Charles Strouse Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Charles Strouse
Writing
Biography
Charles Strouse (June 7, 1928 — May 15, 2025) was an American composer and lyricist, best known for Broadway hits as Bye Bye Birdie, Applause and Annie, films including Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968), and All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), and for the TV series All in the Family (1971–79). Strouse was born in New York City, the son of Ethel (Newman) and Ira Strouse. After graduating from the Eastman School of Music in 1947, he received two scholarships to Tanglewood, where he studied under composer Aaron Copland. Subsequently, Copland arranged for Strouse to get a scholarship with legendary teacher, Nadia Boulanger, in Paris. Strouse met songwriting partner, lyricist Lee Adams, at a party in 1949, and the duo began a longtime collaboration starting with writing songs for summer resorts in the Adirondacks. Strouse and Adams contributed material to numerous Off-Broadway musical revues, including Catch a Star, Shoestring Revue, The Littlest Revue and Kaleidoscope, and wrote specialty material for Kaye Ballard, Carol Burnett, Jane Morgan and Dick Shawn. Strouse was passionate about collaboration and would earn Tony Award nominations for his scores with lyricists: David Rogers, Charlie & Algernon (1980), based on the novel Flowers for Algernon, Steven Schwartz, for Rags (1986), with book writer Joseph Stein starring Teresa Stratas, and Nick and Nora (1991), a musical based on Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man characters, written with Richard Maltby, Jr. In addition to his awards, Strouse was the recipient of several honorary doctorates. He was a longtime member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, inducted in 1985, and the Theatre Hall of Fame. Strouse also composed orchestral works, chamber music, piano concertos, and an opera. His original piano work, Concerto America, was composed in 2002 to commemorate 9/11 and premiered at The Boston Pops in 2004. His opera Nightingale (1982), starring Sarah Brightman, had a successful run in London, followed by many subsequent productions.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile: The Musical - The House on East 88th Street
The Primm family moves into an old brownstone house on East 88th Street, where they find a crocodile named Lyle in their bathtub.
Words and Music by Jerry Herman
WORDS AND MUSIC is the story of one of Broadway's iconic figures: the composer/lyricist of Hello, Dolly!, Mame and La Cage aux Folles. Jerry Herman and an all-star cast, chart his rise from 1950s off-Broadway through all of his smash hits. Featuring never-before-seen footage of original stage performances, and a score full of classic show tunes.
Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age
Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age explores the world of Broadway from 1959 through the early 1980s as recounted by a diverse cast of Broadway stars who lived through it, creating a first-hand archive of personal backstage stories and memories. The new documentary is the long-awaited sequel to late filmmaker Rick McKay’s award-winning 2003 film Broadway: The Golden Age, continuing the saga into the '60s and '70s and spotlighting beloved classic Broadway shows including Once Upon a Mattress, Bye Bye Birdie, Barefoot in the Park, Pippin, A Chorus Line, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Chicago, and 42nd Street. Featuring a galaxy of stars including Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Glenn Close, André De Shields, Jane Fonda, Robert Goulet, Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Dick Van Dyke, Ben Vereen, and many more, the film also includes rare archival photos and never-before-seen footage both onstage and off.
Production
Bonnie and Clyde
In the 1930s, bored European-American waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with a European-American ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.
Bye Bye Birdie
A singer goes to a small town for a performance before he is drafted.
Bye Bye Birdie
In 1995, ABC presented a telemovie version of the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie produced by RHI Entertainment. It starred Seinfeld's Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams of Desperate Housewives. While this version remained mostly faithful to the original musical (Michael Stewart remains the only credited author of this version), several songs were added and re-arranged, and dialogue was slightly rewritten to smoothly facilitate the musical changes. The musical revolves around an Elvis Presley-type rocker who's about to join the Army. To mark the occasion, his manager's secretary arranges for him to kiss a random fan goodbye on The Ed Sullivan Show. Bye Bye Birdie earned four Tony awards in 1961, including Best Musical and Best Actor in a Musical for its original star, Dick Van Dyke. In addition to Alexander and Williams, ABC's production starred Tyne Daly, George Wendt, Chynna Phillips and Mark Kudisch.
Annie
Things seem pretty bad for a young girl living a "hard-knock life" in an orphanage. Fed up with the dastardly Miss Hannigan, Annie escapes the run-down orphanage determined to find her mom and dad. It's an adventure that takes her from the cold, mean streets of New York to the warm, comforting arms of bighearted billionaire Oliver Warbucks - with plenty of mischief and music in between.
It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman!
TV adaptation of the campy 1960s Broadway musical about the Man of Steel, his friends, his enemies, and his self-image problems.
Bye Bye Birdie
A singer goes to a small town for a performance before he is drafted.
Bye Bye Birdie
In 1995, ABC presented a telemovie version of the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie produced by RHI Entertainment. It starred Seinfeld's Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams of Desperate Housewives. While this version remained mostly faithful to the original musical (Michael Stewart remains the only credited author of this version), several songs were added and re-arranged, and dialogue was slightly rewritten to smoothly facilitate the musical changes. The musical revolves around an Elvis Presley-type rocker who's about to join the Army. To mark the occasion, his manager's secretary arranges for him to kiss a random fan goodbye on The Ed Sullivan Show. Bye Bye Birdie earned four Tony awards in 1961, including Best Musical and Best Actor in a Musical for its original star, Dick Van Dyke. In addition to Alexander and Williams, ABC's production starred Tyne Daly, George Wendt, Chynna Phillips and Mark Kudisch.
Annie Live!
Annie, the beloved seven-time Tony Award-winning Broadway sensation, comes to life like never before in a live musical event starring Harry Connick, Jr., Nicole Scherzinger, Tituss Burgess, Megan Hilty and Taraji P. Henson, with newcomer Celina Smith in the title role of Annie. The iconic musical follows smart and spirited little orphan Annie, whose whole life changes when larger-than-life billionaire Daddy Warbucks takes her away from an orphanage run by the mean Miss Hannigan. One of Broadway's all-time biggest hits, the stage production features such popular songs as "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life," which are adored by generations of audiences around the world.
Just Tell Me What You Want
A television producer woman tries to let down her overbearing boyfriend who is her boss. She wants to marry with a young writer.
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile: The Musical - The House on East 88th Street
The Primm family moves into an old brownstone house on East 88th Street, where they find a crocodile named Lyle in their bathtub.
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