“Forgotten Hollywood”- The Renaissance of Charles Strouse…

Posted on May 15, 2013 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

   Charles Strouse is one of the great living composers and lyricists… And, you probably never heard of him! A favorite son of New York, the Dix Hills Performing Arts Center is committed to celebrating his life with the return of an off-Broadway retrospective. Originally presented in 2011, TOMORROW celebrates the music of Charles Strouse. He’s an esteemed member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He also received the ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award and the Oscar Hammerstein Award.

Tomorrow

   A long-time collaborator with lyricist Lee Adams, Strouse composed a string of Broadway hits, beginning with the smash hit Bye Bye Birdie in 1960. For this show, Strouse won his first Tony Award. Strouse’s next show in 1962, All American, with a book by Mel Brooks and lyrics by Adams, produced the standard Once Upon a Time. Other Broadway shows include Applause, the musical version of All About Eve, which starred Lauren Bacall (the first live production I  saw in my youth); and Annie, the acclaimed work that won Strouse another Tony, and two Grammy Awards.

   Strouse’s film scores include the classics Bonnie and Clyde, There Was a Crooked Man with Henry Fonda and Kirk Douglas, The Night They Raided Minsky’s, and the animated movie All Dogs Go to Heaven. He and Adams also wrote the theme song Those Were the Days for the television show All in the Family, and sung by Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton. His song Born Too Late was #1 on the Billboard charts in 1958.

   Tomorrow will feature the talent of Marie Danvers and Rob Gallagher. Danvers starred as Christine in the Broadway and national touring productions of The Phantom of the Opera. She has performed all over the world as Maria in West Side Story, and appeared in the National and international tour of The Fantastics with Robert Goulet. Gallagher is best known for playing Javert in the Broadway production of Les Miserables.

   Upcoming works by Charles Strouse include an adaptation of the Paddy Chayevsky classic, Marty, starring John C. Reilly; and a musical version of The Night They Raided Minsky’s. Tomorrow has been expanded, and is being filmed as a pilot for a national television series!

Dix Performing Arts Center logo   The Dix Performing Arts Center is located at Five Towns College, 305 N. Service Rd., Dix Hills, New York.

   Remember the name… Charles Strouse!

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 15th, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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