re: FEMALE composers...
re: FEMALE composers...
#1FEMALE composers...
Posted: 11/7/06 at 11:33pmI can't for the life of me think of any FEMALE composers!! I can think of Betty Comden and Lynn Ahrens, who are both lyricists, but where are the lady note-writers?
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
#1re: FEMALE composers...
Posted: 11/7/06 at 11:38pm
Mary Rodgers- Once Upon a Mattress, Hot Spot, Working
Lisa Lambert- The Drowsy Chaperone
Lucy Simon- The Secret Garden, Zhivago
Jeanine Tesori- Caroline or Change, Thoroughly Modern Millie
Brenda Russell- The Color Purple
Allee Willis- The Color Purple, Hot Feat
Updated On: 11/7/06 at 11:38 PM
#2re: FEMALE composers...
Posted: 11/7/06 at 11:38pm
Wow! That's a question! I don't have a faint idea...
Later: OMG! I feel so dumb!
Somebody sit in my chair, and ruin my sleep, and make me aware of being alive!
Updated On: 11/8/06 at 11:38 PM
NCGuy
Broadway Star Joined: 4/8/04
#3re: FEMALE composers...
Posted: 11/7/06 at 11:42pm
Lucy Simon
Carol Hall
Jeanine Tesori
* oops...Neddy updated and beat me with a few
Updated On: 11/7/06 at 11:42 PM
#4re: FEMALE composers...
Posted: 11/7/06 at 11:47pmGoodness! I feel like an idiot for forgetting Mary Rodgers and Jeanine Tesori!!
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#5re: FEMALE composers...
Posted: 11/7/06 at 11:51pm
One from here in Ontario, Leslie Arden, has written a truly wonderful score for THE HOUSE OF MARTIN GUERRE. Unfortunately her version was first staged around the time the Schoenberg/Boublil MARTI GUERRE was potentially coming to North America, so it hasn't had the exposure it richly deserves.
Leslie was part of Sondheim's master class at Oxford and has won high praise from Sondheim for her efforts.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
#6re: FEMALE composers...
Posted: 11/7/06 at 11:53pm
Also Dorothy Fields
And I am sure I will think of more...
NCGuy
Broadway Star Joined: 4/8/04
#7re: FEMALE composers...
Posted: 11/8/06 at 12:01am
Was Dorothy Fields a composer as well as a lyricist?
Updated On: 11/8/06 at 12:01 AM
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
#9re: FEMALE composers...
Posted: 11/8/06 at 12:02amShe composed the The Vanderbilt Revue and The International Review
Nick Plasia
Stand-by Joined: 9/15/06
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
NCGuy
Broadway Star Joined: 4/8/04
#11A rave for Grey Gardens
Posted: 11/8/06 at 12:15amI see those two shows on ibdb.com, but the “Music by” and “Lyrics by” credits don’t seem to be differentiating between the two.
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
NCGuy
Broadway Star Joined: 4/8/04
#13A rave for Grey Gardens
Posted: 11/8/06 at 12:37amI think that may just be where the “Person” page is drawing its information from the “Show” page (ibdb also does that with the revues on E.Y. Harburg’s page, but as far as I know he was solely a lyricist).
bjivie2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/04
#14A rave for Grey Gardens
Posted: 11/8/06 at 1:09amIt is too bad that we've only named 10 or so of them. They're out there, we just need to find them!
Eeeeeeyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaannnnnddddd aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiyyyyyyaaaaaammmmmmmm teeeeeeeelllllliiiiiinnngg yyyyooooooouuuuuuuwwwaaaahh...
Nick Plasia
Stand-by Joined: 9/15/06
#15A rave for Grey Gardens
Posted: 11/8/06 at 2:12am
The Village Voice gives the
show an unqualified rave review.
Weirder People's Houses
Grey Gardens proves that bad housekeeping can make good theater
by Michael Feingold
November 7th, 2006 3:28 PM
"Grey Gardens, by this light, must be the definitive modernist musical."
http://www.villagevoice.com/theater/0645,feingold,74958,11.html
#16A rave for Grey Gardens
Posted: 11/8/06 at 3:32am
Going way back, there was Kay Swift, who certainly had the talent to have a major career as a Broadway composer, but didn't, but she did at least have a hit.
Other lyricists not yet mentioned:
Dorothy Donnelly
Rida Johnson Young
Fran Landesman
Susan Birkenhead
Carolyn Leigh
Ellen Fitzhugh
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