NEW YORK – Three-time Tony Award-winning award-winning Charles Strouse, a hard-working master melody maker from Broadway, has composed music for classical musical theatre hits such as “Annie,” “Bye Bowdy,” and “Applause.” He was 96 years old.
Strauss died at his home in New York City, his family said.
Over his career spanning over 50 years, Strouse has written over 12 Broadway musicals, film scores and theme songs for “The Thats Was The Days” and “All in the Family.”
Strouse had shown such popular and catchy songs, including “Tomorrow,” the optimistic national anthem for “Annie,” and the equally hilarious “Happy Face” from his first Broadway success, “Bye Bye Birdie.”
“I work every day. Activity – it’s life force,” the New York-born composer told The Associated Press in an interview on the eve of her 80th birthday in 2008.
Deep in the 90s, he visited touring the show and appeared. Jen Thompson appeared as Pepper in the first “Annie” and directed the touring version of “Annie” in 2024, recalls coming to audition and crying when the young girl sang “Tomorrow.” She said: “He’s so gorgeous and kind. He’s always been.”
His Broadway career began in 1960 with “Bye Bye Birdie.” This was written by Strauss with lyricist Lee Adams and scripted Michael Stewart. “Birdy,” starring Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera, tells the story of a crooner like Elvis Presley named Conrad Birdie, and was drafted by the Army and influenced small towns in Ohio.
Not only did Strouse write music, he also played piano at auditions, and Edward Padura, the show’s new producer, tried to attract financial supporters for the $185,000 production.
“We never stopped auditioning — people didn’t give us any money at all. The idea of using rock and roll was so off everyone,” Strauss said.
Finally, Padura spotted the Texas Oilman L. Slade Brown. When he heard the score, he said in Texas Twangue, “I like those songs,” pushing Strauss aside and opted for the piano “Put on Happy Face.”
Then Brown said, “How much do you need?” I wrote a $75,000 check to cover the start of the rehearsal. “Suddenly the world has become technicolor,” recalled Strouse.
The popularity of “Birdy” was a television adaptation with Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams in 1963 (along with Van Dyke, Janet Lee and Anne Margrett) and in 1995 it was a television adaptation with Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams.
Strouse and Adams presented several non-music theatre stars, including the success of the “Golden Boy” and “All Eve” stages, including Sammy Davis Jr. and Lauren Bacall.
However, “Annie” (1977) proved to be the most durable and long-term Broadway hit (over 2,300 performances) on the Strouse. Documenting the depressive adventures of the famous comic strip character Little Orphan Annie, the musical featured Martin Chernin lyrics and Thomas Meehan’s book.
Andrea McArdle starred as the redheaded moped and Dorothy Loudon, who won Tony for his intense portrayal of the average Miss Honeygan who ran through the orphanage. The musical included gems such as “You never get dressed completely without a smile” and “It’s a hard knock life.”
The 1982 film version featuring Carol Barnett in the role of Loudon was not that popular or well received. The sequel to the stage, called “Annie Warbucks,” ran Broadway in 1993. The show revived on Broadway in 2012 and became a film starring Quvenzhané Wallis in 2014. NBC will be holding “Annie Live!” in 2021.
The “Annie” cast album, Strouse and Charnin found pieces of work included in the 1998 Grammy Award-winning album “Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life.”
“Tomorrow” was heard on the soundtrack, from “Shrek 2” to “Dave” to “You Have an Email.” In 2016, Lukas Graham used some of the chorus of “Annie” for the “Mama Said” hit.
Strouse also had a share of the flop, which included two shows: “A Broadway Musical” (1978) and “Dance A Little Closer.” This is a 1983 musical that closed after one performance. Among his other non-habitat musicals are The National America (1962), starring Ray Borger, “It’s a Bird… It’s an Airplane… It’s a Superman” (1966), “Bring Back Birdie” (1981), and “Bye Bye Birdie,” directed by Harold Prince.
Among Strouse’s film scores were the music for “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) and “The Night They Saide Minsky’s” (1968).
The theater beckoned him and Adams when they got the chance to write a song for their weekly reviews at the Adirondack Summer Camp, known as the Green Mansion in the early 1950s. Such camps were training grounds for dozens of performers and writers.
“I write songs, orchestra them and copy the parts,” he said in an interview with the AP. “And the rehearsal was nine the next day, so at 4am I was still crossing the lake with some wet areas and I loved it.
His wife, Barbara, passed away in 2023. He was survived by four children, Ben, Nick, Victoria and William.
