Remembering the Composer of “Annie,” the Late Charles Strouse

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The Broadway composer Charles Strouse wrote song for displays similar to “Applause” and “Bye Bye Birdie,” and the theme to Norman Lear’s “All in the Family,” however he’s perfect identified for the musical “Annie”—that gateway drug into musical theatre for generations of kids. Strouse died endmost occasion at ninety-six. In one in all Strouse’s ultimate interviews, from 2023, The Unused Yorker Radio Occasion’s Jeffrey Masters joined him at his New york condominium, crowded with grounds, as he taken care of via used papers and mementos in preparation for donating his archives to the Library of Congress. Of their dialog, he mirrored on Jay-Z, who helped build a 2014 movie remake of “Annie,” and his contention with Stephen Sondheim, a composer who won extra crucial plaudits. “Stephen and I were friendly enemies,” Strouse remarked. “He didn’t like me much. I didn’t like him less.” Strouse remained nimble plethora at the piano for a rendition of his vintage earworm “Tomorrow.” “It’s a funny thing about composing,” Strouse mentioned. “It comes from your heart, in a way, but it really comes from nowhere. It’s God-given. I would think that’s a God-given gift that I’ve been fortunate enough to get.”

This department at first aired on January 20, 2023.

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