Composers, Lyricists & Writers - Broadway: The American Musical
Ben Vereen
Robin Wagner
“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.
His first musical was “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
“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
Mary Martin
Weill and his wife, singer Lotte Lenya, emigrated to the USA in 1935.
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:
Elaine Stritch
He first took a crack at writing a full Broadway score with “High Button Shoes.”
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
Chita Rivera
Stephen Schwartz
It was four years before Strouse and Adams took off again with “Applause,” their second big hit.
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
Tony Walton
His first real success was “1776.”
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
Jerome Robbins
Jule Styne
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
George Gershwin
George White
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
Ben Vereen
Tony Walton
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
David Merrick
Barbra Streisand
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.
Photo credits: Photofest
Peter Stoneex:
Robin Wagnerex:
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
Robin Wagner
Andrew Lloyd Webber
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.
Photo credits: Photofest
Gwen Verdon
Tony Walton
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
Harold Rome
Charles Strouse
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
Alan Jay Lerner
Agnes de Mille
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
Reply
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.”
Stubby Kaye in Loesser's matchless musical "Guys and Dolls."
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.
After the war, Loesser returned to writing for films and for Tin Pan Alley.
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.
Frank Loesser
Michael Kidd
Robert Morse
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.
Photo credits: Photofest
Oscar Hammerstein II
Florenz Ziegfeld
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.”
In 1915 Kern began writing musicals for the Princess Theatre in New York.
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.
The groundbreaking 1927 musical "Show Boat," created by Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II.
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
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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.
In 1991 they were inducted into the New York Theater Hall of Fame.
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.
Fred Ebb and John Kander entertaining friends.
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.
John Kander and Fred Ebb
Key Shows
Peter Stone
Gwen Verdon
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:
Ethel Merman
David Merrick
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.
Jerry Herman and Carol Channing.
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.
He enjoyed his first real success with his score for the Broadway musical “Milk and Honey,”
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
Richard Rodgers
Kurt Weill
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.”
In 1941 he wrote one of his wittiest and most inventive books for “Lady in Dark.”
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
Jule Styne
Shubert Brothers
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.
He found his destiny as lyricist to his more stable friend Richard Rodgers.
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”).
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart began their successful collaboration in 1918.
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
Shubert Brothers
Florenz Ziegfeld
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.”
He was teamed with composer Harold Arlen for the 1939 MGM classic THE WIZARD OF OZ.
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.”
Harburg's song "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime" was featured in the musical "Americana."
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
Richard Rodgers
Stephen Sondheim
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.
“Show Boat” firmly established Oscar’s success and reputation as a writer and lyricist.
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.
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
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
Jule Styne
Robin Wagner
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.
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.
Marvin Hamlisch sitting with group that includes Michael Bennett, the director/choreographer of A Chorus Line.
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
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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.
Ira and George Gershwin with Guy Bolton.
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).
Ira was an indifferent student, but became fascinated by popular music.
Ira Gershwin
Ethel Merman
Kurt Weill
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:
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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.
George Gerswhin at the piano on the set of the Astaire-Rodgers film SHALL WE DANCE.
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.”
George Gershwin
George White
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).
Gershwin scored his first big success in 1919 with the song “Swanee.”
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
Richard Rodgers
Gwen Verdon
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.”
Jerome Kerns and Fields collaborated on songs for movie musicals during the 1930s.
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.
In 1927 Fields received sole billing as lyricist for a revue at Harlem’s Cotton Club.
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