In June on a Saturday afternoon, I saw the (too-short) one-week revival of the classic Bye Bye Birdie at Lincoln Center. What a joy to hear the familiar songs: "Put On A Happy Face!" and "Got A Lotta Living To Do."
The quality of the acting was phenomenal, the orchestrations were wonderful, and of course, the writing was the best, with the classic rhymes, scansion, long open vowels to give every singer their chance to shine, an example of classical musical theatre writing at its finest.
After the final curtain, the cast announced there were two special guests in the audience -- the man who wrote the music, Charles Strouse (he also wrote Annie, among other things) and Lee Adams, who wrote lyrics (and held a lyric tutorial for us at Graduate Musical Theatre Writing at NYU in 1998). Lee Adams will be 100 years old on August 14, 2024, and Charles Strouse had just celebrated his 96th birthday the week before (Born June 6, 1928). We all rose and sang Happy Birthday to them.
What a wonderful thing to be doing the thing you love for a century.
We should all be so lucky.
Never forget that creativity -- making things -- keeps you young.
Stay creative,
Diana
Comments