John Kander
John Kander ( born March 18, 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American composer.
Life
John Kander began his Broadway career in the 1950s as a chorus director and conductor in musical theaters on Broadway. The work as an arranger for the dance scenes in the musicals Gypsy and Irma la Douce end of the 50 eventually led him to the composition of his own musicals. His first musical A Family Affair of 1962, however, was a flop.
In the same year Kander met his future partner, the lyricist Fred Ebb. The first hit they ended with "My Coloring Book", which was recorded among others by Barbra Streisand in her repertoire. My first musical project Golden Gate remained unperformed, however, brought the Broadway producer Harold Prince to transmit them to work on the musical Flora, the Red Menace. It was the first success for both the duo Kander / Ebb as well as for the young Liza Minnelli, who won a Tony Award.
The most successful composition by John Kander then became the musical Cabaret. The first performance on Broadway was on November 20th place in 1966, directed by Harold Prince, the main roles were played by Lotte Lenya as Fraulein Schneider, Jill Haworth played Sally Bowles and Joel Grey as Master of Ceremonies was the only one who later Bob Fosse as a director in the film version of 1972 participated. The last of 1,165 performances took place on 6 September 1969. Overall, the musical won eight Tony Awards.
After the film version of Cabaret intensified cooperation with Liza Minnelli, Sally Bowles played in the film, Kander wrote many songs for her. Kander and Ebbs most famous composition was written for the eponymous Martin Scorsese film song " New York, New York" by 1977. Liza Minnelli sang the song in the movie and Frank Sinatra made him a worldwide hit and the unofficial anthem of New York. In German language there are some versions; Harald Juhnke sang it under the title "Berlin, Berlin ".
Kander and Ebb have created over the decades, numerous other world successes like the musicals Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman.