About Charles Strouse:
This September, Charles Strouse’s year-long 80th birthday celebration continues in the United Kingdom. Following tributes at venues ranging from New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Paley Center for Media, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Theatre Building and Washington DC’s The Library of Congress and The Kennedy Center, Strouse will cross the Atlantic where he will celebrate his 80th birthday, his 50 years of composing for the theatre, film and television and the release of his new book, Put On a Happy Face – A Broadway Memoir.
There may be no other living composer from America’s popular songbook whose work is as integrated into the popular culture as that of Charles Strouse. His music has attracted top recording artists from the last half-century with covers of his songs recorded by such diverse pop artists as Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Harry Connick, Jr., Bobby Rydell, Jay Z, Vic Damone, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Grace Jones and Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. Strouse has written the score to over 30 stage musicals, 14 scores for Broadway, four Hollywood films, two orchestral works and an opera. He has been inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Theatre Hall of Fame. He is a three-time Tony Award winner, a two-time Emmy Award winner, and his cast recordings have earned him two Grammy Awards. His song “Those Were The Days” launched over 200 episodes of the “All in the Family” and continues to reach new generations of television audiences in syndication. With hundreds of productions licensed annually, his musicals Annie and Bye Bye Birdie are among the most popular musicals of all time produced by regional, amateur and school groups all over the world.
In July 2007, Strouse’s new book, Put on a Happy Face – A Broadway Memoir (Union Square Press, ISBN#: 1-4027-5889-8), the man behind the hit shows 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, Aaron Copland, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, and Sarah Jessica Parker.
The critics have been unanimous in their praise of Strouse’s memoir with Publisher’s Weekly praising “Strouse's superb backstage memoir deserves a standing ovation.” Howard Kissel of The Daily News says “the book, beautifully written, funny and touching, is a wonderful evocation of a great career. The memoir is full of funny anecdotes, juicy gossip and a lot of valuable background.” David Patrick Stearns of The Philadelphia Inquier describes the book as “a bouncy, candid memoir about creating shows that have become a part of the nation’s theatre landscape” while NPR’s Leonard Lopate calls it “a wonderful memoir by one of the most successful composers in Broadway history.”
For more information, visit http://www.CharlesStrouse.com.
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