Jule Styne and His Many Lyricists

Even though composer Jule Styne wrote the music for the musicals Bells Are Ringing, Do Re Mi and the legendary shows Funny Girl and Gypsy, he didn’t win a Tony Award until 1967’s Hallelujah, Baby! In fact, of those four musicals, only Hallelujah, Baby! won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

None of that should distract from the fact that Styne is one of musical theater’s finest composers. His work, and that of his collaborators, is celebrated in this week’s new episode of Lyrics and Lyricists: Preludes from New York’s 92nd Street Y. The show is called Jule Styne and His Many Lyricists. It begins streaming on December 7th and will remain available through December 31st.

The lyricists with whom Styne worked include Bob Merrill (Funny Girl), Betty Comden and Adolph Green (Bells Are Ringing, Do Re Mi, Subways Are For Sleeping, Fade Out – Fade In), Leo Robin (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) and Stephen Sondheim (Gypsy).

Performing in this show will be Farah Alvin (It Shoulda Been You), Allison Blackwell (Pretty Woman: The Musical), Nikki Renée Daniels (the postponed revival of Company), Jeff Kready (A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder), Julia Murney (Wicked), Zachary Noah Piser (Dear Evan Hansen), Zachary Prince (Honeymoon in Vegas), Pearl Sun (Come From Away) and Mariand Torres (In Transit). Beth Malone (Angels in America) narrates. Paul Masse created the series and serves as musical director.

Every episode of this series has been entertaining, informative and at times emotional. Tickets are $15 per episode or you can get access to all five shows for $60. All episodes are now going to be available through December 31st. I strongly recommend checking them out.

Photo: Composer Jule Styne with Stephen Sondheim (Photo by Friedman-Abeles/Courtesy New York Public Library Archives)