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Oscar Hammerstein Award
The Oscar Hammerstein Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre is named in honor of American lyricist and librettist Oscar Hammerstein, who helped shape American theater music through his collaborations with a number of different composers and writers. The award was created in 1988 by Janet Hayes Walker, the Founding Artistic Director of The York Theatre Company, and is presented with the endorsement of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and the Hammerstein family. The Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala is the major annual fundraising event of The York, a mainstay of the Off-Broadway scene for 50 years. Past recipients include Stephen Sondheim, Angela Lansbury, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Harold Prince, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, Arthur Laurents, Jerry Herman, Stephen Schwartz, Peter Stone, David Merrick, John Kander & Fred Ebb, Terrence McNally, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Carol Channing, Tony Walton, Joseph Stein, Thomas Meehan, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, Barba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for vocalists and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs. He is best known for his collaborations with composer Richard Rodgers, as the duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, whose musicals include ''Oklahoma!'', '' Carousel'', '' South Pacific'', ''The King and I'', and ''The Sound of Music''. Described by Stephen Sondheim as an "experimental playwright", Hammerstein helped bring the American musical to new maturity by popularizing musicals that focused on stories and character rather than the lighthearted entertainment that the musical had been known for beforehand. He also collaborated with Jerome Kern (with whom he wrote ''Show Boat''), Vincent Y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," McNally was the recipient of five Tony Awards. He won the Tony Award for Best Play for ''Love! Valour! Compassion!'' and '' Master Class'' and the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for '' Kiss of the Spider Woman'' and ''Ragtime,'' and received the 2019 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1996, and he also received the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 and the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2018, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the highest recognition of artistic merit in the United States. His other accolades included an Emmy Award, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, four Drama Desk Awards, two Luci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joel Grey
Joel Grey (born Joel David Katz; April 11, 1932) is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer and theatre director. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical ''Cabaret'' on Broadway as well as in the 1972 film adaptation. He has won an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He also originated the role of George M. Cohan in the musical ''George M!'' in 1968 and the Wizard of Oz in the musical ''Wicked''. He also starred as Moonface Martin and Amos Hart in the Broadway revivals of ''Anything Goes'' and ''Chicago'', respectively. Early life Grey was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Goldie "Grace" (née Epstein) and Mickey Katz, an actor, comedian, and musician. Both his parents were Jewish. He attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, California. Career Grey started his career, at age 10, in the Cleveland Play House's Curtain Pullers children's theatre program in the early 1940s, appearing in productions such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Flaherty
Stephen Flaherty (born September 18, 1960) is an American composer of musical theatre and film. He works most often in collaboration with the lyricist/book writer Lynn Ahrens. They are best known for writing the Broadway musicals ''Ragtime'', which was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and won the Tony for Best Original Score; ''Once on This Island'', which won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, the Olivier Award for London's Best Musical, and was nominated for a Grammy Award and eight Tony Awards; and ''Seussical'', which was nominated for a Grammy and is now one of the most performed shows in America. Flaherty was also nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards (with Lynn Ahrens) for his songs and song score for the animated film musical ''Anastasia''. Biography Flaherty was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began studying piano at the age of seven. When he was twelve, he knew he wanted to write musicals and by age fourteen h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lynn Ahrens
Lynn Ahrens (born October 1, 1948) is an American writer and lyricist for the musical theatre, television and film. She has collaborated with Stephen Flaherty for many years. She won the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for the Broadway musical ''Ragtime''. Together with Flaherty, she has written many musicals, including ''Lucky Stiff'', ''My Favorite Year'', ''Ragtime'', ''Seussical'', '' A Man of No Importance'', '' Dessa Rose'', ''The Glorious Ones'', ''Rocky'', '' Little Dancer'' and, recently on Broadway, ''Anastasia'' and ''Once on This Island''. She was also nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for the animated Twentieth Century Fox film ''Anastasia''. She wrote the teleplay of her 1994 musical adaption of ''A Christmas Carol'', with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Ahrens. She was a mainstay writer and performer for ABC-TV's '' Schoolhouse Rock!'' Ahrens also wrote lyrics for the title song for ''After the Storm'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Menken
Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for ''The Little Mermaid'' (1989), ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), ''Aladdin'' (1992), and ''Pocahontas'' (1995) have each won him two Academy Awards. He also composed the scores and songs for '' Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986), '' Newsies'' (1992), ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1996), ''Hercules'' (1997), ''Home on the Range'' (2004), '' Enchanted'' (2007), ''Tangled'' (2010), and '' Disenchanted'' (2022), among others. His accolades include eight Academy Awards, becoming the second most prolific Oscar winner in the music categories after Alfred Newman (who has 9 Oscars) a Tony Award, eleven Grammy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and a Daytime Emmy Award. Menken is one of seventeen people to have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony ("an EGOT"). He is the only person to have won a Razzie, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Gemignani
Paul Gemignani is an American music director, musical director with a career on Broadway theatre, Broadway and West End theatre spanning over forty years. Career Gemignani began his career in 1971 as a replacement musical director for Stephen Sondheim's ''Follies'', eventually leading the cast on the subsequent tour. Since then, he has been the musical director for over 38 Broadway and West End musicals, including the following Tony Award-winning productions: ''A Little Night Music'' (1973), ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (musical), Sweeney Todd'' (1979), ''Evita (musical), Evita'' (1979), ''Jerome Robbins' Broadway'' (1989), ''Crazy for You (musical), Crazy for You'' (1992), ''Passion (musical), Passion'' (1994), ''Kiss Me, Kate'' (1999), ''Into the Woods'' (2002), and ''Assassins (musical), Assassins'' (2004). Other well-known Broadway productions have included ''Candide (operetta), Candide'' (1974), ''Grind (musical), Grind'' (1975), ''Pacific Overtures'' (197 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Cook
Barbara Cook (October 25, 1927 – August 8, 2017) was an American actress and singer who first came to prominence in the 1950s as the lead in the original Broadway musicals ''Plain and Fancy'' (1955), ''Candide'' (1956) and ''The Music Man'' (1957) among others, winning a Tony Award for the last. She continued performing mostly in theatre until the mid-1970s, when she began a second career as a cabaret and concert singer. She also made numerous recordings. During her years as Broadway’s leading ingénue, Cook was lauded for her excellent lyric soprano voice. She was particularly admired for her vocal agility, wide range, warm sound, and emotive interpretations. As she aged her voice took on a darker quality, even in her head voice, that was less prominent in her youth.Howard Goldstein: "Barbara Cook", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed December 4, 2008)(subscription access)/ref> At the time of her death, Cook was widely recognized as one of the "premier interpreters" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheldon Harnick
Sheldon Mayer Harnick (born April 30, 1924) is an American lyricist and songwriter best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on musicals such as ''Fiorello!'' and ''Fiddler on the Roof''. Early life Sheldon Mayer Harnick was born to American Jewish parents and grew up in the Chicago neighborhood of Portage Park. Musical career Harnick began writing music while still in Carl Schurz High School in Chicago. After his Army service, he graduated from the Northwestern University School of Music (1946–1949) with a Bachelor of Music degree, and worked with various orchestras in the Chicago area. He then moved to New York City and wrote for many musicals and revues. He was friends with Charlotte Rae from college, and he went to see her one night at the Village Vanguard where she was singing a revue. Yip Harburg, who was one of Harnick's idols, heard she was singing a song of his and decided to come. He told Harnick that he enjoyed his writing, and urged him to continu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Bock
Jerrold Lewis Bock (November 23, 1928November 3, 2010) was an American musical theater composer. He received the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Sheldon Harnick for their 1959 musical ''Fiorello!'' and the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist for the 1964 musical ''Fiddler on the Roof'' with Sheldon Harnick. Biography Born in New Haven, Connecticut, and raised in Flushing, Queens, New York, Bock studied the piano as a child. While a student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he wrote the musical ''Big As Life'', which toured the state and enjoyed a run in Chicago. After graduation, he spent three summers at the Tamiment Playhouse in the Poconos and wrote for early television revues with lyricist Larry Holofcener. One of their songs, the three-part "The Story of Alice," was performed by the Chad Mitchell Trio on their ''Blowin' in the Wind'' album of 1962. Career Bock made his Broadway debut in 1955 when he and Lawrence Holofcener co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Meehan (writer)
Thomas Edward Meehan (August 14, 1929 – August 21, 2017) was an American playwright. He wrote the books for the musicals ''Annie'', '' The Producers'', ''Hairspray'', ''Young Frankenstein'' and ''Cry-Baby''. He co-wrote the books for '' Elf: The Musical'' and '' Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin''. He received the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times—in 1977 for ''Annie'', in 2001 for ''The Producers'' (shared with Mel Brooks), and in 2003 for ''Hairspray'' (shared with Mark O'Donnell). Early life Meehan was born in Ossining, New York, but grew up in Suffern, New York. His father, Thomas, was a businessman, and his mother, Helen Cecilia O’Neill, was an emergency department nurse. He graduated from Hamilton College."Thomas Meehan bio" cityfile.com, accessed March 12, 2011. according to this biography, Meehan was bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Stein
Joseph Stein (May 30, 1912 – October 24, 2010) was an American playwright best known for writing the books for such musicals as ''Fiddler on the Roof'' and '' Zorba''. Biography Born in New York City to Jewish parents, Charles and Emma (Rosenblum) Stein, who had immigrated from Poland, Stein grew up in the Bronx. He graduated in 1935 from CCNY, with a B.S. degree, then earned a Master of Social Work degree from Columbia University in 1937. He began his career as a psychiatric social worker from 1939 until 1945, while writing comedy on the side.Cote, David. "Now that he's a rich man", ''The Times'' (London), May 14, 2007, p. 16 A chance encounter with Zero Mostel led him to start writing for radio personalities, including Henry Morgan, Hildegarde, Tallulah Bankhead, Phil Silvers, and Jackie Gleason. He later started working in television for Sid Caesar when he joined the writing team of ''Your Show of Shows'' that included Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, and Neil S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
