Sondheim's Class

When you think about it, there are quite a few major Broadway composers who are contemporaries of Stephen Sondheim but put together don't get half the attention.  Who do I mean?  Well, off the top of my head, Jerry Bock, John Kander, Harvey Schmidt and Jerry Herman.  In fact, they all had bigger hits than Sondheim, but that's not what matters. (Not that it's about hits.  Sondheim's show may not be blockbusters, but they live on, around the world.)

That's what I was thinking about as I read Charles Strouse's autobiography Put On A Happy Face.  I knew he was the composer of Bye Bye Birdie, Annie and a few other shows, but I knew practically nothing about him otherwise.

He had a tough childhood in New York, with a sickly dad and a mentally ill mom.  But her persevered and became a serious student of music.  Throughout the 50s he contributed to various show and was a

conductor/pianist for others. Then, in 1960, he broke big (as did so many others) with Bye Bye Birdie.  Though hardly a rock and roller himself, it was the first show to introduce the new music--still thought a fad--to the Great White Way.  I don't know how royalties work out, but BBB is one of the most produced musicals ever, and I wonder if Strouse could have retired right there.

He continued to work with lyricist Lee Adams throughout the decade, creating hits like Golden Boy and Applause as well as intriguing failures like All American and It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman (one of my favorite scores). And while they were at it, he and Adams helped fix a show in big trouble out of town--Hello Dolly!  Strouse also wrote scores for movies such as Bonnie And Clyde and The Night They Raised Minsky's. 

But after 1970, he couldn't get any Broadway musicals off the ground, and took years to finally put up a piece that few thought had possibilities--Annie.  Needless to say, it was a huge hit (Strouse's biggest, and much bigger than anything Sondheim ever wrote).  Now Strouse had no trouble attracting backers, and he responded with a series of flops that has essentially continued to this day.

Looking over his life, the roster of names he's worked with is impressive:  Dick Van Dyke, Gower Champion, Sammy Davis Jr, Mel Brooks, Paul Lynde, Comden and Green, Mike Nichols, Alan Jay Lerner, Nadia Boulanger, Aaron Copland, Lauren Bacall, Rita Hayworth, Joshua Logan, Hal Prince, Ray Bolger and many others.

He was always striving, rarely satisfied.  I suppose that's a good thing if you work on Broadway, where even the biggest names fail more than they succeed.

PS His book is lazily edited.  For example, a number of stories are repeated.  And early on, he refers to an old friend, "Skippy Ungar." When we next meet him, he's "Skippy Unger." (Though perhaps he was inspired by Neil Simon, who names a "Felix Unger" in Come Blow Your Horn and then features a "Felix Ungar" in The Odd Couple.)