The Department of Theatre & Dance Invites You to Meet Legendary Composer Charles Strouse
Charles Strouse celebrates the release of his Broadway memoir on Wednesday, October 29 at 4 pm in the Baker Theatre of the Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance, Muhlenberg College.Saturday, November 1, 2008 11:22 AM
PUT ON A HAPPY FACE
A BROADWAY MEMOIR BY CHARLES STROUSE -
THE EMMY®, GRAMMY® & TONY® AWARD WINNING COMPOSER OF
ANNIE, BYE BYE BIRDIE, APPLAUSE, GOLDEN BOY & “ALL IN THE FAMILY”
Get a front-row seat for the creation of some of America’s best-loved musicals. Award-winning composer Charles Strouse doesn’t just make music―he makes memories, and millions of people worldwide have lived their lives to a Strouse soundtrack.
In Put on a Happy Face, the man behind the hit shows Annie and Bye, Bye Birdie pulls back the curtain for a behind-the-scenes tour of his remarkable life and achievements. Step inside the steam room of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas with a towel-clad Charles as he meets with Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Cahn to audition material for Golden Boy. Pull a chair up to the lunch counter as Charles and Lauren Bacall discuss their new venture, Applause, over tuna salad sandwiches. Join Charles in the recording studio as he and Warren Beatty almost come to blows over the music elements for the Beatty-produced film Bonnie and Clyde. Charles grants readers a backstage pass as he tells stories about the extraordinary range of boldface names in his life, including Ann-Margret, Butterfly McQueen, Carol Burnett, Dick Van Dyke, Edward Albee, Gower Champion, Hal Prince, Janet Leigh, Jason Alexander, John C. Reilly, Marilyn Monroe, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, and Sarah Jessica Parker.
With a sparkling wit, Charles offers an insider’s glimpse of Broadway, Hollywood, and beyond. He also invites readers into his personal life from growing up on the post-Depression Manhattan’s Upper West Side; to his forays into classical music, first at the Eastman School of Music, and later at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Festival under the tutelage of Aaron Copland; to his adventures as a young man abroad in Paris; to his life-long battle with an artist’s insecurity. With prose tuned to capture both soaring highs and operatic lows (and more than a few playful interludes in between), the composer whose music has delighted audiences for decades now adds words to his repertoire.
Charles Strouse is the Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning composer of, among other works, Bye, Bye Birdie (1960, with long-time collaborator Lee Adams), All- American (1962, with Mel Brooks), Applause (1970, starring Lauren Bacall) and Annie (1977). He’s a three-time Tony Winner, and a seven-time nominee for, among others, Golden Boy (1962, starring Sammy Davis Jr.); Rags (1986, with Theresa Stratas), and Nick and Nora (1993). He is a two-time Grammy winner, and a three-time Drama Desk nominee; and recipient of the “Richard Rodgers” and the “Oscar Hammerstein” Awards. He has also been elected to both the Theater Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The Charles Strouse event is free to the public as well as the campus, and tickets are not required.
Muhlenberg College is proud to have Mr. Strouse also attend the Department of Theatre & Dance's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! directed by Charles Richter and choreographed by Karen Dearborn, with musical direction by Ken Butler. The Muhlenberg production of this landmark musical will be lavishly mounted on the Empie Theatre stage with full professional orchestra and the original, lush orchestrations of Robert Russell Bennett, who was recently awarded a 2008 Tony posthumously in recognition of his historic contribution to American musical theatre. Oklahoma! has been celebrated with a Pulitzer Prize as well as multiple Tony Awards and launched a new era in the American musical.
Muhlenberg's performances of Oklahoma! continue in the Baker Center for the Arts on the Muhlenberg College campus in Allentown on Thursday, October 30 through Saturday, November 1 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, November 2 at 2 p.m. Tickets for adults and seniors are $20; tickets for youth under 17 are $8. Oklahoma! tickets are available by calling the box office at 484.664.3333 or visiting www.muhlenberg.edu/tickets on the web.
