Mitch Leigh
Encyclopedia
Mitch Leigh is an American
musical theatre
composer
and theatrical producer
best known for the musical Man Of La Mancha
.
, New York
) as Irwin Michnick. He graduated from Yale
in 1951 with a Bachelor of Music, and in 1952 received his Master of Music under Paul Hindemith
.
He began his career as a jazz musician and writing commercials for radio and television. In 1965 he teamed with lyricist Joe Darion
and writer Dale Wasserman
to write a musical
based on Wasserman's 1959 television play, I, Don Quixote
. The resulting show, the musical Man Of La Mancha
opened on Broadway
in 1965 and in its original engagement ran for 2,328 performances.
Leigh's next show was Chu Chem
. This show followed Man of La Mancha by exactly one year, but closed on the road. Produced by Leigh, it opened on Broadway in 1989 for 68 performances.
Cry for Us All
, based on the play, Hogan's Goat
, opened on Broadway in 1970 but ran for 9 performances. Leigh was the producer as well as composer. His next musical was Home Sweet Homer, starring Yul Brynner
, which opened on Broadway officially in January 1976 but closed after 1 performance. He produced as well as was the composer for Saravà which ran for 101 performances in 1979. Leigh both produced and directed the 1985 revival of The King and I
starring Yul Brynner. Lee Adams
asked Leigh to collaborate on a musical, entitled Mike, about producer Mike Todd
, but it closed on its pre-Broadway tryout in 1988. After renaming it Ain't Broadway Grand!, the show made it to Broadway, but closed after 25 performances in 1993.
He also wrote the musical Halloween with Sidney Michaels
, and even with the cast of Barbara Cook
and Jose Ferrer
, it never made it to Broadway.
He also composed the jingle
: "Nobody Doesn't Like Sara Lee". He established Music Makers, Inc., in 1957 as a radio and television commercial production house and is its creative director.
Yale University
In 1977 Mitch Leigh and others at the Yale School of Music established the Keith Wilson
scholarship, to be awarded "to an outstanding major in wind instrument playing."
A building in The School of Music at Yale University was named "Abby and Mitch Leigh Hall" in 2001.
Leigh endowed a chair in jazz at Yale University, the Willie Ruff Chair in Jazz, in 2006.
painter Abby Leigh
. He has three children, including the director Eve Leigh
.
for composing the music for Man Of La Mancha
. He was also nominated for a Tony Award
as the director of the revival of The King and I
.
He received the Contemporary Classics Award from the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame for "The Impossible Dream."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical 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...
composer
Composer
A 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 theatrical producer
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
best known for the musical Man Of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote...
.
Biography
Leigh was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
) as Irwin Michnick. He graduated from Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1951 with a Bachelor of Music, and in 1952 received his Master of Music under Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
.
He began his career as a jazz musician and writing commercials for radio and television. In 1965 he teamed with lyricist Joe Darion
Joe Darion
Joe Darion, was an American musical theatre lyricist, most famous for Man of La Mancha.Darion was born in New York City and died in Lebanon, New Hampshire.-External links:* at the Internet Broadway Database...
and writer Dale Wasserman
Dale Wasserman
Dale Wasserman was an American playwright. -Early life:Dale Wasserman was born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and was orphaned at the age of nine. He lived in a state orphanage and with an older brother in South Dakota before he "hit the rails". He later said:-Career:Wasserman worked in various...
to write a musical
Musical theatre
Musical 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...
based on Wasserman's 1959 television play, I, Don Quixote
I, Don Quixote
I, Don Quixote is a non-musical play written for television, and broadcast on the CBS anthology series DuPont Show of the Month on the evening of November 9, 1959. Written by Dale Wasserman, the play was converted by him ca. 1964 into the libretto for the stage musical Man of La Mancha, with songs...
. The resulting show, the musical Man Of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote...
opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway 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...
in 1965 and in its original engagement ran for 2,328 performances.
Leigh's next show was Chu Chem
Chu Chem
Chu Chem is a musical with a book by Ted Allen, lyrics by Jim Haines and Jack Wohl, and music by Mitch Leigh.Allen's inspiration was a trip to Kaifeng Fu , China, the site of a major Jewish migration in the 10th century...
. This show followed Man of La Mancha by exactly one year, but closed on the road. Produced by Leigh, it opened on Broadway in 1989 for 68 performances.
Cry for Us All
Cry for Us All
Cry for Us All is a musical with a book by William Alfred and Albert Marre, lyrics by Alfred and Phyllis Robinson, and music by Mitch Leigh. In response to poor advance sales, the title was...
, based on the play, Hogan's Goat
Hogan's Goat
Hogan's Goat is an award-winning 1965 play by William Alfred.The blank-verse drama concerns a mayoral contest between Irish Americans in Brooklyn, New York in 1890. The play's focus is on the personal life of Matthew Stanton, the dynamic leader of the Sixth Ward, who hopes to unseat corrupt...
, opened on Broadway in 1970 but ran for 9 performances. Leigh was the producer as well as composer. His next musical was Home Sweet Homer, starring Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on...
, which opened on Broadway officially in January 1976 but closed after 1 performance. He produced as well as was the composer for Saravà which ran for 101 performances in 1979. Leigh both produced and directed the 1985 revival of The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
starring Yul Brynner. Lee Adams
Lee Adams
Lee 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...
asked Leigh to collaborate on a musical, entitled Mike, about producer Mike Todd
Mike Todd
Michael Todd was an American theatre and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of Around the World in Eighty Days, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture...
, but it closed on its pre-Broadway tryout in 1988. After renaming it Ain't Broadway Grand!, the show made it to Broadway, but closed after 25 performances in 1993.
He also wrote the musical Halloween with Sidney Michaels
Sidney Michaels
Sidney Michaels was an American playwright best known for the early and mid 1960s works Tchin-Tchin, Dylan, and Ben Franklin in Paris.-External links:...
, and even with the cast of Barbara Cook
Barbara Cook
Barbara Cook is an American singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s after starring in the original Broadway musicals Candide and The Music Man among others, winning a Tony Award for the latter...
and Jose Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
, it never made it to Broadway.
He also composed the jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
: "Nobody Doesn't Like Sara Lee". He established Music Makers, Inc., in 1957 as a radio and television commercial production house and is its creative director.
Yale University
In 1977 Mitch Leigh and others at the Yale School of Music established the Keith Wilson
Keith Wilson (musician)
Keith L. Wilson is an American classical musician. He is a clarinetist, teacher, and conductor.-Teaching and conducting career:Wilson was appointed to the faculty of the Yale School of Music, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1946....
scholarship, to be awarded "to an outstanding major in wind instrument playing."
A building in The School of Music at Yale University was named "Abby and Mitch Leigh Hall" in 2001.
Leigh endowed a chair in jazz at Yale University, the Willie Ruff Chair in Jazz, in 2006.
Personal
His wife is AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
painter Abby Leigh
Abby Leigh
Abby Leigh is an American artist whose work has been described as recalling Yayoi Kusama and the "visionary abstraction of Arthur Dove". Her work is held in public collections internationally, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum...
. He has three children, including the director Eve Leigh
Eve Leigh
Eve Leigh is a theatre director who lives and works in London. Her production of Lisa Kron's Well transferred from the Trafalgar Studios to the Apollo Theatre....
.
Awards
Leigh won a Tony AwardTony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for composing the music for Man Of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote...
. He was also nominated for a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
as the director of the revival of The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
.
He received the Contemporary Classics Award from the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame for "The Impossible Dream."