Betty Comden, born in Brooklyn in 1917, was an American lyricist, screenwriter, and actress. She is best known for her work with Adolph Green, with whom she collaborated on numerous musicals and films.
Comden and Green met in 1938 while both were studying at New York University, and began writing together shortly thereafter. Their first Broadway credit was for On the Town, a musical about three sailors on a 24-hour leave in New York City. The show premiered in 1944 and was a huge success, cementing Comden and Green's place in the world of musical theater.
Comden and Green went on to ... read more
Adolph Green was an American lyricist and playwright who was born on December 2, 1914, in the Bronx, New York. He was the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants. Green's father was a successful businessman, and his mother was a homemaker. Green attended New York University, where he studied English and drama.
Green began his career in show business as a performer in the late 1930s. He appeared in several Broadway productions, including "The New Yorkers" and "Two for the Show." However, it was his work as a lyricist that would make him famous.
Green's first major success as a lyricist came in ... read more
Bernstein produced or managed over 40 Broadway shows and tours, including Pippin and Chicago, two of his favorites. His other Broadway credits include Jackie Mason's The World According to Me!, Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean, Sophisticated Ladies, On the Twentieth Century, The Act, The Norman Conquests, 1776, Golden Rainbow, The Apple Tree, Wait Until Dark, Wildcat, The Tenth Man, Silk Stockings, The Boy Friend, Can-Can, and three original Frank Loesser productions: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Where's Charley?, and Guys and Dolls.
From 1984 until 1991, Ira managed the Shubert Theater in ... read more
Guber went into the nightclub business, and joined his childhood friend Shelly Gross and Frank Ford in creating a musical theater in Devon, Pennsylvania in 1955 called the Valley Forge Music Fair. The original tent was replaced by a permanent structure, which was subsequently razed and replaced by a supermarket.
The group was advised to open a second theater in Westbury, New York, a suburb of New York City, but Guber asked "Where's Long Island?" when told the proposed location. The original Westbury Music Fair was housed in a tent that was constructed on what had been the site of a ... read more
Philip J. Lang was a musician, composer and music educator who taught at the graduate schools of music at the University of Michigan and the University of Colorado and was the orchestrator of more than 50 Broadway musicals including My Fair Lady and Camelot (with Robert Russell Bennett); Annie Get Your Gun; Applause; Hello, Dolly!; Carnival; and 42nd Street. Mr. Lang was an orchestrator for the Metropolitan Opera and a frequent musical arranger for television including Hallmark Productions, David Susskind, Radio City Music Hall and "The Tonight Show." ... read more
