Word: kander
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...that Coleman is the last American to write good theater songs -- not while Charles Strouse, Jerry Herman and Kander and Ebb are still banging them out. He just happens to be the latest American to have had two first-run hits playing on Broadway at the same time (City of Angels and The Will Rogers Follies) since the glory days of Rodgers and Hammerstein, when America ruled the boards, and probably the last active one (unless Burton Lane and Jule Styne have something up their sleeves) to write the classic American jazz song that the young singers are just...
...WORLD GOES ROUND. This cocktail of an off Broadway review tastes cynical, then sweetly sentimental, in classic Tin Pan Alley style. It honors a stellar team: composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago, The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman...
...fairness, one must admit that Chicago director Beth Heller did not have the best material with which to work. This 18-song musical, although created by John Kander and Fred Ebb, the same duo which brought Cabaret to the American stage, boasts none of that show's sharp characterization, memorable lyrics nor attachment to the era in which it is set. While Cabaret was firmly rooted in the fears and expectations of Weimar Germany, this play floats around its 1920's setting; aside from the choice of music, Chicago gives little reason why its action should take place in this...
...group debuts in May with an adaptation of Manuel Puig's The Kiss of the Spider Woman. The score is by John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret) and the staging by Harold Prince (The Phantom of the Opera). Says Prince, winner of 16 Tony Awards for musicals: "I see this as an opportunity for young composers, lyricists, librettists and directors to have a career like I had -- to be able to experiment, to fail, and from those failures go on to create successes...
...singing on the other hand, does do adequate justice to the fine match of John Kander's score and Fred Ebb's lyrics. Master of Ceremonies Mark Meredith plays a convincing Satan-like figure, and he is suitably disconcerting as he belts out a mighty anthem to "The Fatherland." His two bizarre, but rather lightweight, numbers. "Two Ladies" and "If They Could See What I See" are enacted with commendable energy. His "Money, Money", done with one of the Kit Kat Klub Girls, is strong, but lacks the vitality of Joel Grey's exquisite film rendition...