Michael Rolf Kunze (born 9 November 1943, in Prague) is a foremost German

musical theater Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

lyricist and librettist. He is best known for the hit musicals '' Elisabeth'' (1992), '' Dance of the Vampires'' (1996), ''

Mozart! ''Mozart!'' is an Austrian musical, originally written in German. The original book and lyrics were written by Michael Kunze and the music and arrangements were composed by Sylvester Levay. The show is a new imagining of the struggles of the fa ...

'' (1999), ''

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child and ...

'' (2006), and ''

Rebecca Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblica ...

'' (2006). He has also written the lyrics for a number of hit songs (under the pseudonym Stephan Prager), including the number one

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

hit " Fly, Robin, Fly" (1976), and was one of the top 1970s record producers, producing songs for musical acts Silver Convention, Penny McLean, and

Sister Sledge Sister Sledge is an American musical vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed in 1971, the group consisted of sisters Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge. The siblings achieved international success at the height of the disco era ...

. Kunze has won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

ECHO In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

Lifetime Award and holds 79 Gold and Platinum records.

Early life

Born in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a tempera ...

, Kunze is the son of actress Dita Roesler and Walter Kunze, a writer, cartoonist and journalist, who worked for the German language newspaper '' Prager Tagblatt''. He grew up in Southern Germany and attended Klenze Oberrealschule in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and H ...

. He studied law, philosophy and history at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich.

Early career

Kunze started writing music and lyrics during his high school years in the early sixties. The Hamburg folklore group, City Preachers, recorded an LP with some of those early songs. The record was anything but a commercial success, but it made the music business aware of Michael Kunze. The first song Kunze produced with Peter Maffay, a 20-year-old newcomer, was called "Du" (English Translation: "You"). It topped the German charts in the summer of 1970 and went gold. His recordings dominated the 1970s music charts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. When he produced his first international act, he hit both the top of the ''Billboard'' and Cashbox charts in the U.S. with the song, "Fly, Robin, Fly". His group, Silver Convention, represented by composer

Sylvester Levay Sylvester Levay (originally Lévay Szilveszter, Serbian: Силвестер Леваи, ''Silvester Levai'') is a Hungarian recording artist and composer, born in Yugoslavia (now Serbia). Life and career Levay was born on 16 May 1945 in Subotica ...

and Michael Kunze himself, influenced disco music and was the first German aggregation ever to win the coveted

. Based on his success in the U.S. – after "Fly, Robin, Fly" came such hits as " Lady Bump" and "Get up and Boogie" – Michael produced albums with a vast and varied array of internationally known performers, including

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( el, Ιωάννα "Νάνα" Μούσχουρη ) (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, Ge ...

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (incl ...

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, ...

Gilbert Bécaud Gilbert Bécaud (, 24 October 1927 – 18 December 2001) was a French singer, composer, pianist and actor, known as "Monsieur 100,000 Volts" for his energetic performances. His best-known hits are "Nathalie" and "Et maintenant", a 1961 release t ...

and Caterina Valente. In 1981, Kunze stopped working as a producer but continued to write lyrics for top artists. Taking a temporary hiatus from show business, he wrote the book ''Highroad to the Stake: A Tale of Witchcraft'' (German Title: ''Strasse ins Feuer''). It was translated into several languages; ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called it "a vivid story of a witch." He wrote a second book, ''Give Way To Freedom'' (German Title: ''Der Freiheit eine Gasse'') on the 1848 democratic revolution in Southern Germany.

Later career

In the 1980s, the musical began making its way into the center of Kunze's activities. First, he adapted

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

's musical '' Evita'', which was the beginning of his collaboration and friendship with the legendary Broadway director,

Harold Prince Harold Smith Prince (born Harold Smith; January 30, 1928 – July 31, 2019), commonly known as Hal Prince, was an American theatre director and producer known for his work in musical theatre. One of the foremost figures in 20th century America ...

. The success of his adaptation opened the doors of the German-speaking market for the modern Anglo-American musical and made him the preferred translator for international hit shows. His German version of ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

'' ran for seven years in Vienna, making it one of the greatest hits of all times in that city. The numerous other musicals Kunze has translated into German include ''

The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...

'', ''

A Chorus Line ''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante. Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is centered on seventeen Broadway dance ...

'', ''

Song and Dance ''Song and Dance'' is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a unifying love story. The "Song" act is ''Tell Me on a Sunday'', with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Llo ...

'', ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...

'', ''

Follies ''Follies'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The plot takes place in a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on the '' Ziegfeld ...

'', '' Assassins'', '' Side by Side'' by Sondheim, '' Dorian Gray'', '' Little Shop of Horrors'', ''

Aspects of Love ''Aspects of Love'' is a musical with music and book by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart. It is based on the 1955 novella of the same name by David Garnett. The piece focuses on the romantic entanglements of actr ...

'', ''

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in ...

'', '' Kiss of the Spider Woman'', ''

The Hunchback of Notre Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story o ...

'', ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American Animated film, animated Musical film, musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd List of Walt Disney Animati ...

'', '' Mamma Mia!'' and Elton John's ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...

''. Kunze also started working for television. He conceived and wrote several, 90-minute shows for the major German and Austrian networks (Liebe ist .../ZDF, Sport Gala/ARD, Weil wir leben wollen /ZDF) and developed the ARD Series ''Showgeschichten''. In 1991, he conceived the international Peter Ustinov Gala in Paris, celebrating Sir Peter Ustinov´s 70th birthday, starring Sir Yehudin Menuhin,

Klaus Maria Brandauer Klaus Maria Brandauer (; born Klaus Georg Steng; 22 June 1943) is an Austrian actor and director. He is also a professor at the Max Reinhardt Seminar. Brandauer is known internationally for his roles in '' The Russia House'' (1990), '' Mephist ...

Petula Clark Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the ...

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

and

Montserrat Caballé Montserrat Caballé i Folch or Folc (full name: María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch (, , ; (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), known simply as Montserrat Caballé, was a Catalan Spanish operatic soprano. She sang a wide ...

. With the annual

Bambi Award The Bambi, often called the Bambi Award and stylised as BAMBI, is a German award presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television to personalities in the media, arts, culture, sports, and ot ...

Gala, he created the German counterpart to the American

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

presentation. His once-a-year special, Die Peter-Alexander-Show, starring Germany's top musical entertainer, Peter Alexander, and, among others,

Richard Chamberlain George Richard Chamberlain (born March 31, 1934) is an American actor and singer, who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show '' Dr. Kildare'' (1961–1966). He subsequently appeared in several TV mini-series, such as ''Shō ...

, Joan Collins and

Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy ...

(ORF) reached cult status in the 1990s. He also conceived Der Goldene Löwe, the German counterpart to the American

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

show. Over the years, he has also written a number of articles for German magazines and newspapers (Stern, Frankfurter Allgemeine, ZEITMagazin, Playboy, Süddeutsche Zeitung), exploring his views on the function of entertainment in society and current media issues.

Current career

Since the 1990s, Kunze is creating original musicals in his own style. In September 1992, his musical '' Elisabeth'', about the life of the

Empress Elisabeth of Austria Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria (24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898) was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I on 24 April 1854 until her assassination in 1898. Elisabeth was ...

, opened at Vienna's

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served pri ...

(music by

). The show ran in Vienna for more than six years and was immediately regarded as the rebirth of the contemporary continental musical theater in Europe. It was soon exported to other countries, such as Japan, Hungary, Sweden, Holland and Germany. Collaborating with

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...

(director) and

Jim Steinman James Richard Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, mus ...

(composer), Kunze wrote his first English libretto and lyrics for the musical, '' Dance of the Vampires''. In October 1997, a German version opened at the Viennese Raimund Theater. On 3 March 2000, the show was transferred to Stuttgart, Germany. In December 2003, it opened in Hamburg, where it ran for another three years before opening in Berlin. The show also reached Broadway, where, despite Kunze's protests, an unauthorized version ran, for three months. It is currently running in Warsaw, Stuttgart, Vienna, Budapest and Tokyo. Kunze's ''

'' (music: Sylvester Levay; director: Harry Kupfer), dramatizing the famous composer's life, premiered in October 1999 in Vienna (Theater an der Wien). It continues to play and run in Hamburg, Germany; Karlstad, Sweden; Tokyo, Japan; and Budapest, Hungary. In 2006, two new Michael Kunze musicals opened. While ''

'', based on Daphne du Maurier's famous novel, premiering on 28 September at Vienna's Raimund Theater, became another hit, ''

'' disappointed. The latter show, dramatizing the events of the French Revolution, opened first in Tokyo and then in 2008, in Bremen, Germany. Both productions, though praised by critics, were financial failures. In September 2009, Kunze gave the keynote speech at Second European Conference of the Musical Theater Educators Alliance International, "A Tale of Two Cities", in Hamburg, Germany. His musicals are considered the foundation of a new genre in contemporary musical theater, called the Drama Musical. Its dramatic structure integrates elements of the film structure into the classic two-act drama form.

Awards

*56 gold records *23 platinum records *

for ''Fly, Robin, Fly'', music by

(1975) *Paul-Lincke-Ring (1989) *Goldene Feder des Deutschen Textdichter-Verbandes (1991) *Heinz-Bolten-Baeckers-Preis of the GEMA-Stiftung (1993) *Musical of the Year Award for '' Mozart! (musical)'' (2000) *Musical of the Year Award for '' Elisabeth'' (2001) *

Lifetime Award (2005) *Musical of the Year Award for '' Rebecca (musical)'' (2007) *German Music Authors' Awards (2010)

Major works

Adaptations

*1980 – "

I Love My Wife ''I Love My Wife'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Michael Stewart and music by Cy Coleman, based on a play by Luis Rego. A satire of the sexual revolution of the 1970s, the musical takes place on Christmas Eve in suburban Trenton, New ...

" German version (Theater Oberhausen) *1981 – " Evita" German version (Theater an der Wien) *1983 – "

" German version (Theater an der Wien) *1985 – " Le Cochon" (Le Cochon qui voulait maigrir) German version (Burgtheater Vienna) *1985 – "

" German version (Deutsches Theater, Munich) *1986 – "

" German version (Raimundtheater) *1986 – " Little Shop of Horrors" German version (Szene Wien) *1987 – "Wodka-Cola" (Leave it to Me) German version (Staatstheater Stuttgart) *1988 – "

" German version (Theater an der Wien) *1988 – "Avos!" German version (Stadttheater, Grosses Haus, Freiburg) *1989 – " Czechow" German version (Theaterfestival Konstanz) *1990 – "

" German version (Stadttheater, Heilbronn) *1991 – "

" German version (

Theater des Westens The Theater des Westens (Theatre of the West) is one of the most famous theatres for musicals and operettas in Berlin, Germany, located at 10–12 in Charlottenburg. It was founded in 1895 for plays. The present house was opened in 1896 and dedi ...

, Berlin) *1992 – " Dorian Gray" German version (Stadttheater, Heilbronn) *1993 – " Assassins" German version (Stadttheater, Heilbronn) *1993 – " Kiss of the Spider Woman" German version (Raimundtheater) *1995 – " City of Angels" German version (Stadttheater, Heilbronn) *1995 – "

" German version (Rhein-Main-Theater, Niedernhausen) *1996 – "

" German version (Staatsoperette, Dresden) *1999 – "

" German version (Musicaltheater Berlin) *2001 – "

" German version (Hafentheater Hamburg) *2002 – " Mamma Mia!" German version (Operettenhaus Hamburg) *2003 – " Wicked" German version (Palladiumtheater Stuttgart)

Original musicals

*1991 – "Hexen Hexen" (Sylvester Levay) Deutschhof, Heilbronn, 15 June *1992 – '' Elisabeth'' (Levay) Theater an der Wien, 3 September *1997 – '' Dance of the Vampires'' (Jim Steinman) Raimund Theater, 4 October *1999 – '' Mozart! (musical)'' (Levay) Theater an der Wien, 2 October *2006 – ''

'' (Levay) Imperial Theatre, Tokyo, 7 January *2006 – ''

'' (Levay) Raimund Theater, Vienna, 3 September *2014 – '' Lady Bess'' (Levay) Imperial Theater, Tokyo, 13 April

References

External links

michaelkunze.info
Official Site
storyarchitekt.com
Official Site
Michael Kunze's blogMichael Kunze's Drama Musicals
*
Broadway World West End Interview: Writer And Interpreter Michael KunzeBroadway World West End: "German Music Authors' Awards to Honor Lyricist Michael Kunze"Broadway World West End:"REBECCA: Author, Lyricist And Translator Michael Kunze Opens Website To Questions"Playbill.com Celebrity Buzz: Michael KunzeOfficial website

Official fan portal

Offizieller Rebecca Fanclub
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunze, Michael 1943 births Musicians from Munich Living people German musical theatre librettists Studienstiftung alumni German bloggers German record producers German lyricists German male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century German dramatists and playwrights 21st-century German dramatists and playwrights Male bloggers