Charles Strouse
b. 7 June 1928, New York City, New York, USA. A composer who has experienced the sweet taste of Broadway success—but not for some considerable time. When Strouse graduated from the Eastman School of Music he intended to make a career in the classical field, and studied for a time with Aaron Copland. After meeting lyricist Lee Adams in 1949, he changed course, and during the early '50s they contributed songs to revues at the popular Green Mansions summer resort, and in 1956 they had some numbers interpolated into the Off Broadway shows THE LITTLEST REVUE and SHOESTRING ’57. Their big break came four years later with Bye Bye Birdie, which starred Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera and ran for 607 performances. The witty and tuneful score included Kids!, A Lot Of Livin To Do’, and Put On A Happy Face. ALL AMERICAN (1962), a musical about college football, failed to score heavily, but Golden Boy (1964) lasted for 569 performances. on the sheer strength of Sammy Davis Jnr.'s appeal. It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman (1966), which was based on the syndicated comic-strip, came down to earth with a bump after only 129 performances. It was four years before Strouse and Adams took off again with Applause, their second big hit which ran for over two years, and, like GOLDEN BOY, had a gilt-edged box office star in Lauren Bacall. In 1971 Strouse wrote his own lyrics for SIX—which ran for eight—performances, that is, Off Broadway. The composer collaborated once again with Adams for I AND ALBERT in 1972—presented in London only—but audiences there were definitely not amused. Strouse's hit-of-a-lifetime came five years later—but not in collaboration with Lee Adams. Martin Charninprovided the lyrics for another Strouse show that was based on a comic-strip—in this case Little Orphan Annie. Together with librettist Thomas Meehan they turned it into Annie, the hottest Broadway ticket of the '70s which ran for 2,377 performances. From then, until 1990, Strouse had nothing but flops—and some real beauties at that: A Broadway Musical (one performance), FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON (London 28 performances)—retitled for New York as CHARLEY AND ALGERNON (17), BRING BACK BIRDIE(FOUR), Dance A Little Closer (one), MAYOR (268, but still a failure), RAGS (four), and the follow-up to his mega-hit, ANNIE 2(closed in Washington). In August 1993, the latter show, scaled-down and retitled ANNIE WARBUCKS, opened Off Broadway. Experienced Broadway watchers say that, in spite of all the setbacks, the musical theatre has not seen the last of Charles Strouse.