re-creates an era that has almost entirely disappeared — a time when New York was the center of America’s theatrical universe and a nude male torso on a Broadway stage was a subject of controversy,” John Houseman commented.

In the book he discussed his associations with such theatrical giants as Margaret Sullavan, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, William Inge, David Merrick, Oscar Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers, Mary Martin, Helen Hayes, and Ethel Merman. Also included is a reminiscence of the great master of the theater, Stanislavsky, under whom Logan studied in Russia after graduating from Princeton. Logan was also extremely candid in discussing the two nervous breakdowns that were linked to his career.

MOVIE STARS, REAL PEOPLE, AND ME begins where the first book left off, and covers Logan’s 1956 direction of the film, PICNIC, to the time of the memoir’s publication, although not chronologically. Seymour Peck declared in his review of the book: “In many, short, fast, intense chapters, Mr. Logan plunges ahead, as if he were pacing one of his smash hits or urging an Ethel Merman to sing louder. Much of it is gossipy and inconsequential; much of it is funny and bawdy; much of it is impassioned and illuminating. Mr. Logan’s emotions are usually at high pitch and catch the reader up. The pages whizz by.”

Source: Excerpted from CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS ONLINE, Gale Group, © 2001 Gale Group. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

Photo credits: Photofest and the New York Public Library

A distinguished composer for the musical theater, Loewe was born into a musical family (his father was a professional singer). He studied piano as a child, appearing with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in 1917. In 1924, he visited the USA, but was unable to find work in a classical environment. Instead, he eked out a living playing piano in restaurants and bars, then roamed throughout the USA, tackling a variety of jobs, including boxing, prospecting, and cowpunching. As a young teenager he had written songs, and he resumed this activity in New York in the early ’30s. Later in the decade he contributed to various musical shows, and in 1942 began to collaborate with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner. Their first Broadway score was for “What’s Up?” in 1943, which was followed two year later with “The Day Before Spring.” From that point onward, they wrote the music and lyrics (Lerner also contributed the librettos) for some of the most memorable productions in the history of the American musical theater. They had their first hit in 1947 with “Brigadoon,” from which came “The Heather on the Hill,” “From This Day On,” and “Almost Like Being in Love,” and the association was renewed in 1951 with “Paint Your Wagon,” containing such lovely songs as “They Call the Wind Maria,” “I Talk to the Trees,” and “Wand’rin’ Star.”

In 1956, the team had a major triumph with the legendary “My Fair Lady,” which ran on Broadway for 2,717 performances. The score included such lasting favorites as “On the Street Where You Live,” “Get Me to the Church on Time,” “With a Little Bit of Luck,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?,” “The Rain in Spain,” “Why Can’t the English?”, “I’m an Ordinary Man,” and “I Could Have Danced All Night.”

After the huge success of “My Fair Lady,” Lerner and Loewe were invited to write the script, music, and lyrics for a musical film, and while Lerner was enthusiastic about the idea, Loewe was somewhat reluctant. Eventually he agreed, and together they created the incomparable “Gigi” (1958), one of the final flourishes of the old-style Hollywood musical. The magnificent score included “Thank Heaven for Little Girls,” “I’m Glad I’m Not Young Anymore,” “I Remember It Well,” “The Night They Invented Champagne,” and the charming title song. After being hospitalized with serious heart trouble, Loewe collaborated with Lerner on “Camelot,” which opened in 1960, and ran for over two years. Although the show’s preproduction was marred with problems, the result was another success, with such outstanding songs as “If Ever I Would Leave You” and “How to Handle a Woman.” Afterward, Loewe decided to retire, emerging briefly in the early ’70s to work with Lerner on two unsuccessful projects — a stage adaptation of “Gigi” and the film THE LITTLE PRINCE.

Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. Excerpted from the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Colin Larkin. © 2004 MUZE UK Ltd.

Photo credits: Photofest

Composer and lyricist, was born Francis Henry Loesser in New York City, the son of Henry Loesser, a pianist, and Julia Ehrlich. His father, who had been an accompanist for the soprano Lilli Lehmann, gave his children a strong musical upbringing. (Frank’s older brother, Arthur, became a pianist, critic, and educator.) But even as a child Frank was aggressively lowbrow: his first lyrics were set to the rhythms of the elevated trains, and he took pride in winning third prize in a citywide harmonica contest. Years later, the Loesser family would remark that Frank’s songs were “very nice, but of course they’re not music.”

Bored with formal education (he flunked out of the City College of New York in 1925, his first year), Loesser tried newspaper work, cartooning, advertising, press agentry, and radio writing. His great pleasure, though, was writing verses for others’ music, a few of them performed in Lions Clubs and other inauspicious places. These were difficult years. Loesser occasionally sold songs, but his first show, the “Illustrators’ Revue” (1936), closed in four nights. For a time he resorted to such jobs as screwing the tops onto insecticide bottles.

In 1935, Loesser performed in a club with a singer called Lynn Garland (born Mary Alice Blankenbaker). They were married on Oct. 19, 1936; they had two children. In 1936, Loesser signed a contract with Universal Films and left for Hollywood, a year later switching to Paramount. He remained in Hollywood until World War II, his reputation as a fine lyricist (at least for novelty numbers) rising very quickly. Among the dozens of songs for which Loesser provided the words in those years were “Two Sleepy People” and “Heart and Soul,” with Hoagy Carmichael; “Blue Nightfall,” “Dancing on a Dime,” and “The Lady’s in Love with You,” with Burton Lane; and such others as “Snug as a Bug in a Rug,” “Sand in My Shoes,” “Jingle, Jangle, Jingle,” and “The Boys in the Back Room.”

During World War II, Loesser served in the Army air force but continued to contribute timely lyrics (such as the winsome “They’re Either Too Young or Too Old”) for films and for isolated songs expressive of the new wartime sensibility. Seizing on the watchcry of Pearl Harbor, Loesser wrote “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition,” which came to be to World War II what “Over There” had been to World War I. Shortly thereafter came the moving “Ballad of Rodger Young” and the characteristic Loesser “gripe” song “What Do You Do in the Infantry?” Not only was Loesser suiting his lyrics to the mood of the times, but he was now doing so to his own music, following Jerome Kern’s advice: “Your lyrics make the writing of melody a cinch.”

After the war, Loesser returned to writing for films and for Tin Pan Alley, now exclusively his own collaborator. Among his songs from those years are “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?”, “On a Slow Boat to China,” and, for the film NEPTUNE’S DAUGHTER, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” which won him the 1949 Academy Award for best song. In RED, HOT, AND BLUE (1949) he made his only screen appearance. Despite these successes, Loesser wanted “to create situations” rather than songs: “Songwriting is a little thing and I settled for a big thing.” The “big thing” was the Broadway musical, and Loesser never again wrote single songs. His “Where’s Charley?” (1948), which ran over two years, surprised those who had doubted Loesser’s ability to craft an integrated musical score on his first try. But “Where’s Charley?” paled in comparison to his “Guys and Dolls” (1950), universally recognized as among the greatest of all Broadway musicals. Loesser found the eccentric idioms of the Damon Runyon characters (in Abe Burrows’ script) ideal for his colloquial lyrical style, but the great accomplishment was suiting each song to the character who performs it; the songs here are as important as the book in depicting character and propelling plot.

Loesser never doubted that he could amuse, but he felt that touching an audience required more dexterity. His next endeavors moved him in that direction. In 1952 came his only complete film score, composed for Samuel Goldwyn’s HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN; its romantic ballads and children’s songs have the ardor and Old World charm of the film. Then, returning to Broadway, he created his most ambitious work, “The Most Happy Fella” (1956). This musical, for which Loesser wrote the book (based on Sidney Howard’s play “They Knew What They Wanted”) and more than 40 musical numbers, is an unparalleled mixture of Puccinean aria, folk song, and Broadway show tune. “Mr. Loesser has now come about as close to opera as the rules of Broadway permit,” was Brooks Atkinson’s verdict in THE NEW YORK TIMES. “He has told everything of vital importance in terms of dramatic music.” In 1957, Loesser and his wife were divorced. On Apr. 30, 1959, he married Jo Sullivan (born Elizabeth Josephine Sullivan), who had played the female lead in “Most Happy Fella”; they had two children.

Loesser was proud of having surpassed his status as “songwriter,” and he had considerable affection for his next musical, the gentle “Greenwillow” (1960), though its commercial failure distressed him sorely. In fact, he had but one more success, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (1961), which marked a return to the wisecracking idiom of “Guys and Dolls.” It was his first attempt at light satire. Though decidedly not in the lyrical vein that Loesser craved, the show suited his knack for parody and character song, and it suited the 1960s: it became the longest-running of any of Loesser’s shows and only the fourth musical to win a Pulitzer Prize.

It was also his last work to reach Broadway: “Pleasures and Palaces” (1965) closed out of town, while “Señor Indiscretion,” barely completed at the time of Loesser’s death, has not yet had a professional production. Loesser devoted much of his last years to publishing and production, introducing several new talents to Broadway. He died in New York City.

Unquestionably Frank Loesser achieved what every artist most covets: the esteem of his colleagues. Richard Rodgers called him “a man for all theater seasons,” while Bob Fosse regarded “Guys and Dolls” as simply “the greatest American musical of all time.” Nonprofessionals are likely to remember Loesser as the composer-lyricist of hundreds of enduring songs and five full scores, music with a trademark combination of tenderness, toughness, and fun. Paddy Chayefsky remarked that “he introduced reality and sanity into the musical comedy,” but he never forgot that he was foremost an entertainer.

— John D. Shout

Source: Excerpted from the DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, SUPPLEMENT 8: 1966-1970. American Council of Learned Societies, 1988. Reprinted by permission of the American Council of Learned Societies.

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Through a career that spanned three decades, lyricist/librettist Alan Jay Lerner and his partner, composer Frederick Loewe, became virtually synonymous with the blockbuster Broadway musical. A list of their hits all but defines the genre: “Brigadoon,” “Paint Your Wagon,” “Camelot,” the movie musical GIGI, and their biggest triumph, “My Fair Lady.”

The tuneful adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” “My Fair Lady” opened on Broadway in 1956 to rapturous notices and packed houses. Brooks Atkinson of THE NEW YORK TIMES, for one, proclaimed “My Fair Lady” as “the most civilized play of its time and one of the finest of the century.” On the occasion of Lerner’s death, William A. Henry III of TIME remembered how these classic lyrics “consistently matched [“Pygmalion”‘s] wit, verve and acerbic class consciousness.”

In the 1970s, after Loewe fell ill, Lerner continued writing with composers including Andre Previn and Charles Strouse, but such subsequent musicals as “Coco” and “Dance a Little Closer” never quite caught on with critics and playgoers. In 1978 Lerner produced his autobiography, ON THE STREET WHERE I LIVE. By then he had quite a story to tell — the lyricist had been married a total of eight times — but as NEW YORK TIMES critic Mel Gussow noted, “The book is more professional than personal.” He continued that the volume’s delights include a look at Lerner and Loewe’s labors with “My Fair Lady”: “dashing off ‘The Rain in Spain’ in 10 minutes, agonizing over ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ … and agreeing to eliminate ‘With a Little Bit O’ Luck’ until it stopped the show at its first performance in New Haven.”

Source: Excerpted from CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS ONLINE, Gale Group, © 2001 Gale Group. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

Photo credits: Photofest

An American writer whose work dates back to radio and whose films and Broadway productions — many of which he has also directed — have included classic works such as “West Side Story” and “Gypsy” and such highly entertaining fare as THE WAY WE WERE and THE TURNING POINT. Arthur Laurents was barely 21 when he wrote his first radio play “Now Playing Tomorrow” in 1939. He went on to write episodes of “Dr. Christian,” “The Thin Man,” and numerous originals. During W.W. II, he wrote “Armed Service Forces Present” as well as “This Is Your FBI.”

Laurents’ first play, “Home of the Brave,” was a hard-hitting look at the plight of a Jewish GI during the War and opened on Broadway in 1945 and in London (as “The Way Back”) in 1946. “The Bird Cage” followed in 1950, then “The Time of the Cuckoo” (1952) and “A Clearing in the Woods” (1957). In 1957 also came “West Side Story,” with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Originally conceived by Jerome Robbins (who directed and choreographed) as a twist on “Romeo and Juliet” using Jews and Catholics (and called “East Side Story”), it was transformed by Laurents and Bernstein into the tale of Polish-American Romeo and Puerto Rican Juliet, while their respective gangs fight a street war. Laurents followed this with the book for “Gypsy” (1959), based on the memoirs by Gypsy Rose Lee. The show reteamed Laurents, Robbins, and Sondheim (Jule Styne wrote the bouncy score) and gave Ethel Merman what was arguably her greatest stage triumph.

Laurents began his directing career with his play “Invitation to a March” (1960), that featured incidental music by Sondheim. In 1962, Laurents directed (but did not write) the musical “I Can Get It for You Wholesale,” about the garment district. The cast included Lillian Roth, Elliot Gould, and a newcomer, Barbra Streisand, who played the secretary Yetta Marmelstein and nightly stopped the show with her one number. Laurents wrote the book for and directed the Sondheim musical “Anyone Can Whistle” (1964), which has developed a cult following. It also marked the musical theater debut of Lee Remick and Angela Lansbury. He turned his own play “The Time of the Cuckoo” into the musical “Do I Hear A Waltz?” (1965), which set Sondheim’s lyrics to Rodgers’ music. Although he was nominated for Tony Awards for “West Side Story” and “Gypsy,” Laurents did not win until “Hallelujah, Baby!” in 1967.

His ongoing work in the theater tapered off slightly in the ’70s while he concentrated on features. He directed Lansbury in the 1974 London premiere of “Gypsy” (and its subsequent Broadway incarnation the following year) and, in 1979, he directed and co-wrote Phyllis Newman’s one-woman show, “The Madwoman of Central Park West.” Laurents did not direct again until he helmed the musical version of “La Cage aux Folles” (1983), which, unlike the film on which it was based, expressed the outrage of the Albin character when his lover’s son tries to cast him aside. (This development may be a reflection of the influence of Laurents, book writer Harvey Fierstein and others involved in the production who are openly gay.) Laurents won a Tony Award for his direction of the musical. In 1989, Laurents again oversaw a revival of “Gypsy,” headed by Tyne Daly. Two years later, he wrote the book and directed the ill-advised stage musical “Nick and Nora,” inspired by the characters featured in “The Thin Man.”

Laurents’ career in Hollywood as a screenwriter has almost been separate from his career in the theater, although he has sometimes been involved in the adaptation of his plays and musicals. His first screen credit was a shared one on THE SNAKE PIT (1948), a harrowing study of mental illness starring Olivia de Havilland. Laurents then adapted Patrick Hamilton’s play “Rope” (also 1948) for Alfred Hitchcock, which was loosely based on the Leopold-Loeb case. Other adaptations include ANNA LUCASTA (1949, with Philip Yordan), ANASTASIA (1956), based on the play about a woman who may or may not be the surviving daughter of the executed Russian Czar, and BONJOUR TRISTESSE (1958).

Laurents co-wrote most of the feature adaptations of his stage work, beginning with 1949’s HOME OF THE BRAVE, which altered his original story that centered on a Jewish soldier to that of a black soldier. With Ernest Lehman, he adapted WEST SIDE STORY (1961), with Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer, and with Leonard Spigelgass, he wrote GYPSY (1962), that featured a non-singing Rosalind Russell and Wood. He also worked on the screen version of “The Time of the Cuckoo” which became David Lean’s SUMMERTIME (1965). In 1973, Laurents adapted his own novel, “The Way We Were,” the story of the romance between a Jewish woman and a WASP gent broken apart by cultural and political differences. The result, starring Streisand and Robert Redford, was a throw-back to the classic “women’s pictures” and was a huge box-office success. Laurents followed with THE TURNING POINT (1977), which he also produced with its director Herbert Ross. Also a critical and commercial success, the film told the tale of two fortyish women, one an aging ballet star (Anne Bancroft), the other (Shirley MacLaine) who gave up dancing to raise a family and have a life of regrets.

Laurents has merely dabbled in TV. He wrote the 1967 NBC special THE LIGHT FANTASTIC; OR, HOW TO TELL YOUR PAST, PRESENT AND MAYBE FUTURE THROUGH SOCIAL DANCING, and he oversaw the adaptation of GYPSY (CBS, 1993) for Bette Midler.

Source: Excerpted from Baseline. BaselineStudioSystems — A Hollywood Media Corp. Company.

Photo credits: Photofest and Martha Swope

Born February 4, 1960 in White Plains, New York; died of an aortic aneurysm, January 25, 1996, at his home in Manhattan. Larson lived in poverty, waited tables, and worked seven years to bring his rock opera “Rent” to the stage — only to collapse and die the night before previews were to open at the Off-Broadway New York Theater Workshop. The show’s initial five-week run sold out within 24 hours of opening night, and the play became an enormous critical and popular success. In addition, “Rent” achieved Larson’s ambition of updating musical theater and making it socially and personally relevant to a younger audience. NEWSDAY’s Linda Winer called it “the first original breakthrough rock musical since ‘Hair.'” The fresh, provocative, and exuberant show — and Larson’s heartbreaking story — quickly became Broadway legend. “The show features, among forty well-sung numbers, three songs that are as passionate, unpretentious and powerful as anything I’ve heard in musical theatre for more than a decade,” John Lahr wrote in THE NEW YORKER. “His songs have urgency — a sense of mourning and mystery which insists on seizing the moment. … Larson’s … talent and his big heart are impossible to miss. His songs spill over with feeling and ideas; his work is both juicy and haunting.”

Larson lived his childhood amidst drama clubs and music lessons. He played the tuba in high school and attended Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. Although he graduated with dreams of becoming an actor, Stephen Sondheim encouraged him to focus on composing. Larson was a Sondheim disciple and his early work suggested his future success. He won the Richard Rodgers Studio Production Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for a workshop version of “Rent,” and a Rodgers Development Grant for a futuristic rock musical called “Suburbia.” He also earned a Stephen Sondheim Award from the American Music Theater Festival; composed the eclectic rock-to-ragtime score for a musical called “J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation”; and performed a rock monologue called “Tick, Tick, Boom” at the New York Theater Workshop and other stages.

“Rent” is based on the classic Puccini opera “La Bohème.” The musical is set in a dingy, dishevelled loft apartment in New York’s East Village and depicts “young … artists struggling to celebrate life in the shadow of drugs, poverty and AIDS,” Jonathan Wiederhorn wrote in ROLLING STONE. Larson’s score blends pop, dance, dance, salsa, rhythm and blues, gospel, and rock music, while his characters update those of Puccini: Rodolfo, the lovelorn poet, is resurrected in punk-rocker Roger; Marcello the painter becomes Mark the videographer; Mimi trades tuberculosis for HIV. “In both productions,” Wiederhorn noted, “the main characters are threatened with eviction and burn their written work to stay warm.” Larson, however, leavens the lost dreams and lives with his show’s “emphasis on love, friendship, and survival.”

As the debut of “Rent” approached, Larson lived in poverty similar to that endured by his characters. He stopped working in a SoHo diner only two months before the play opened and dreamed of earning enough money to afford cable TV. Ten days before he died, Larson sold some of his books to get money for a movie ticket. “It’s both tragic and ironic that Larson … never saw ticket holders enjoy his show,” Wiederhorn wrote. “Even more uncanny are the parallels between Larson’s life and his characters’ — many of whom cling to life knowing that it could end at any moment.”

Larson is survived by his parents, Allan and Nanette Larson of New Mexico, and his sister, Julie McCollum of Los Angeles. “For Mr. Larson’s parents and sister and friends, opening night was glorious and heartbreaking,” Mel Gussow wrote in THE NEW YORK TIMES. “‘It’s the best and worst moment of my life,’ said his sister. ‘This play was Jonathan. It is totally my brother.'”

Source: Excerpted from NEWSMAKERS 1997, ISSUE 4, Gale Research, © 1997 Gale Research. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

Photo credits: Photofest and the New York Public Library

A leading playwright and stage director, James Lapine briefly shifted his attentions to film in the early 1990s, but after two well-crafted features that earned modest box office takes, he returned to the theater.

The Ohio native trained at CalArts as a photographer and graphic designer and spent several years plying those trades on the West Coast. Eventually, Lapine headed East when he accepted a position teaching design at the Yale School of Drama. With encouragement from some of his students, he adapted and staged Gertrude Stein’s play “Photograph,” which caught the attention of a producer who moved the show to Off-Broadway in 1977. Flush from winning an special OBIE, Lapine staged his “Twelve Dreams,” inspired by a case study of Carl Jung, as a work in progress. Two years later, he garnered attention and acclaim for his breakthrough stage comedy “Table Settings,” about a zany Jewish-American family. Lapine subsequently collaborated with composer William Finn on “March of the Falsettos,” a sort of sequel to Finn’s earlier “In Trousers.” Centered on Marvin, a divorced father who has “come out” as a gay man, the musical tackled darker themes than the typical stage fare. From its opening number (“Four Jews in a Room Bitching”) through to the poignant closing number (“Father to Son”), the show ultimately explored what makes a family. While Lapine went on to other fruitful collaborations, he and Finn revisited the characters of Marvin, his neurotic wife Trina, his son Jason, the psychiatrist Mendel, and Marvin’s lover Whizzer in a sequel “Falsettoland” (1990). This time the creators opted to introduce the more serious specter of AIDS. A moving and powerful study of love as well as a paean to family, “Falsettoland” won a strong following.

Director-choreographer Graciela Daniele hit on the idea of combining the two relatively short shows into one evening marking the birth of “Falsettos.” Lapine and Finn reworked the material slightly and with some of the same cast (Michael Rupert, Stephen Bogardus, Chip Zien) from the earlier productions, took the show to Broadway in 1992, where it won Tony Awards for its book and score. In between these productions, Lapine also struck up an artistically profitable association with composer Stephen Sondheim. Beginning in 1983, the duo began work on “Sunday in the Park with George,” a project that found its inspiration in the unusual, Georges Seraut’s pointillistic masterpiece “A Sunday on the Island of La Grand Jatte-1884.” The collaborators fashioned a piece that spanned some 100 years, with act one culminating in a recreation of the famous painting and act two a contemporary send-up of the art world. “Sunday in the Park with George” was not a crowd-pleasing show in the vein of its contemporary “La Cage aux Folles” as it challenged audiences to examine the creation and nature of art as well as its acceptance by the masses. Cited by the Pulitzer committee for the award in drama in 1985, the show proved only a modest success, although it was preserved in a TV production that aired originally on Showtime and later PBS.

Lapine and Sondheim again turned to odd material for their next collaboration “Into the Woods” (1987). Although seemingly inspired by fairy tales, the show owed much to Bruno Bettleheim’s THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT as the musical explored the darker territories of responsibility for one’s actions that lay behind the “happily ever after” ideal. Effectively mounted by Lapine and well-cast with actor-singers, “Into the Woods” proved to be the pair’s most successful collaboration (to date), earning the Best Book and Best Score Tony Awards. It too was filmed (this time with Lapine at the helm) for airing on PBS’ AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE in 1991.

As a follow-up Sondheim and Lapine originally intended to produce to separate one-act musicals, which would serve as commentary on society’s preoccupation with beauty. “Muscle” was to focus on bodybuilders while “Passion,” based on a Ettore Scola’s “Passione d’Amore,” which in turn was an adaptation of an obscure Italian novel, would deal with the obsessive love of an unattractive woman. As the work progressed, however, Sondheim and Lapine found their focus drawn to “Passion,” which evolved into a full-length intermissionless show about the many faces of love. In his staging, Lapine stripped the material to its bare essentials but brought a painter’s eye to the details. Featuring a star-making performance by Donna Murphy, “Passion” received strong reviews and several accolades including the Best Musical Tony, but ultimately proved too cerebral and remote for audiences more accustomed to the spectacles of British imports like “Cats” and “Miss Saigon” or the live-action version of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” (Ironically, Lapine was tapped to direct the stage version of another Disney animated feature “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” in 1999.)

In addition to his work in the musical theater, Lapine became a noted stager of dramatic works, including Shakespeare. He enjoyed a spectacular success with a 1982 production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” starring William Hurt as Oberon. (The production was telecast on PBS.) He also reteamed with Mandy Patinkin for “The Winter’s Tale” in 1989, and undertook the staging of the revised version of “The Diary of Anne Frank” in 1997. While he stumbled with the Broadway production of David Henry Hwang’s “Golden Child” the following year, he was back in top form as co-conceiver and director of “Dirty Blonde” (1999), a comedy-drama that was part biography of Mae West and a mediation on fame and fandom. When the show moved to Broadway in May 2000, the reviews were nearly all raves.

Like many stage directors, Lapine ventured into the realm of filmmaking. In 1991, working from a script by his wife Sarah Kernochan, he helmed IMPROMPTU, a romantic romp set in the 19th-century and featuring a roundelay of relationships among such figures as George Sand, Franz Liszt, and Eugene Delacroix. The film inverted some of the conventions of period pieces and proved a pleasurable debut. Lapine’s follow-up also demonstrated his flair with actors and his ability to mix drama and comedy. LIFE WITH MIKEY (1993) was a comedy vehicle for TV star Michael J. Fox, who portrayed a struggling talent agent whose attempt to turn a pickpocket into a child star reinvigorates his love for his work. Although he guided TV productions of INTO THE WOODS and PASSION, Lapine did not tackle a full-out feature-length project again until 1999’s made-for-cable EARTHLY POSSESSIONS (HBO), which again showed his flair for handling actors.

Source: Excerpted from Baseline. BaselineStudioSystems — A Hollywood Media Corp. Company.

Photo credits: Photofest and Martha Swope

When Jerome Kern died in 1945, America lost one of its greatest and most beloved composers. Harry Truman, who was the U.S. President at the time of Kern’s death, was quoted as saying in David Ewen’s book, COMPOSERS FOR THE AMERICAN MUSICAL THEATRE: “[Kern’s] melodies will live in our voices and warm our hearts for many years to come. … The man who gave them to us earned a lasting place in his nation’s history.” In 1946 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a lavish musical film biography of Kern, TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY, with appearances by Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, and other stars. The centennial of Kern’s birth was celebrated in 1985, which saw the issuing of a U.S. Postage stamp in his honor, as well as the release of more recordings and performances of his music. “Show Boat,” the most enduring of his works, continues to enjoy Broadway revivals. There is no sign that Kern’s legacy is in danger of fading.

Jerome David Kern was born in New York City. He studied piano with his mother and in high school was often asked to play piano and organ and compose music for school theatrical productions. In 1902, at the age of 17, he tried his hand at a business career working for his father, who owned a merchandizing house. But the young Kern’s enthusiasm for music led to his ordering 200 pianos from an Italian dealer instead of two — the number he was supposed to purchase. This action almost cost his father his business, and to Kern’s relief, it was agreed that he should pursue a career in music.

Kern enrolled in the New York College of Music in 1902 and in 1903 went abroad to study music in Germany. He took up permanent residence in London, where he began writing songs for British musical hall productions. A year later, he returned to New York, taking jobs with music publishers — first the Lyceum Publishing Company and then Shapiro-Remick. At this time, British productions dominated Broadway. Kern was hired in 1904 to adapt one of these shows, “Mr. Wix of Wickham,” for the Broadway stage by “Americanizing” some of the numbers and by writing some additional songs of his own.

A year later, Kern took a job at another music publisher, T. B. Harms & Co. — which eventually became the publisher of his own works –and continued writing musical interpolations for British shows. Ewen noted that “almost a hundred of his songs were heard this way, in approximately thirty musicals. … [This] apprenticeship prepared him for giant tasks and acievements that lay before him.”

The 1910s were a productive and noteworthy period for Kern. He married an English woman, Eva Leale, in 1910 and in 1914 had his first hit, “The Girl from Utah” — another adaptation of a British show. In 1915 Kern began writing musicals for the Princess Theatre in New York. These productions, “Nobody Home,” “Very Good Eddie,” “Oh Boy!,” and “Oh Lady! Lady!!,” were distinguished by a new approach to musical theater, developed by Kern in collaboration with librettist Guy Bolton, and, beginning in 1917, the talents of lyricist P. G. Wodehouse.

The musical revue format, with unrelated numbers strung together, was replaced by a more coherent story, more sophisticated songs, and characters that were more believable and realistic. The transformation of the Broadway musical did not happen overnight, however, and Kern also wrote the music for more conventional shows, including “Leave It to Jane,” “Sally,” which included the popular “Look for the Silver Lining,” and “Sunny.”

Kern wrote his most important work, “Show Boat,” in 1927 with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. The production, which included the songs “Ol’ Man River,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” and “Make Believe,” is notable for the richness of its music and its influence on other Broadway composers, who saw it as a model of writing for the musical stage. Today some believe it reflects racist attitudes; protesters tried to ban a 1993 revival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but the production went on to great success and re-opened on Broadway in 1994.

A close examination of “Show Boat” reveals that it is actually quite progressive for a show that was written in 1927. The plot, involving a woman who is prohibited from performing on the show boat because she is bi-racial and is married to a white man, is compelling, as is the song “Ol’ Man River,” which is the complete antithesis of the more upbeat tunes popular at a time when many whites did not wish to acknowledge their injustice to African Americans. “Show Boat” was made into a film musical three times — in 1929, 1936, and 1951. In 1954 it became part of the New York City Opera’s standard repertory — the first musical to be adopted by an opera company.

The 1930s saw a string of Kern musicals: “The Cat and the Fiddle”; “Music in the Air”; “Roberta,” which was made into a film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in 1935 and which included the song “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”; the Astaire/Rogers film musical SWING TIME, featuring “A Fine Romance” and the Oscar-winning “The Way You Look Tonight”; and VERY WARM FOR MAY, which was a flop but from which the song “All the Things You Are” — perhaps Kern’s best song, if not the best popular song by any composer — survives.

In the 1940s Kern moved to Hollywood and devoted the rest of his career to writing music for films. He contributed the songs “The Last Time I Saw Paris” to LADY, BE GOOD, “Dearly Beloved” to YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER, and “Long Ago and Far Away” to COVER GIRL. He died in New York in 1945; his last score was for the film CENTENNIAL SUMMER, which was released in 1946.

Most of Kern’s manuscripts were assumed for decades to be lost. But in 1982 hundreds of manuscripts by Kern and other Broadway composers were found in a warehouse in Secaucus, New Jersey. In an article in THE NEW YORK TIMES on March 10, 1987, the year that the manuscripts were inventoried after having been moved to Manhattan, Kern scholar John McGlinn was quoted as saying that the discovery was “like opening the tomb of King Tut. There are major works here that had been presumed lost forever; shows that were never revived and were assumed to have vanished off the face of the earth.” Included among the findings were the complete scores for “Very Good Eddie,” “Leave It to Jane,” and “Sunny,” and the original manuscripts of “Ol’ Man River,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” and music that was cut from “Show Boat” after the 1927 production. This “lost” music was added to a 1988 recording of “Show Boat,” restoring the musical to its original glory.

Source: Excerpted from CONTEMPORARY MUSICIANS, VOLUME 13, Gale Research, © 1994 Gale Research. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

photo credits: Photofest and the New York Public Library

An important composer for the American musical theater from the early ’60s, Kander studied music as a child, continued at college, and was determined to make his way in the musical theater. He had some successes in the early ’50s with various lyricists before meeting Fred Ebb (b. April 8, 1932, New York, USA) in 1962. Ebb had already dabbled with lyric writing, and had collaborated with Jerry Herman on some songs for the short-lived musical “A to Z” (1960). Among Kander and Ebb’s first efforts were “My Coloring Book” and “I Don’t Care Much,” both of which were recorded by Barbra Streisand. The new team made their Broadway debut in 1965 with the score for “Flora, the Red Menace,” which included an eye-catching, Tony Award-winning performance by Liza Minnelli, who would subsequently perform much of their work, and become indelibly associated with them.

Although “Flora” was relatively unsuccessful, Kander and Ebb were invited to write the score for “Cabaret” (1966), which starred Joel Grey and Jill Haworth, and won seven Tony Awards, including best score.They wrote two additional songs, “Money, Money” and “Mein Herr,” for the 1972 film version, in which Liza Minnelli gave a sensational performance and won an Oscar. The television special produced by Ebb for Minnelli, LIZA WITH A Z, also won an Emmy award, with a Grammy later going to the recorded highlights album. Ebb’s television work continued with the production of OL’ BLUE EYES IS BACK (1972) for Frank Sinatra.

Other Broadway shows followed, including “The Happy Time,” “Zorba,” “70,” “Girls,” and “Chicago,” which opened in 1975 and ran for 923 performances. In the same year, the duo wrote some songs for the film FUNNY LADY, which starred Barbra Streisand, and followed this with music for two Minnelli films, A MATTER OF TIME (1976) and NEW YORK, NEW YORK (1977). The theme from the latter became an enormous, enduring hit for Frank Sinatra in 1980. Back on Broadway, Kander and Ebb wrote scores for “The Act” (1977) with Minnelli, “Woman of the Year” (1981), which starred Lauren Bacall, and “The Rink” (1984), yet another Minnelli (and Chita Rivera) vehicle. In 1991 they were inducted into the New York Theater Hall of Fame, and a revue, “And the World Goes ‘Round,” which celebrated some 30 of their songs, opened Off Broadway and ran for nearly a year. Another musical anthology, “Sing Happy,” played on the London Fringe in the following year. In 1993 their spectacular musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” starring Chita Rivera, won several Tony Awards in New York following its transfer from the West End.

During the 1996-97 Broadway season, a superb concert version of the 20-year-old “Chicago” won six Tonys, while “Steel Pier,” a new Kander and Ebb musical about a dance marathon held in Atlantic City in 1933 at the height of the depression, failed to convert any of its 11 nominations, and closed after only two months. In 1996, the songwriters were among the recipients of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Foundation’s 12th annual Mr. Abbott Awards. It was an appropriate gesture, because George Abbott directed Kander and Ebb’s first Broadway musical, “Flora, the Red Menace.” The two men were also recipients of Kennedy Center Honors in 1998.Apart from their work together, both Kander and Ebb have enjoyed successful independent careers. Kander has written music for film soundtracks, including KRAMER VS. KRAMER (1980), and Ebb has continued to produce and co-produce numerous television specials, including GYPSY IN MY SOUL (1976) and BARYSHNIKOV ON BROADWAY (1980).

FURTHER READING:
COLORED LIGHTS: FORTY YEARS OF WORDS AND MUSIC, John Kander and Fred Ebb with Greg Lawrence.
SHOW BIZ, COLLABORATION, AND ALL THAT JAZZ, John Kander and Fred Ebb with Greg Lawrence.

Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. Excerpted from the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Colin Larkin. © 2004 MUZE UK Ltd.

photo credits: Photofest

One of the leading composers and lyricists for the American musical theater during the past 30 years, Herman was playing piano by the age of six under the tuition of his mother, a professional piano teacher. After high school, he started to train as a designer, but had second thoughts, and studied drama at the University of Miami. By the mid-’50s, he was playing piano in New York clubs and writing material for several well-known entertainers. During the late ’50s and early ’60s, he worked on a number of off-Broadway musical shows, the first of which was “I Feel Wonderful” (1954), and had several songs in the revue “Nightcap,” which ran for nearly a year. He also wrote the book, music and lyrics [for] — and directed — “Parade” (1960), and in the same year contributed the opening number, “Best Gold,” to the short-lived “A to Z.” In 1961, after writing some songs for the 13-performance flop, “Madame Aphrodite,” he enjoyed his first real success with his score for the Broadway musical “Milk and Honey,” which ran for 543 performances. He had a smash hit three years later with “Hello, Dolly!” (“Before the Parade Passes By,” “It Only Takes a Moment,” “It Takes a Woman,” “Put on Your Sunday Clothes,” “Elegance”), which stayed at the St. James Theater in New York for nearly seven years. The show — with its Grammy-winning title number — gave Carol Channing her greatest role, and has been constantly revived ever since.

In 1966, Herman had another triumph with “Mame,” which is generally considered to be his best score. Once again, there was a marvelous title song, which was accompanied by other delights such as “If He Should Walk Into My Life,” “We Need a Little Christmas,” “Open a New Window,” “Bosom Buddies,” and “It’s Today.” Since then, his infrequent, but classy scores have included “Dear World” (“And I Was Beautiful,” “The Spring of Next Year,” 1969), “Mack & Mabel” (“I Won’t Send Roses,” “When Mabel Comes in the Room,” “Movies Were Movies,” 1974), “The Grand Tour” (1979), and “La Cage aux Folles” (“Song on the Sand [La Da Da Da],” “With You on My Arm,” “I Am What I Am”). The latter show opened in 1983, and ran for 1,176 performances in New York. Herman won a Grammy for the “Mame” cast album, and Tony Awards for his work on “Hello, Dolly!” and “La Cage aux Folles.” There was some controversy when Herman’s “old fashioned” music and lyrics for the latter show triumphed over Stephen Sondheim’s typically contemporary score for “Sunday in the Park with George.” Herman has been inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The latter organization honored him with their Johnny Mercer Award in 1987, and in 1996, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Hollywood Press Club. Herman occasionally presents an evening devoted to his own songs, and many shows have been staged in tribute to him over the years, including “Jerry’s Girls,” which played on Broadway in 1986.

In 1993, Herman left New York to live in Bel Air on the West Coast, but denied rumors of retirement, explaining that his 10-year absence had been due to lack of inspiration: “Nothing has come along that is fresh and interesting.” Revivals of his earlier works, with which he is usually closely involved, are constantly circulating. In the early ’90s, these included U.S. regional productions of “La Cage aux Folles” and “Mame,” as well as a 30th anniversary international tour of “Hello, Dolly!”, complete with its original leading lady, Carol Channing, which reached Broadway in October 1995. Two months later, Herman’s personal favorite of all his own shows, “Mack & Mabel,” made its West End debut. Herman’s “dry” spell finally came to an end in December 1996, when the two-hour musical, MRS. SANTA CLAUS, was transmitted on CBS television. The composer’s first creative contribution to the medium, it starred the original Auntie Mame, Angela Lansbury. Among the highlights of Herman’s score were “Almost Young,” “We Don’t Go Together,” “He Needs Me,” “Avenue A,” and “Whistle.” There was no mention of his recent triple bypass and other health problems when in 1998 Herman was joined by old friends Lee Roy Reams and Florence Lacey on stage at the Booth Theater in New York, playing and singing a mixture of his familiar and not so well-known songs, in “An Evening With Jerry Herman.” Also in 1998, another celebratory revue, “The Best of Times,” was presented at the Bridewell and Vaudeville theaters in London. Although a generation removed from the past masters of the American musical theater — whom he admires so much — Herman’s style adheres closely to the earlier formulae and he brings to his best work a richness sadly lacking in that of many of his contemporaries.

Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. Excerpted from the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Colin Larkin. © 2004 MUZE UK Ltd.

photo credits: Photofest

A distinguished librettist, director, and playwright who was particularly renowned for his work with George S. Kaufman. Hart is reported to have written the book for the short-lived “Jonica” in 1930, but his first real Broadway musical credit came three years later when he contributed the sketches to the Irving Berlin revue “As Thousands Cheer.” Subsequent revues for which he co-wrote sketches included “The Show Is On,” “Seven Lively Arts,” and “Inside USA.” During the remainder of the ’30s Hart wrote the librettos for “The Great Waltz” (adapted from the operetta “Waltzes of Vienna”), “Jubilee,” “I’d Rather Be Right” (with Kaufman), and “Sing Out the News” (which he also co-produced with Kaufman and Max Gordon). In 1941 he wrote one of his wittiest and most inventive books for “Lady in Dark,” which starred Gertrude Lawrence, and gave Danny Kaye his first chance on Broadway.

Thereafter, as far as the musical theater was concerned, apart from the occasional revue, Hart concentrated mostly on directing, and sometimes producing, shows such as Irving Berlin’s “Miss Liberty,” and Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s smash hits “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot.” He won a Tony Award for his work on “My Fair Lady.” His considerable output for the straight theater included “Light up the Sky,” “The Climate of Eden,” “Winged Victory,” and (with Kaufman) “Once in a Lifetime,” “You Can’t Take It With You” (for which they both won the Pulitzer Prize), and “The Man Who Came to Dinner.”

Hart also wrote the screenplays for two film musicals, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN (1952) and the 1954 remake of A STAR IS BORN, starring Judy Garland. His absorbing autobiography, ACT ONE, was filmed in 1963 with George Hamilton as Hart and Jason Robards as Kaufman.

FURTHER READING:
ACT ONE, Moss Hart.

Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. Excerpted from the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Colin Larkin. © 2004 MUZE UK Ltd.

Photo credits: Photofest

Hart, Lorenz Milton (May 2, 1895 – Nov. 22, 1943), musical comedy lyricist, was born in New York City, the elder of two sons of Max M. and Frieda (Isenberg) Hart. Of Jewish background, he traced his descent through his mother from the German poet Heinrich Heine. His father, a business promoter, was sufficiently prosperous to enable Lorenz, after preparation at two private schools, to spend two years (1914-16) at the School of Journalism of Columbia University. Reared in a worldly, bibulous home, temperamentally alienated from a rather coarse-grained father, indifferent to academic studies outside literature and drama, Hart was perhaps even more than Cole Porter the expressive bard of the urban generation which matured during the interwar years 1919-41. Much of his work — slick, breezy, and yet mordant, even morbid — reflects their tart disillusion. A bachelor living with his widowed mother, whom he once described as a “sweet, menacing old lady,” he was a restless world traveler and, especially after his mother’s death, an alcoholic who disappeared for weeks on end to escape a life periodically unbearable. But with all his moody unreliability he found his destiny as lyricist to his more stable friend Richard Rodgers.

Their lifetime collaboration began in 1918, when Hart was working for the Shuberts translating German plays and Rodgers was writing varsity shows at Columbia. The two contributed to the Broadway musical “Poor Little Ritz Girl” (1920), and by 1925 they had their own success on Broadway, “The Garrick Gaieties,” an intimate revue sponsored by the Theater Guild in revolt against huge, flossy “girlie” productions. Rodgers and Hart believed that monotony was killing the musical, that songwriters must integrate libretto, lyrics, and music. “Sentimental Me” (“Garrick Gaieties”), a parody of mawkish popular songs, appealed to the hard core of their market — people who were either genuinely urban upper-middle class, or who embraced the sophisticated, innovative New York music and THE NEW YORKER magazine in order to avoid being like the “little old lady from Dubuque.” The praise of Manhattan’s “smart set” — Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott — enhanced the popularity of Rodgers and Hart’s “Peggy-Ann” (1926), a surrealistic Freudian study of an ambitious young career girl.

With personal growth, with changing times, Hart’s range broadened and deepened. In the 1920s he was insouciant: “The Girl Friend” (“The Girl Friend,” 1926), “Manhattan” (“Garrick Gaieties”), “Thou Swell” (“A Connecticut Yankee,” 1927), “You Took Advantage of Me” (“Present Arms,” 1928). In the 1930s, while he developed his satirical vein (“I’d Rather Be Right,” 1937, was a take-off on politics), he was more sober, even somber, with an almost despairing melancholy. In “Little Girl Blue” (“Jumbo,” 1935) a woman — ironically, girl no longer — sings, “Sit there and count your fingers, … Old girl, you’re through”; in “Spring Is Here … I Hear” (“I Married an Angel,” 1938), the caustic wordplay again evokes a depression-ridden urban world of unmarried adults in lonely, loveless rooms.

Not all was harsh: an etherealized tenderness, an almost desperate romanticism typical of the 1930s suffused “Have You Met Miss Jones?” and the title song from “I’d Rather Be Right,” “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” and “My Romance” (both from “Jumbo”), “Where or When” (“Babes in Arms,” 1937), the title song from “I Married an Angel,” and “Falling in Love with Love” (“The Boys from Syracuse,” 1938). “Syracuse,” based on “A Comedy of Errors,” was the pioneer adaptation of Shakespeare for musical comedy. If these songs were delicately oblique enough to suit a post-Victorian generation still afraid to pursue hedonism too far or at least too openly, sentimentality still did not eliminate realism: Hart fused the two in a poignant tribute to a homely lover, “My Funny Valentine” (“Babes in Arms”).

By 1940 Hart and Rodgers had decided that more of the naturalism of contemporary literature and drama must come to musical comedy. In collaborating with John O’Hara on an adaptation of his novel PAL JOEY, they were somewhat in advance of a public reluctant to accept the possibility that nice-looking, lithe young white song-and-dance men could fornicate with and leech upon women. Joey did both. Most of the numbers were harshly witty. An older woman, despoiled by Joey, sings to the ingenue, “Take him, but don’t ever let him take you.” Received with mixed response, “Joey” was revived for enthusiastic audiences a decade later. Similar sarcasm pervaded “By Jupiter” (1942).

When wartime came, Hart was out of step with a patriotic public absorbed with traditional American values. The folksy “Oklahoma!” — that hearty slice of rural Americana conceived by Rodgers — held no interest for Hart, now immersed in cheap midtown Manhattan bars, and Rodgers turned for lyrics to Oscar Hammerstein II. Hart returned to collaboration with Rodgers on a 1943 revival of “A Connecticut Yankee.” On opening night, acting strangely, he slipped away and vanished for two days. Found ill in a hotel room, he was rushed to a New York City hospital, where he died three days later of pneumonia. He was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, Maspeth, Queens. His brother Teddy, a musical comedy star, was his sole survivor.

A student of literature and an inveterate playgoer from childhood, Lorenz Hart contributed to musical comedies sharp, tasteful lyrics finely coordinated with rhythm and melody and with the plot, mood, and action of the play. Although lyrical fashions moved away from his pungent colloquialism with the banalities of the 1950s and the “hip” polemics of the 1960s, Hart brought into the mainstream of songwriting a conversational directness like Ernest Hemingway’s which eliminated strained poetic diction and bathos. If much of his work seemed precious to a more earnest later generation, not so the biting criticism of urban life implied in “The Lady Is a Tramp” (“Babes in Arms”).

— Hughson Mooney

Source: Excerpted from the DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, SUPPLEMENT 3: 1941-1945. American Council of Learned Societies, 1973. Reprinted by permission of the American Council of Learned Societies.

Photo credits: Photofest and the Library of Congress

A lyricist and author best known for his Academy Award-winning song “Over the Rainbow,” Yip Harburg began songwriting after his electric appliance business failed at the start of the Great Depression. His first hit song was “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime,” written with composer Jay Gorney in 1932. Harburg continued to write lyrics for Hollywood musicals, producing such popular songs as “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” “April in Paris,” and “Suddenly.” He was teamed with composer Harold Arlen for the 1939 MGM classic THE WIZARD OF OZ and wrote lyrics for its well-known songs, including “We’re Off to See the Wizard,” “Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead,” “If I Only Had a Brain,” and “Over the Rainbow.” Blacklisted in Hollywood following World War II because of his political views, Harburg turned to Broadway in 1947. Here he co-wrote the libretto and was lyricist for “Finian’s Rainbow” and also worked on the Broadway show “Flahooley.” Over the years Harburg worked with such musical legends as Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, John Green, Vernon Duke, Burton Lane, and Arthur Schwartz.

Ira Gershwin was Harburg’s classmate at Townsend Harris Hall, the prep school for City College. “There we wrote a humorous column for the high school paper entitled ‘Much Ado,’ ” related Harburg, “and we collaborated on one Broadway show in 1934, ‘Life Begins at 8:40,’ for Bert Lahr. Ira and I have been close friends ever since school. I still visit him when I’m out on the coast.”

Harburg noted that he was influenced by his teachers at City College and by authors George Bernard Shaw, Sir William Schwenk Gilbert, Jonathan Swift, Sean O’Casey, Oscar Wilde, and Mark Twain, all of whom were noted satirists. When asked about his techniques for composing lyrics, Harburg told CA [CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS]: “Anything goes, as long as it generates a song. Most ballad tunes are written first, and the lyrics fitted to the music. Sometimes the composer is given a title or possibly a line or two to work with. Most comedy songs start with several lines or possibly a whole verse. There are no formulas. Everything is geared to the particular psyches of composer and lyricist.”

Harburg believed that musicals “have become a lost art for the newer generation that is undisciplined, without roots in poetry or literature.” He called “The Wiz,” a modern version of THE WIZARD OF OZ, “a theatrical disgrace in keeping with the ugliness of today’s culture.”

In Harburg’s view, popular songs today “are not joyous. They’re grim.” He told Aljean Harmetz that songs are not written with “the craftsmanship, and the fine skill of the composers of the ’20s and ’30s. … Today even when there is no melody, the sound engineer can give you enough vibrations to make a song a hit.”

Of his own songs, Harburg reflected, “It is hard to say which is my favorite, but I would rate ‘Last Night When We Were Young’ as a possible choice.” Though the movie THE WIZARD OF OZ has appeared on television each spring for many years, Harburg said he did not watch it every year, “but I [did] like to catch it every so often.”

 

Harburg, who appeared on the CBS television show 60 MINUTES on March 5, 1978, was co-author of the librettos for “Jamaica” and “The Happiest Girl in the World.” He also wrote two books of poetry entitled RHYMES FOR THE IRREVERENT and AT THIS POINT IN RHYME: E. Y. HARBURG’S POEMS.

Source: Excerpted from CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS ONLINE, Gale Group, © 2001 Gale Group. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

Photo credits: Photofest and the New York Public Library

Oscar Clendenning Hammerstein II (1895-1960) was perhaps the most influential lyricist and librettist of the American theater. Major musicals for which he wrote the lyrics include “Show Boat,” “South Pacific,” “The King and I,” and “The Sound of Music.”

Oscar Clendenning Hammerstein II was born into a great theatrical family on July 12, 1895, in New York City. His grandfather, Oscar I, was an opera impressario and showman. His father, William, was the manager of Hammerstein’s Victoria, one of the most famous vaudeville theaters of its day. His uncle, Arthur, was a well known producer. All were famous in their own right, but all would be eclipsed by the success of Oscar II, the third generation theater Hammerstein. Oscar, or “Ockie” (his lifelong nickname), dabbled in theatrical activities as a youth, but when it came time for a career choice his father pushed him away from the theater. Oscar went to Columbia University in preparation for a career in law. It was at Columbia, however, that Oscar’s career in theater actually began when, at age 19, he joined the Columbia University Players as a performer in the 1915 Varsity review “On Your Way.” He participated heavily in the Varsity shows for several years, first as a performer and later as a writer. It was at Columbia that Oscar first met the young man who would later collaborate with him and with Lorenz Hart, another Columbia alumnus: Richard Rodgers.

After Oscar’s first year of law school, he convinced his uncle, Arthur, to hire him as an assistant stage manager on one of his upcoming shows. By 1919 he was promoted to production stage manager for all of Arthur’s shows. In his position as production stage manager Oscar was able to do some writing and re-writing on scripts in development. Eventually he was writing musical comedies of his own. His first success as a librettist came in 1922 with “Wildflower,” written with Otto Harbach. A more major success in 1924, “Rose-Marie,” written with Harbach, Rudolph Friml, and Herbert P. Stohart, led to his collaboration with composer Jerome Kern. Kern and Hammerstein had both been concerned with the “integrated musical,” a musical in which the book, lyrics, and score all grow from a central idea and all contribute to the story line. They adapted Edna Ferber’s sprawling novel about life on a Mississippi River boat into the landmark 1925 musical “Show Boat,” with Kern composing the score and Hammerstein writing the book and lyrics. “Show Boat” firmly established Oscar’s success and reputation as a writer and lyricist.

In 1929 Oscar divorced his wife of 12 years, Myra Finn, and married Dorothy Blanchard Jacobson. The next decade turned out to be a happy one for Oscar personally, but unhappy professionally. He spent much of his time in Hollywood, working on contract to various studios. He discovered that he did not work well under the rigorous time demands of the movie industry, having achieved his greatest success with “Show Boat”‘s one year writing period. In 1942 he returned to New York with Dorothy and began leisurely work on an adaptation of Bizet’s “Carmen.” Oscar adapted the lyrics and story to create the Americanized, all-black “Carmen Jones.” The opera received great acclaim.

When he had finished the libretto for “Carmen Jones,” Oscar was contacted by an old Columbia acquaintance, Richard Rodgers, whose partnership with Lorenz Hart had recently dissolved. Rodgers had read Lynn Riggs’ “Green Grow the Lilacs” and wanted to collaborate with Hammerstein on a musical adaptation for the Theatre Guild. Hammerstein had also read the play, and the two began work on the musical, tentatively titled “Away We Go!” Rodgers and Hammerstein worked toward the concept of the integrated musical, with Hammerstein writing most of the lyrics before Rodgers wrote the score, the reverse of the normal process. Robert Mamoulian was signed on as director, Agnes de Mille as choreographer, and Terry Helburn as producer for the Theatre Guild.

When the musical, retitled “Oklahoma!,” opened on Broadway on March 31, 1943, it was an enormous success, both critically and popularly. “Oklahoma!” ran for 2,212 performances in its initial Broadway engagement, and in 1944 it received a special Pulitzer Prize. The team of Rodgers and Hammerstein was a success. They produced their own work and promising works by other artists and at one time had five of the highest grossing shows running at the same time on Broadway. They followed up their success with collaborations on “Carousel” (1945), “Allegro” (1947), “South Pacific” (1949), “The King and I” (1951), “Me and Juliet” (1953), “Pipe Dream” (1955), “Flower Drum Song” (1958), and “The Sound of Music” (1959), for which Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse wrote the book, Rodgers composed the score, and Hammerstein wrote the lyrics. “South Pacific” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1950. “South Pacific”, “The King and I,” and “The Sound of Music” all won Tony awards for best musical. Most of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals have been adapted for the screen, with the greatest success going to OKLAHOMA! and THE SOUND OF MUSIC.

Hammerstein’s talents as a lyricist and librettist are undeniable. Countless productions of Hammerstein musicals on Broadway, on tour, and in professional, amateur, and academic theaters around the world testify to the remarkable quality of his work. Hammerstein’s influence on the next generation of lyricists and librettists was also direct and observable. Most notable was his influence on Stephen Sondheim, lyricist for such shows as “West Side Story,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “Sunday in the Park with George.” Sondheim was a close friend of the Hammerstein family from childhood and attributed his success in theater directly to Hammerstein’s influence and guidance.

Oscar Clendenning Hammerstein II died in his home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, on August 23, 1960, a victim of stomach cancer. He left behind three children, William and Alice by Myra Finn and James by Dorothy Blanchard Jacobson. On September 1, 1960, at 9 p.m., the lights were extinguished on Broadway in memory of Oscar Hammerstein II, the “man who owned Broadway.”

Source: Excerpted from ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY, 2ND ED. 17 VOLS., Gale Research, © 1998 Gale Research. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

Photo credits: Photofest and the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization

A child prodigy, Marvin Hamlisch began studying piano at the famed Juilliard School of Music when he was seven. He co-wrote his first hit song, the bouncy “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows,” which Lesley Gore recorded and made a hit in 1965. He subsequently co-wrote another of Gore’s hits 1967’s “California Nights.” By this time, Hamlisch had already made in-roads into showbiz. In 1960, through a friend, he was introduced to Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, and he played piano at a party hosted by Garland. Within four years, he was hired as the rehearsal pianist for the Jule Styne-Robert Merrill musical “Funny Girl” (1964), where Hamlisch first met Barbra Streisand. After serving as vocal arranger on TV’s THE BELL TELEPHONE HOUR (where he collaborated with such stars as Lena Horne and Tony Bennett), Hamlisch got his first break as a film composer through a fluke. He was hired to play piano for a party given by Sam Spiegel and so impressed the producer that Spiegel hired him to score THE SWIMMER (1968). The haunting themes he created did much to enhance this character study and his career seemed assured. He went on to work with Woody Allen twice (TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN 1969 and Bananas 1971) and scored THE APRIL FOOLS (1969).

By 1971, Hamlisch had earned his first Oscar nod for Best Original Song. He and Johnny Mercer collaborated on “Life Is What You Make It” for the soundtrack of KOTCH. While they won a Golden Globe Award, the pair lost the Academy Award to Isaac Hayes’ “Theme from ‘Shaft’.” Within two years, however, Hamlisch made history by becoming the first individual to win three music Oscars in the same year for his work on adaptation of Scott Joplin rags for THE STING and his lush romantic score and title song (with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman) for THE WAY WE WERE (both 1973). Though capable in a number of idioms, Hamlisch is particularly adept at incorporating a pop sensibility into his compositions. Over the next two decades, he racked up an additional eight Academy Award nominations, mostly for the original songs for such films as THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977), ICE CASTLES, and SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR (both 1978), SHIRLEY VALENTINE, (1989) and THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES (1996). The latter was co-written with rocker Bryan Adams, Adams’ frequent collaborator Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange, and Barbra Streisand. Over the same period, Hamlisch has contributed haunting, effective scores to such features as ORDINARY PEOPLE (1980), SOPHIE’S CHOICE (1982), and FRANKIE & JOHNNY (1991).

Hamlisch turned his attention to the Broadway stage in the early ’70s, creating the music for the landmark Broadway show “A Chorus Line” (1975). While initial critical reaction overlooked the score in favor of the dazzling production and Michael Bennett’s outstanding direction and choreography, audiences responded to the music. (The ballad “What I Did for Love” has become a modern standard.) He shared a Tony Award for Best Score (with lyricist Edward Kleban) and the Pulitzer Prize in Drama (with Kleban and book writers James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante). “A Chorus Line” held the record as the longest-running musical in Broadway history until June 1997 when Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” surpassed it.

Hamlisch’s other stage outings have met with mixed receptions. “They’re Playing Our Song” (1978) was loosely based on his romantic relationship with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager. With a book by Neil Simon, a driving, popular score by Hamlisch and Sager, and star turns by Robert Klein and Lucie Arnaz, the show was a success. Not so his follow-ups. “Jean” (1983) was an ill-fated attempt to musicalize the life of actress Jean Seberg that failed in London and has never been produced in the USA. “Smile” (1986), based on Michael Ritchie’s underrated 1975 feature, teamed him with Howard Ashman, but the results were mixed. The musical failed to sustain an appropriate tone, although Hamlisch wrote some lovely songs and one, “Disneyland,” has become an audition staple. A 1993 reteaming with Neil Simon for a musicalization of “The Goodbye Girl” also fared badly with critics and audiences.

Hamlisch has found a secondary career as a guest conductor at American symphonies. In 1994, he served as the musical director for Barbra Streisand’s long awaited return to live performing. For the filmed version of the concert, which aired on both HBO and CBS, Hamlisch earned two Emmy Awards. Other TV credits include the scores for such series as BEACON HILL (CBS, 1975) and the lovely nostalgic theme to BROOKLYN BRIDGE (CBS, 1991-93) and such TV-movies as THE ENTERTAINER (NBC, 1976), THE TWO MRS. GRENVILLLES (NBC, 1987), and DAVID (ABC, 1988).

Source: Excerpted from Baseline. BaselineStudioSystems — A Hollywood Media Corp. Company.

Photo credits: Photofest and Martha Swope

A consummate lyricist, whose career spanned some 40 years, like his younger brother George Gershwin, Ira was an indifferent student, but became fascinated by popular music, and particularly the lyrics of songs. He began writing seriously in 1917, sometimes using the pseudonym “Arthur Francis,” and had a number of minor successes, including the score for the stage show, “Two Little Girls in Blue” (music by Vincent Youmans). In the ’20s and ’30s he was closely associated with his brother, collaborating on numerous Broadway shows such as “Primrose” (with Desmond Carter), “Tell Me More!” (with Buddy DeSylva), “Tip-Toes,” “Lady, Be Good!”, “Oh, Kay!”, “Funny Face,” “Rosalie,” “Treasure Girl,” “Show Girl” (with Gus Khan), “Strike up the Band,” “Girl Crazy,” “Pardon My English,” “Let ‘Em Eat Cake,” and “Porgy and Bess.” From those productions came some of the perennial standards of American popular song.

Despite the brothers’ prolific output, which resulted in hits such as “That Certain Feeling,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Do-Do-Do,” “‘S Wonderful,” “How Long Has This Been Going On?”, “I’ve Got a Crush On You,” “I Got Rhythm,” “But Not for Me,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “Embraceable You,” and so many more, Ira Gershwin found time to write lyrics for other composers. Among these collaborations were “Cheerful Little Earful” (from the stage show “Sweet and Low,” with Billy Rose and Harry Warren), “Let’s Take a Walk Around the Block,” “You’re a Builder-Upper,” “Fun to Be Fooled,” and “What Can You Say in a Love Song?” (from the revue “Life Begins at 8:40,” with Harold Arlen and E. Y. “Yip” Harburg), and “I Can’t Get Started,” “He Hasn’t a Thing Except Me,” and “Island in the West Indies” (from the revue “Ziegfeld Follies of 1936,” with Vernon Duke). In 1931, the brothers collaborated on the score for the Broadway show, “Of Thee I Sing,” which became the first musical to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Just before George died in 1937 from a brain tumor, he worked with Ira on the movies A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS (“A Foggy Day,” “Nice Work if You Can Get It”), SHALL WE DANCE (“Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” “They All Laughed,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me”), and THE GOLDWYN FOLLIES (“Love Is Here to Stay,” “Love Walked In”). Ira finished the score for the latter film with Vernon Duke, and in the years immediately following his brother’s early death, wrote very little. When he eventually resumed work, he teamed with Kurt Weill on the Broadway musicals “Lady in the Dark” (1941), which starred Gertrude Lawrence, with Danny Kaye (“My Ship,” “Jenny,” “This Is New,” “Tchaikovsky”), and “The Firebrand of Florence” (1945), and worked on other stage shows with Aaron Copland (“North Star,” 1945) and Arthur Schwartz (“Park Avenue,” 1946). He also wrote the lyrics for several films, among them the outstanding scores for COVER GIRL, with Gene Kelly (“Long Ago and Far Away,” “Make Way for Tomorrow,” “The Show Must Go On,” “Put Me to the Test,” with Jerome Kern), A STAR IS BORN with Judy Garland (the unforgettable “The Man That Got Away,” “Gotta Have Me Go with You,” “It’s a New World,” with Harold Arlen), and THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (“My One and Only Highland Fling,” “Shoes with Wings On,” “You’d Be Hard to Replace,” with Harry Warren).

Several of George and Ira Gershwin’s stage shows were adapted for the screen, and a collection of their old numbers formed the score for the multiple Oscar-winning AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951). In 1959, Ira published a delightful collection of his wonderfully witty and colloquial lyrics, entitled LYRICS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. He retired in the following year, occasionally working on lyrics of past successes when they needed refining or updating for revivals of the most popular Gershwin shows. Ten years after his death in 1983, some of his most popular lyrics were still being relished in the New York and London productions of “Crazy for You,” a rehash of the Gershwins’ 1930 hit, “Girl Crazy.”

There was a full house in December 1996 when a gala concert was held at Carnegie Hall to celebrate the centennial of Ira’s birth. Stars such as leading Gershwin authority Michael Feinstein, Debbie Gravitte, Vic Damone, Rosemary Clooney, and Maureen McGovern were there, as was Burton Lane, Ira’s only living collaborator. Lorna Luft led an all-star cast in the British tribute, “Who Could Ask for Anything More!”, at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

FURTHER READING:
LYRICS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, Ira Gershwin
THE GERSHWINS, R. Kimball and A. Simon
THE COMPLETE LYRICS OF IRA GERSHWIN, edited by R. Kimball
FASCINATING RHYTHM: COLLABORATION OF GEORGE AND IRA GERSHWIN, Deena Rosenberg
THE ART OF THE LYRICIST, Philip Furia
THE GERSHWIN YEARS: GEORGE AND IRA, Edward Jablonski and Lawrence D. Stewart

Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. Excerpted from the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Colin Larkin. © 2004 MUZE UK Ltd.

Photo credits: Photofest and the Library of Congress

American composer George Gershwin (1898-1937) was eminently successful in popular music, as well as in the classical field with several concert works and an opera that have become standards in the contemporary repertory.
George Gershwin played a prominent role in one of the most colorful eras of American popular music: the so-called age of Tin Pan Alley — roughly 1890-1930 — when popular music became big business. In Tin Pan Alley (28th Street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue in New York City) numerous music publishing houses poured forth popular songs each year. The musical theater and the private parlor rang with the sounds of ragtime, romantic ballads, and comedy songs. Talented composers such as Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern, among dozens of lesser figures, fed this lucrative music-making machine and flourished.

George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn in New York City on Sept. 26, 1898, the son of Rose and Morris Gershovitz, immigrants from Russia. After settling in New York’s Lower East Side, his father changed the family name to Gershvin; when George entered the professional world of music, he altered the name to Gershwin.

When George was 12, the moderately well-off family purchased a piano; he soon showed a marked inclination for improvising melodies and was given piano lessons. Later he studied the theory of music and harmony. Though Gershwin was not interested in formal education and never finished high school, he continued to study music. Even after his success in musical comedy, he studied with composer Henry Cowell and with music theorist Joseph Schillinger.

Music Business

When Gershwin was 15, he went to work for a large publisher of popular music as a try-out pianist (or “song plugger”). He began writing his own songs about this time (mostly with lyricist Irving Caesar), none of which his employer was interested in publishing. Finally, in 1916, his first song appeared: “When You Want ‘Em You Can’t Get ‘Em.”

Gershwin also began to get a few songs set into current musical shows, a common practice of the day. By 1918 he had shown enough promise to be hired by Harms, Inc., as a songwriter at a weekly salary. Gershwin scored his first big success in 1919 with the song “Swanee” (words by Irving Caesar), introduced by Al Jolson in “Sinbad.” In the same year he composed his first complete score, for the successful musical “La, La, Lucille.”

Musicals of the 1920s

During the 1920s Gershwin established himself as one of the musical theater’s most talented and successful composers. He wrote five scores for successive editions of “George White’s Scandals” (1920-1924) and began a series of shows with his brother, Ira, as lyricist, which included “Lady, Be Good!” (1924), “Primrose” (1924), “Tell Me More” (1925), “Tip-Toes” (1925), “Oh, Kay!” (1926), “Funny Face” (1927), “Rosalie” (1928), “Treasure Girl” (1928), “Show Girl” (1929), and “Strike Up the Band” (1929).

Concert Works

In 1924 the prominent bandleader Paul Whiteman asked Gershwin to write an original “jazz” work for a concert. The result, “Rhapsody in Blue” for piano and jazz band, was Gershwin’s debut in the concert hall as pianist and composer, his first attempt at writing an extended piece, and the first time jazz rhythms and blues-oriented melodies were used successfully within a classical framework.

Reviewing the premiere, Olin Downes wrote that the “composition shows extraordinary talent, just as it also shows a young composer with aims that go far beyond those of his ilk. …” These aims were demonstrated again in the “Piano Concerto in F” (1925), commissioned by Walter Damrosch for his New York Symphony; “Three Preludes for Piano” (1926); and “An American in Paris” (1928), premiered by Damrosch and the New York Philharmonic. After “Rhapsody in Blue,” Gershwin himself scored all his orchestral works.

In the 1930s Gershwin composed four more musicals with Ira: “Girl Crazy” (1930); “Let ‘Em Eat Cake” (1933); and “Pardon My English” (1933). He also wrote film scores, including DAMSEL IN DISTRESS and SHALL WE DANCE. He spent two years on his last major work, the opera “Porgy and Bess” (1935), based on a novel by DuBose Heyward about a ghetto in Charleston, S.C. The composer died of a brain tumor in Beverly Hills, Calif., on July 11, 1937. To commemorate the 100th year of his birth, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded Gershwin with a posthumous citation on April 14, 1998.

Gershwin’s best songs have proved to be some of the most durable of his era, and his classical works give his career a dimension shared by none of his Tin Pan Alley companions. His fondness for African-American music is responsible in part for the rhythmic vitality and blues-tinged lyricism of all his works. His best scores, especially those utilizing Ira Gershwin’s trenchant and sympathetic verses, are as fresh, vigorous, and unconventional as any written for the American musical theater. Moreover, Gershwin’s music has a peculiar American stamp recognized the world over.

Source: Excerpted from ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY, 2ND ED. 17 VOLS., Gale Research, © 1998 Gale Research. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

Photo credits: Photofest and the Library of Congress

Fields, Dorothy (July 15, 1905 – Mar. 28, 1974), lyricist and librettist, was born in Allenhurst, N.J., the daughter of Lew M. Fields and Rose Harris. Her father, born Lewis Maurice Schoenfeld, was famous as a member of the comedy duo Weber and Fields, but left performing in the year of Dorothy’s birth to become a successful Broadway impressario. Although Lew Fields cautioned his children against pursuing careers in the theater, Dorothy’s two older brothers, Joseph and Herbert, also became successful on Broadway, the former as a writer and producer, and the latter as a writer and Dorothy’s sometime collaborator.

Dorothy Fields graduated in 1923 from the Benjamin Franklin School for Girls in New York City, where she excelled at English, drama, and basketball, and had her poems published in the school’s literary magazine. After her father quashed her attempt to land an acting job with a stock company in Yonkers, she worked as a teacher and laboratory assistant, while continuing to submit her verses to magazines.

In 1926 Fields met the popular song composer J. Fred Coots, who suggested that they write some songs together. Although nothing memorable came out of this brief association, Coots introduced Fields to another composer and song-plugger, Jimmy McHugh. Through McHugh she got a job as a lyricist at Mills Music, Inc., where one of her first assignments was to write the lyric for a tune commemorating aviator Ruth Elder’s attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Fields later referred to herself as “Mills Music’s fifty-dollars-a-night girl,” because she was paid 50 dollars for each lyric she composed.

In 1927 Fields received sole billing as lyricist for a revue at Harlem’s Cotton Club that featured Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. The following year she and McHugh wrote the song “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” which was dropped from the revue “Revels of 1928,” but found a home alongside another soon-to-be-popular Fields-McHugh number, “Diga Diga Doo,” in the all-black hit, Lew Leslie’s “Blackbirds of 1928.”

After this initial success, the Fields-McHugh team collaborated on “International Revue” (1930), a flop despite two enduring songs, “Exactly Like You” and “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” The family of jazz pianist Thomas (“Fats”) Waller maintained that Waller, not McHugh, actually composed the melodies to “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” and others, and sold them to McHugh for a nominal fee. In any case, however, it is undisputed that Fields is the lyricist.

From 1930 to 1939 Fields worked in Hollywood, first with McHugh, with whom she wrote songs such as “I’m in the Mood for Love” and “Dinner at Eight” for the movie musicals LOVE IN THE ROUGH (1930) and EVERY NIGHT AT EIGHT (1935), and then with Jerome Kern. Kern and Fields first worked together on ROBERTA in 1935, and subsequent collaborations included I DREAM TOO MUCH (1935), SWING TIME (1936), and JOY OF LIVING (1938). In 1936, Kern and Fields won the Academy Award for Best Song for “The Way You Look Tonight,” from SWING TIME. Other Kern-Fields songs from this period that have gone on to become standards include “Lovely to Look At” and “A Fine Romance.”

On July 15, 1939, Fields married David Eli Lahm, a clothing manufacturer. They had two children before his death in 1958. The same year, she returned to New York to work with composer Arthur Schwartz on the musical “Stars in Your Eyes.” She then collaborated with her brother Herbert, with whom she had already worked on screenplays and the short-lived musical “Hello Daddy” (1928), and on the books for three Cole Porter hits: “Let’s Face It” (1941), “Something for the Boys” (1943), and “Mexican Hayride” (1944). In 1945 Dorothy and Herbert Fields wrote the book for Sigmund Romberg’s “Up in Central Park.” Her lyrics for the show included “Close as Pages in a Book.”

In 1946, Fields approached Oscar Hammerstein with her idea for a musical based on the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Hammerstein agreed to produce the show, and Kern and Fields were contracted to write the songs. When Kern died before they were able to begin work on the project, Irving Berlin was hired to replace him. Berlin wrote both music and lyrics for “Annie Get Your Gun,” but Dorothy and Herbert Fields contributed an excellent book. The finished product, starring Ethel Merman as Annie, ran 1,147 performances. It remains one of the most popular shows in the repertoire.

Fields’ work habits were highly disciplined. Typically, she would spend eight weeks researching, discussing, and making notes on a project, before settling into an 8:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. daily work routine. She worked at a bridge table in her apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and preferred to write with pencil on a yellow legal pad. She kept notebooks in which she copied passages from Dryden, Shaw, and Thoreau; unusual synonyms for commonly used words; humorous proverbs; rhyming phrases; odd-sounding words; and anything else that might come in handy in writing a lyric. Tall, slender, and well dressed, with chestnut hair and hazel eyes, she spoke well and was active in charitable causes throughout her life.

Fields collaborated with her brother and composer Morton Gould on the lackluster “Arms and the Girl” in 1950. The following year, she wrote several fine lyrics to Arthur Schwartz’s melodies for “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” She scored two films with composer Harold Arlen, MR. IMPERIUM (1951) and THE FARMER TAKES A WIFE (1953), then returned to Broadway to work with Schwartz again on “By the Beautiful Sea” (1954). Herbert Fields died in 1959, while “Redhead,” the show they were working on with composer Albert Hague, was having its out-of-town tryout. Although not a great show, “Redhead” captured the Tony Award for Best Musical in a lean year for Broadway theater.

Her penultimate musical, “Sweet Charity,” written with composer Cy Coleman and librettist Neil Simon, was the biggest hit of the 1965-1966 season. Songs such as “Big Spender” and “If My Friends Could See Me Now” proved that Fields, despite her advancing age, had not lost her knack for up-to-the-minute slang and phraseology. In 1971, Fields became the first woman inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Her last show, “Two for the Seesaw” (1973), also written with Coleman, was not a popular success, but her lyrics were praised for their evocation of modern life in New York. She died at home in New York City.

During her 48-year career Fields cowrote more than 400 songs and worked on 15 musicals and at least 26 movies. Her lyrics were noted for their strong characterization, clarity of language, and middlebrow humor. An amateur pianist and lifelong lover of classical music, she was highly conscious of the melodic line, and tailored her lyrics to float freely over it. Fields’ professional longevity, rare for a songwriter in the popular field, may be attributed to her undimming imagination and her willingness to adapt to changing trends in the musical theater.

— Gregory Robinson

Source: Excerpted from DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, SUPPLEMENT 9: 1971-1975, Charles Scribner’s Sons, © 1994 Charles Scribner’s Sons. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group.

Photo credits: Photofest and the Library of Congress