All tagged Carolyn Leigh

From Little Me to City of Angels: The Eclectic Brilliance of Composer Cy Coleman

Broadway composers tend to settle into a style that is distinctly their own. We know a Stephen Sondheim score when we hear it. Andrew Lloyd Webber, the same. In fact, many people cling to the familiarity of a Broadway composer’s style, knowing that attending their latest show will hopefully yield something new and familiar at the same time. We can almost count on this result, and why not? Each composer is unique and cultivates their own sound with each new show that they write. There was, however, one musical theatre composer who reinvented his voice several times over throughout his career, so it is much harder to pinpoint what his style exactly is. Working with a variety of musical styles, and a wide-range of writing partners, each score he touched sounded like he reimagined his talents to best capture the musical world at hand.  This is the eclectic brilliance of composer Cy Coleman.

Peter Pan Poised to Fly to Blu-Ray

With the news that the Mary Martin, made-for-television version of Peter Pan is flying to Blu-Ray in the near future, I thought it would be nice to take a look back at all of the reasons why we love it. The musical itself didn't have a spectacularly long run on Broadway (152 performances in 1952), but that was due to a deal that had been struck prior to its Broadway opening. It was to be introduced to the hearts of 65 million viewers through one simple airing on NBC, making it a success of epic proportions. 

The Top Ten Cy Coleman Songs Written for Broadway Musicals

Never has a composer been more eclectic in style and worked with such a variety of lyricists than the late-great Cy Coleman. Coleman had a long career in musical theatre, spanning decades, with a wide range of successes, almost hits, and flops: Wildcat (1960), Little Me (1962), Sweet Charity (1966), Seesaw (1973), I Love My Wife (1977), On the Twentieth Century (1978), Barnum (1980), City of Angels (1989), The Will Rogers Follies (1991), and The Life (1997).