Charles Strouse is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and
lyricistA lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
.
Life and career
Strouse was born and raised in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the son of Ira and Ethel (Newman) Strouse. A graduate of the
Eastman School of MusicThe Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
, Strouse studied under
David DiamondDavid Diamond is the name of:* David Diamond , American composer* David Diamond * David Diamond , American screenwriter* David Diamond, frontman and songwriter with Canadian band The Kings...
,
Aaron CoplandAaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
and
Nadia Boulanger Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
.
Strouse's first
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musicalMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
was the 1960 hit
Bye Bye Birdie, with lyrics by
Lee AdamsLee Richard Adams is an American lyricist best known for his musical theatre collaboration with Charles Strouse.Born in Mansfield, Ohio, Adams received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio State University and a Master's from Columbia University.Adams won Tony Awards in 1961 for Bye Bye Birdie...
, who would become his long time collaborator. Strouse won his first Tony Award for best score for this musical, which is considered the precursor of the
rock musicalA rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept albums become rock musicals...
. Strouse's next show,
All American, with a book by
Mel BrooksMel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
and lyrics by Adams, came in 1962 and produced the standard “Once Upon a Time” (recorded by
Frank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
,
Tony BennettTony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
and
Bobby DarinBobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
, among others). Following this was
Golden BoyGolden Boy is a musical with a book by Clifford Odets and William Gibson, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse.Based on the 1937 play of the same name by Odets, it focuses on Joe Wellington, a young man from Harlem who, despite his family's objections, turns to prizefighting as a means...
(1964, also with Adams), starring
Sammy Davis, Jr.Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
and
It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman (1966, based on the popular comic strip) which introduced the song "You've Got Possibilities" sung by Linda Lavin.
In 1970,
ApplauseApplause is a musical with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Lauren Bacall won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical....
(starring
Lauren BacallLauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
, with book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and lyrics by Adams) won Strouse his second Tony Award. In 1977, Strouse adapted another comic strip for the stage, creating the hit
AnnieAnnie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
, which garnered him his third Tony Award and two Grammy Awards. Other Strouse musicals include
Charlie and AlgernonCharlie and Algernon is a musical with a book and lyrics by David Rogers and music by Charles Strouse. It is based on the novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. It received its premiere on 21 December 1978 at The Citadel Theater, in Edmonton, Canada.The title characters are a mentally retarded...
(1979),
Dance a Little CloserDance a Little Closer is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Charles Strouse. The story is an updated version of Robert E...
(1983, with lyrics by
Alan Jay LernerAlan Jay Lerner was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre for both the stage and on film...
),
RagsRags is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and music by Charles Strouse.-Production history:The Broadway production opened on August 21, 1986 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre with little advance sale and to mostly indifferent reviews, and it closed after only four...
(1986) and
Nick & NoraNick & Nora is a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., and music by Charles Strouse.The plot involves witty and urbane high society couple Nick and Nora Charles, characters created by Dashiell Hammett in his novel The Thin Man, which inspired six films, a radio...
(1993). Strouse also wrote a number of musical
revueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
s, many with Adams.
Strouse's film scores include the classics
Bonnie and ClydeThe film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...
(1967),
There Was a Crooked Man...There Was a Crooked Man... is a 1970 western comedy starring Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The film follows Paris Pitman , a charismatic criminal who ends up in jail, and his attempts to escape the prison of warden Lopeman...
(1970, with
Henry FondaHenry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
and
Kirk DouglasKirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
),
The Night They Raided Minsky'sThe Night They Raided Minsky's is a 1968 musical comedy film directed by William Friedkin and produced by Norman Lear. It is a fictional account of the invention of the striptease at Minsky's Burlesque in 1925...
(1968, with Adams) and the popular animated movie
All Dogs Go to HeavenAll Dogs Go to Heaven is a 1989 Irish-English animated film directed and produced by Don Bluth and released by United Artists. The film tells the story of two dogs, Charlie B. Barkin and his loyal best friend Itchy Itchiford...
(1989). He and Adams also wrote the theme song “Those Were the Days” for the television show
All in the FamilyAll in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
. Strouse's songs have been heard on the radio throughout his career and have run the gamut from girl-band pop to hip hop. In 1958, his song “Born Too Late” was number one on the Billboard charts, and in 1999 the quadruple platinum
Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)"Hard Knock Life " is a single from rapper Jay-Z's third album Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life. It samples the song "It's the Hard Knock Life" from the Broadway musical Annie. The song was produced by The 45 King and at the time of its release, was the most commercially successful Jay-Z single. The RIAA...
by artist
Jay-ZShawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
(which sampled "It's The Hard Knock Life" from
Annie) was the winner of a Grammy for Best Rap Album of the year & the Billboard R&B Album of the Year.
Strouse's writing also extends into orchestral works, chamber music, piano concertos and opera. His
Concerto America, composed in 2002 to commemorate 9/11 and the spirit of New York City, premiered at The Boston Pops in 2004, and his opera
NightingaleNightingale: A New Musical is a musical in one act, with book, music and lyrics by Charles Strouse...
(1982), starring
Sarah BrightmanSarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...
, had a successful run in London, followed by many subsequent productions. In 1977, Strouse founded the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop in New York, through which many young composers and lyricists have found a forum for their work.
Upcoming works by Strouse include an adaptation of the Paddy Chayevsky film
MartyMarty is a 1955 American film directed by Delbert Mann. The screenplay was written by Paddy Chayefsky, expanding upon his 1953 teleplay of the same name. The film stars Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair. The film enjoyed international success, winning the 1955 Academy Award for Best Picture and...
starring
John C. ReillyJohn Christopher Reilly, Jr. is an American film and theater actor, singer, and comedian. Debuting in Casualties of War in 1989, he is one of several actors whose careers were launched by Brian De Palma. To date, he has appeared in more than fifty films, including three separate films in 2002...
, a musical version of
The Night They Raided Minsky's, and an adaptation of
Theodore DreiserTheodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of...
's
An American Tragedy-Plot summary:The ambitious but immature Clyde Griffiths, raised by poor and devoutly religious parents who force him to participate in their street missionary work, is anxious to achieve better things. His troubles begin when he takes a job as a bellboy at a local hotel. The boys he meets are...
.
Real Men, for which Strouse wrote the music and lyrics, premiered in January 2005 at the
Coconut Grove PlayhouseThe Coconut Grove Playhouse was a legitimate theater in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States.The building was originally constructed as a movie theater called the Player's State Theater. It first opened on January 3, 1927 as a part of the Paramount chain. The movie house...
in Miami, Florida, and his musical
Studio, premiered at Theatre Building Chicago in August 2006. The musical
Minsky'sMinsky's is a musical by Bob Martin , Charles Strouse , and Susan Birkenhead , and is loosely based on the 1968 movie The Night They Raided Minsky's....
, with music by Strouse, book by
Bob MartinBob Martin may refer to:People:* Bob Martin , Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly* Bob Martin American basketball player* Bob Martin...
, and lyrics by
Susan BirkenheadSusan Birkenhead is an American lyricist.Birkenhead made her Broadway debut as one of a team of songwriters contributing to Working , for which she received her first Tony Award nomination. Her second was earned for Jelly's Last Jam , which won her the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics and a...
(loosely based on the movie
The Night They Raided Minsky's) premiered in January 2009 at the Ahmanson Theater.
Strouse has won Emmy Awards for music in television adaptions of
Bye Bye Birdie and
Annie. He is also the recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award and the
Oscar Hammerstein AwardThe Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre was created in 1988 by Janet Hayes Walker, founding artistic director of the York Theatre, with the endorsement of the Hammerstein family and the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization...
. He is also a member of the Theater Hall of Fame and the
Songwriters Hall of FameThe Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
.
Strouse is married to director-choreographer Barbara Siman. They have 4 children: Benjamin, Nicholas, Victoria and William.
Strouse received an Emperor Has No Clothes Award at the
Freedom From Religion FoundationThe Freedom From Religion Foundation is an American freethought organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. Its purposes, as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the separation of church and state and to educate the public on matters relating to atheism, agnosticism and nontheism. The FFRF publishes...
's 34th annual national convention on October 8, 2011. The award is "reserved for public figures who make known their dissent from religion."
Musicals
- Bye Bye Birdie (1960)
- All American (1962)
- Golden Boy
Golden Boy is a musical with a book by Clifford Odets and William Gibson, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse.Based on the 1937 play of the same name by Odets, it focuses on Joe Wellington, a young man from Harlem who, despite his family's objections, turns to prizefighting as a means...
(1964)
- It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman (1966)
- Applause
Applause is a musical with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Lauren Bacall won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical....
(1970)
- Six (1971, Off-Broadway)
- I and Albert
I and Albert is a 1972 musical by composer Charles Strouse, and lyricist Lee Adams. The plot is based on the lives of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and was adapted for the stage by Jay Presson Allen.-Production:...
(1972, London)
- Annie
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
(1977)
- A Broadway Musical
A Broadway Musical is a musical with a book by William F. Brown, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. The Broadway production closed after 14 previews and only one performance on December 21, 1978....
(1978)
- Charlie and Algernon
Charlie and Algernon is a musical with a book and lyrics by David Rogers and music by Charles Strouse. It is based on the novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. It received its premiere on 21 December 1978 at The Citadel Theater, in Edmonton, Canada.The title characters are a mentally retarded...
(1979, London, as Flowers for Algernon); (1981)
- Bring Back Birdie
Bring Back Birdie is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse.A sequel to Bye Bye Birdie, it focuses on a scheme for rock 'n' roller Conrad Birdie, who disappeared after being discharged from the U. S. Army twenty years ago, to make a comeback on a...
(1981)
- Nightingale
Nightingale: A New Musical is a musical in one act, with book, music and lyrics by Charles Strouse...
(1982; this work is often described as an operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
)
- Dance a Little Closer
Dance a Little Closer is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Charles Strouse. The story is an updated version of Robert E...
(1983)
- Mayor
Mayor is a musical with a book by Warren Leight and music and lyrics by Charles Strouse. It is based on the best-selling memoir by former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and depicts a single day in the life of the city's leader....
(1985)
- Rags
Rags is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and music by Charles Strouse.-Production history:The Broadway production opened on August 21, 1986 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre with little advance sale and to mostly indifferent reviews, and it closed after only four...
(1986)
- Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge (1989)
- Nick & Nora
Nick & Nora is a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., and music by Charles Strouse.The plot involves witty and urbane high society couple Nick and Nora Charles, characters created by Dashiell Hammett in his novel The Thin Man, which inspired six films, a radio...
(1993)
- Annie Warbucks
Annie Warbucks is a musical with a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, and lyrics by Martin Charnin. A sequel to the 1977 Tony Award-winning hit Annie, based on Harold Gray's Little Orphan Annie comic strip, it begins immediately after Annie ended.-Plot:On Christmas morning in 1933,...
(1993)
- The Future of the American Musical Theater (2004 opera)
- Real Men (2005)
- Studio (2006)
- Minsky's
Minsky's is a musical by Bob Martin , Charles Strouse , and Susan Birkenhead , and is loosely based on the 1968 movie The Night They Raided Minsky's....
(2009)
Film scores
- Bonnie and Clyde
The film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...
(1967)
- The Night They Raided Minsky's
The Night They Raided Minsky's is a 1968 musical comedy film directed by William Friedkin and produced by Norman Lear. It is a fictional account of the invention of the striptease at Minsky's Burlesque in 1925...
(1968)
- There Was a Crooked Man
There Was a Crooked Man is a nursery rhyme. The phrase can also refer to:*There Was a Crooked Man..., a 1970 western film starring Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda*There Was a Crooked Man , featuring Norman Wisdom...
(1970)
- Just Tell Me What You Want
Just Tell Me What You Want is a 1980 American comedy film directed by Sidney Lumet. It stars Ali MacGraw, Peter Weller and Alan King, and was also the final film of screen legend Myrna Loy....
(1980)
- The Worst Witch
The Worst Witch premiered in 1986 on Central Independent Television and HBO. It is based on the children's book by Jill Murphy.-Plot:The film follows the plot of the 1974 book from the series, portraying the incidents of when Mildred turns herself invisible and transforms Ethel into a pig, Miss...
(1986)
- Ishtar
Ishtar is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Elaine May and starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as "Rogers and Clarke" – a duo of incredibly untalented lounge singers who travel to Morocco looking for work, and stumble into a four-party Cold War standoff.It also starred Isabelle Adjani...
(1987)
Awards and nominations
- 1961 Tony Award for Best Musical (Bye Bye Birdie, winner)
- 1965 Tony Award for Best Musical (Golden Boy, nominee)
- 1970 Tony Award for Best Musical (Applause, winner)
- 1977 Tony Award for Best Original Score (Annie, winner)
- 1977 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music (Annie, nominee)
- 1981 Tony Award for Best Original Score (Charlie and Algernon, nominee)
- 1986 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music (Mayor, nominee)
- 1987 Tony Award for Best Original Score (Rags, nominee)
- 1987 Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Music (Rags, nominee)
- 1992 Tony Award for Best Original Score (Nick & Nora, nominee)
External links