Robert Wright (writer)
Encyclopedia
Robert [Craig] Wright (September 25, 1914 – July 27, 2005) was an American composer-lyricist for Hollywood and the musical theatre
best known for the Broadway
musical and musical film Kismet
, for which he and his professional partner George Forrest
adapted themes by Alexander Borodin
and added lyrics. Kismet was one of several Wright and Forrest creations that was commissioned by impresario
Edwin Lester
for the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
. Song of Norway
, Gypsy Lady, Magdalena
, and their adaptation of The Great Waltz
were also commissioned by Lester for the LACLO. The LACLO then exported most of these productions to Broadway.
Wright and Forrest had an affinity for adapting classical music themes and adding lyrics to these themes for Hollywood and the Broadway musical stage. Wright said that the music was usually a 50-50 "collaboration" between Wright and Forrest and the composer. While both men were credited equally as composer-lyricists, it was Forrest who worked with the music. Forrest and Wright won a Tony Award
for their work on Kismet and in 1995 they were awarded the ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award.
Hit songs of their day include "The Donkey Serenade" (written with composer Herbert Stothart "based on a theme of Rudolf Friml
") from "The Firefly", "Always and Always" from Mannequin and "It's a Blue World" from Music in My Heart.
Hit songs of their day include "Strange Music" from Song of Norway; and Stranger in Paradise
, "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" and "And This Is My Beloved" from Kismet.
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...
best known for the 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...
musical and musical film Kismet
Kismet (musical)
Kismet is a musical with lyrics and musical adaptation by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Alexander Borodin, and a book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis, based on Kismet, the 1911 play by Edward Knoblock...
, for which he and his professional partner George Forrest
George Forrest (author)
George Forrest was a writer of music and lyrics for musical theatre best known for the show Kismet, adapted from the works of Alexander Borodin.-Biography:...
adapted themes by Alexander Borodin
Alexander Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music...
and added lyrics. Kismet was one of several Wright and Forrest creations that was commissioned by impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
Edwin Lester
Edwin Lester
Edwin Lester was an American theatre director, impresario, and producer. He was the longtime general director of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, which he founded in 1938. He also co-founded the LACLO's affiliate organization, the San Francisco Civic Light Opera, with Homer Curran in 1939...
for the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
The Los Angeles Civic Light Opera was an American theatre/opera company in Los Angeles, California. Founded under the motto "Light Opera in the Grand Opera manner" in 1938 by impresario Edwin Lester, the organization presented fifty seasons of theatre before closing due to financial reasons in...
. Song of Norway
Song of Norway
Song of Norway is an operetta written in 1944 by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Edvard Grieg and the book by Milton Lazarus and Homer Curran...
, Gypsy Lady, Magdalena
Magdalena (musical)
Magdalena: a Musical Adventure is a musical with music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, original book by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan and Homer Curran, with subsequent lyrics and musical adaptations by Robert Wright and George Forrest...
, and their adaptation of The Great Waltz
The Great Waltz
The Great Waltz is a musical conceived by Hassard Short with a book by Moss Hart and lyrics by Desmond Carter, using themes by Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II. It is based on a pasticcio by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Julius Bittner called Walzer aus Wien, first performed in Vienna in 1930...
were also commissioned by Lester for the LACLO. The LACLO then exported most of these productions to Broadway.
Wright and Forrest had an affinity for adapting classical music themes and adding lyrics to these themes for Hollywood and the Broadway musical stage. Wright said that the music was usually a 50-50 "collaboration" between Wright and Forrest and the composer. While both men were credited equally as composer-lyricists, it was Forrest who worked with the music. Forrest and Wright won 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...
for their work on Kismet and in 1995 they were awarded the ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award.
Film work
- (1936) New Shoes (short feature), After the Thin Man, Maytime, The Longest Night, Libeled Lady, Sinner Take All
- (1937) Bad Man of Brimstone, The Firefly (film)The Firefly (film)The Firefly is a 1937 musical film starring Jeanette MacDonald, Allan Jones. The film is an adaptation of the operetta of the same name by composer Rudolf Friml and librettist Otto A. Harbach that premiered on Broadway in 1919...
, The Good Old Soak, London by Night, Madame X, Mama Steps Out, Mannequin, Man of the People, Navy Blue and Gold, Parnell, Saratoga, You're Only Young Once - (1938) Boystown, Broadway SerenadeBroadway SerenadeBroadway Serenade is a 1939 musical drama film distributed by MGM, and directed and produced by Robert Z. Leonard. The screenplay was written by Charles Lederer, based on story by Lew Lipton, John Taintor Foote and Hanns Kräly...
, The First Hundred Years, The Girl Downstairs, Happily Buried (short feature), The Hardys Ride High, Honolulu, Let Freedom Ring, Lord Jeff, The Magician's Daughter (short feature), Marie Antoinette, Nuts and Bolts (short feature), Our Gang Follies (short feature), Paradise for Three, Snow Gets in Your Eyes (short feature), Sweethearts, Three Comrades, The Toy Wife, Vacation from Love - (1939) Balalaika, Florian, Music in My Heart, The New Moon, Strange Cargo, These Glamour Girls, The Women
- (1940) "Blondie Goes Latin", "Dance, Girl, Dance", "Kit Carson", "South of Pago-Pago"
- (1941) "Cubana", "Fiesta", "Playing with Music", "I Married an Angel", "Rio Rita"
- (1955) "Kismet", "Make Believe Ballroom", "Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder"
- (1970) Song of NorwaySong of Norway (film)Song of Norway is a 1970 film adaptation of the successful operetta of the same name, directed by Andrew L. Stone.Like the play from which it derived, the film tells of the early struggles of composer Edvard Grieg and his attempts to develop an authentic Norwegian national music...
(This film featured adaptations of different music of Edvard GriegEdvard GriegEdvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
than that of the 1944 Broadway show of the same title.) - (1972) The Great WaltzThe Great WaltzThe Great Waltz is a musical conceived by Hassard Short with a book by Moss Hart and lyrics by Desmond Carter, using themes by Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II. It is based on a pasticcio by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Julius Bittner called Walzer aus Wien, first performed in Vienna in 1930...
Hit songs of their day include "The Donkey Serenade" (written with composer Herbert Stothart "based on a theme of Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml
Rudolf Friml was a composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, as well as a pianist. After musical training and a brief performing career in his native Prague, Friml moved to the United States, where he became a composer...
") from "The Firefly", "Always and Always" from Mannequin and "It's a Blue World" from Music in My Heart.
Shows
- Song of NorwaySong of NorwaySong of Norway is an operetta written in 1944 by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Edvard Grieg and the book by Milton Lazarus and Homer Curran...
(1944); adapting the music of Edvard GriegEdvard GriegEdvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in... - Gypsy Lady (Romany Love) (1947); using the music of Victor HerbertVictor HerbertVictor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...
- MagdalenaMagdalena (musical)Magdalena: a Musical Adventure is a musical with music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, original book by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan and Homer Curran, with subsequent lyrics and musical adaptations by Robert Wright and George Forrest...
(1948); using the music of Heitor Villa-LobosHeitor Villa-LobosHeitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
, working directly with the composer - The Great WaltzThe Great WaltzThe Great Waltz is a musical conceived by Hassard Short with a book by Moss Hart and lyrics by Desmond Carter, using themes by Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II. It is based on a pasticcio by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Julius Bittner called Walzer aus Wien, first performed in Vienna in 1930...
(1949); adapting the music of Johann StraussJohann Strauss IIJohann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas... - KismetKismet (musical)Kismet is a musical with lyrics and musical adaptation by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Alexander Borodin, and a book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis, based on Kismet, the 1911 play by Edward Knoblock...
(1953); adapting the music of Alexander BorodinAlexander BorodinAlexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music... - The Love Doctor (London, 1959); original music and lyrics
- KeanKean (musical)Kean is a musical with a book by Peter Stone and music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest.Using material by Jean-Paul Sartre and Alexandre Dumas, père as its source, it centers on the adventures of Edmund Kean, considered the greatest Shakespearean actor of the 18th century, focusing...
(1961); original music and lyrics - AnyaAnya (musical)Anya is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Guy Bolton and music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest. As they had done with Song of Norway and Kismet , Wright and Forrest developed the musical score using themes written by a classical composer, in this case Sergei...
(1965); adapting the music of Sergei RachmaninoffSergei RachmaninoffSergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music... - Timbuktu!Timbuktu!Timbuktu! is a musical, with lyrics by George Forrest and Robert Wright, set to music by Borodin, Forrest and Wright. The book is by Luther Davis. It is a resetting of Forrest and Wright's musical Kismet...
(1978); a reworking of Kismet for an African-American cast, adding a few new songs - Grand HotelGrand Hotel (musical)Grand Hotel is a musical with a book by Luther Davis and music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, with additional lyrics and music by Maury Yeston....
(1989); original music and lyrics; additional music and lyrics by Maury YestonMaury YestonMaury Yeston is an American composer, lyricist, educator and musicologist.He is known for writing the music and lyrics to Broadway musicals, including Nine in 1982, and Titanic in 1997, both of which won Tony Awards for best musical and best score. He also won a Drama Desk Award for Nine...
Hit songs of their day include "Strange Music" from Song of Norway; and Stranger in Paradise
Stranger in Paradise (song)
"Stranger in Paradise" is a popular song from the 1953 musical Kismet and is credited to Robert Wright and George Forrest. Like all the music in that show, the melody was based on music composed by Alexander Borodin, in this case, the "Gliding Dance of the Maidens," from the Polovtsian...
, "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" and "And This Is My Beloved" from Kismet.