NEW YORK — Three-time Tony Award-winner Charles Strouse, Broadway’s industrious, grasp melody-maker who composed the music for such traditional musical theater hits as “Annie,” “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Applause,” died Thursday. He was 96.
Strouse died at his house in New York Metropolis, his household mentioned by way of the publicity company The Press Room.
In a profession that spanned greater than 50 years, Strouse wrote greater than a dozen Broadway musicals, in addition to movie scores and “Those Were the Days,” the theme track for the sitcom “All in the Family.”
Strouse turned out such widespread — and catchy — present tunes as “Tomorrow,” the optimistic anthem from “Annie,” and the equally cheerful “Put on a Happy Face” from “Bye Bye Birdie,” his first Broadway success.
“I work every day. Activity — it’s a life force,” the New York-born composer advised The Related Press throughout an interview on the eve of his eightieth birthday in 2008. “When you enjoy doing what you’re doing, which I do very much, I have something to get up for.”
Deep into his 90s, he visited excursions of his exhibits and met casts. Jenn Thompson, who appeared within the first “Annie” as Pepper and directed a touring model in 2024, remembers Strouse coming to auditions and shedding a tear when a younger lady sang “Tomorrow.”
“He was tearing up and he put his hand on mine,” she recalled. “And he leaned in to me and very quietly said, ‘That was you. That used to be you.’ And I thought I would die. I thought my heart would drop out of my shoes.”
She added: “He’s so gorgeously generous and kind. He has always been that way.”
‘By Bye Birdie’ lifts him up
His Broadway profession started in 1960 with “Bye Bye Birdie,” which Strouse wrote with lyricist Lee Adams and librettist Michael Stewart.
“Birdie,” which starred Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera, advised the story of an Elvis Presley-like crooner named Conrad Birdie being drafted into the Military and its impact on one small Ohio city.
Strouse not solely wrote the music, however he performed piano at auditions whereas Edward Padula, the present’s neophyte producer, tried to draw monetary backers for a manufacturing that may price $185,000.
“We never stopped giving auditions — and people never gave money at all. The idea of using rock ‘n’ roll — everybody was so turned off,” Strouse mentioned.
Lastly, Padula discovered Texas oilman L. Slade Brown. When he heard the rating, he mentioned, in a Texas twang, “I like those songs,” pushed Strouse apart and picked out the tune of “Put on a Happy Face” on the piano.
Brown then mentioned, “How much do you fellas need?” and wrote out a examine for $75,000 to cowl the beginning of rehearsals. “Suddenly, the world turned Technicolor,” Strouse remembered.
The recognition of “Birdie” spawned a movie (with Van Dyke, Janet Leigh and Ann-Margret) in 1963 and a tv adaptation with Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams in 1995.
He helped others shine
Strouse and Adams gave a number of non-musical theater stars, together with Sammy Davis Jr. and Lauren Bacall, stage successes.
For “Golden Boy” (1964), based mostly on the Clifford Odets play, Strouse and Adams needed to get Davis’ OK for the whole lot. “His agents would not let him sign the contract until he approved every word and note that Lee and I wrote,” the composer advised the AP. “Which meant that we had to, at great expense to the producer, follow Sammy all over the world. … We spent three years of our lives, a week or so each month, out in Las Vegas, playing songs for him.”
“Applause” (1970) was tailored from the Mary Orr quick story that grew to become the cinema traditional “All About Eve.” It was Bacall’s musical-theater debut, and the actress received a Tony for her efficiency, as did Strouse and Adams for his or her rating.
Nevertheless it was “Annie” (1977) that proved to be Strouse’s most sturdy — and long-running — Broadway hit (over 2,300 performances). Chronicling the Despair-era adventures of the celebrated sketch character Little Orphan Annie, the musical featured lyrics by Martin Charnin and a e-book by Thomas Meehan.
It starred Andrea McArdle because the red-haired moppet and Dorothy Loudon, who received a Tony for her riotous portrayal of imply Miss Hannigan, who ran the orphanage. The musical contained gems corresponding to “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” and “It’s the Hard Knock Life.”
The 1982 movie model, which featured Carol Burnett in Loudon’s function, was not practically as widespread or well-received. A stage sequel known as “Annie Warbucks” ran off-Broadway in 1993. The present was revived on Broadway in 2012 and made into a movie starring Quvenzhané Wallis in 2014. NBC put a model on community TV in 2021 known as “Annie Live!”
Jay-Z was a fan
Strouse and Charnin, who each received Grammy Awards for the “Annie” solid album, discovered shards of their work included in Jay-Z’s 1998 Grammy-winning album “Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life.”
“Tomorrow” has been heard on soundtracks from “Shrek 2″ to “Dave” to “You’ve Got Mail.” In 2016, Lukas Graham used elements of the refrain from “Annie” for his “Mama Said” hit.
Strouse had his share of flops, too, together with two exhibits — “A Broadway Musical” (1978) and “Dance a Little Closer,” a 1983 musical written with Alan Jay Lerner, that closed after one efficiency. Amongst his different less-than-successful musicals had been “All-American” (1962), starring Ray Bolger, “It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman” (1966), directed by Harold Prince, and “Bring Back Birdie” (1981), a sequel to “Bye Bye Birdie.”
But even his flops contained spectacular music, significantly “Rags” (1986), with lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and “I and Albert” (1972), a musical about Queen Victoria that had a three-month run in London and was one in all Strouse’s private favorites. “All-American” additionally had a memorable ballad, “Once Upon a Time.”
Amongst Strouse’s movie scores had been the music for “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) and “The Night They Raided Minsky’s” (1968).
One among Strouse final musicals was “Minsky’s.” A love story set in opposition to the backdrop of the fabled burlesque empire, it was the brainchild of English director Mike Ockrent, who died of leukemia in 1999 earlier than the undertaking was accomplished. By then, Strouse and lyricist Susan Birkenhead had written some dozen songs.
“Minsky’s” languished till Birkenhead bumped into director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw, who requested Bob Martin, star and one of many authors of “The Drowsy Chaperone,” to write down a brand new e-book. It opened in Los Angeles in 2009 however by no means made it to Broadway.
How he bought his begin
Strouse all the time wished to be a composer and studied very significantly — first within the late Forties on the Eastman Faculty of Music in Rochester, New York, with composer Aaron Copland on the Tanglewood Music Heart in Massachusetts and with composer, conductor and music professor Nadia Boulanger in Paris.
Theater beckoned when he and Adams bought an opportunity within the early Nineteen Fifties to write down songs for weekly revues at an Adirondacks summer season camp known as Inexperienced Mansions. Such camps had been the coaching floor for dozens of performers and writers.
“I would write a song and I would orchestrate it and copy the parts,” he mentioned within the AP interview. “And rehearsal was the next day at nine, so at four in the morning, I am crossing the lake with the parts still wet. I just loved it. I never was happier.”
His spouse, Barbara, died in 2023. He’s survived by 4 kids, Ben, Nick, Victoria and William.
