John Kander & Fred Ebb: A Lifelong Partnership in Musical Theater
By the time I met the great American musical theater composer John Kander, his lyricist collaborator of over 40 years and close friend, Fred Ebb, had passed away. They had worked together as a musical team since 1962, with Kander writing the music and Ebb providing the lyrics. The pair were working on a show called Curtains when Ebb died suddenly from a heart attack, but work on the show continued with lyricist Rupert Holmes.
Shortly after the opening of Curtains on Broadway in 2007, bittersweet as it was without part of the creative team to see his work come to life, I was given an opportunity to audition for another show written by Kander & Ebb, which hadn’t made its way to Broadway yet. This was The Visit, starring Chita Rivera and George Hearn, playing in Virginia (Signature Theatre Company) at what they hoped would be the out-of-town tryout before bringing it to New York City. I was beyond surprised and grateful to be cast as one of Rivera’s sidekicks, and it was there that I met Kander. Besides his musical genius, he happens to be one of the kindest and most loving people I have ever worked with in the performing arts industry.
Whether you are a musical theater aficionado or not, you know the music of Kander & Ebb. The famous song New York, New York, featured in the 1977 Martin Scorsese film of the same name, was sung by musical theater and cabaret star Liza Minnelli, and has since been recorded by countless other singers, including the iconic rendition by Frank Sinatra. One of the first songs that Kander & Ebb wrote together was for Barbra Streisand, entitled My Coloring Book, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Their collaborations over the years led to at least 16 Broadway productions, some more successful than others, but began first with Flora the Red Menace, a star vehicle for Liza Minnelli about a fashion illustrator getting caught up in the Communist Party during the Great Depression. Arguably their most famous work to date is Cabaret, launching Minnelli and Joel Grey into further fame. It was a huge success on Broadway, running for several years, winning 8 Tony Awards in 1967, and was adapted for film in 1972, winning eight Academy Awards.
Another great American musical composed by Kander & Ebb is of course Chicago, which opened on Broadway in 1975 and starred Gwen Verdon and the aforementioned Rivera and Grey. While it had a solid run of performances initially, it didn’t enjoy the same commercial success that the current revival of the show has enjoyed since 1996. It is now the longest-running American musical in Broadway history and was adapted for film in 2002 starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere. It was, like the stage and film version of Cabaret, a huge critical success.
Some of their other notable works on Broadway have been Woman of the Year, with Lauren Bacall in 1981, The Rink starring Rivera and Minnelli in 1984, Kiss of the Spider Woman, with Rivera in 1993, and more recently, The Scottsboro Boys, The Visit, and New York, New York. I was fortunate enough to work closely with Kander on two productions of The Visit, and it was such a joy to see his passion at work, as he would make changes to music and lyrics throughout the process. He is still writing music to this day. At 97 years old, Kander continues to inspire other musical theater composers while leaving us with a treasure trove of some of the finest songs to have ever been written.