Charles Strouse (1928 - 2025)
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Composer Charles Strouse, whose work earned him three Tony Awards, a Grammy and an Emmy, died on May 15 at the age of 96. In the 1980s, he collaborated with Chicago’s New Tuners Theatre on developing two musical theatre pieces — THE NIGHTINGALE and THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN MUSICAL THEATRE, both produced at the Theatre Building (now Stage 773).
Charles had more than a dozen Broadway shows to his credit and composed some of the most enduring musical theater numbers of his era, including “Put On a Happy Face” and “Kids (What’s the Matter With Kids Today?)” from BYE BYE BIRDIE; “But Alive” from APPLAUSE; and “Tomorrow” and “It’s the Hard-Knock Life” from ANNIE. All three shows earned Charles a Tony — BIRDIE and APPLAUSE for best musical and ANNIE for best original score. Both BIRDIE and ANNIE were made into hit movies. Charles’s other Broadway productions included ALL AMERICAN, GOLDEN BOY and IT’S A BIRD…IT’S A PLANE…IT’S SUPERMAN. His other musicals include MAYOR, CHARLIE AND ALGERNON, DANCE A LITTLE CLOSER, RAGS, NICK & NORA and AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY. Additionally, he wrote several musical reviews — many of which enjoyed long off-Broadway runs. Charles also wrote scores for films, including BONNIE AND CLYDE and THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY’S. For television, he composed the music for “Those Were the Days,” the opening theme of ALL IN THE FAMILY. In 1979, he founded the ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop, which trains aspiring composers and lyricists. Son of Ira Strouse, a traveling salesman, and Ethel (Newman) Strouse, a homemaker and amateur pianist, Charles Louis Strouse was born in NYC on June 7, 1928 and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Charles took up the piano at age 10, and after graduating from public high school at the age of 15, he entered the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. At Eastman, he majored in composition and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1947. Survivors include his children, Benjamin, Nicholas, Victoria and William Strouse, as well as eight grandchildren. His wife of 61 years, choreographer Barbara Siman, died in 2023. Among his many honors, Charles received the Richard Rodgers Award for lifetime achievement and the Oscar Hammerstein Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. “The direction of a melodic line, the stringency and resolution of a harmony — they were riddles to me that I wanted to spend my whole life solving.” — Charles Strouse With thanks to The New York Times |