Joe Masteroff (1919-)
WRITER
Best known as the librettist of Cabaret, Joe Masteroff has also worked as an actor, playwright and lyricist. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he was born and raised in Philadelphia, attended Temple University and served with the Air Force in World War II. Afterwards, he studied theatre and acted in the ensemble of a Broadway play called The Prescott Proposals in 1953. Six years later, his romantic comedy The Warm Peninsula toured the country and opened on Broadway, with a starry cast including Julie Harris and June Havoc. (A few years earlier, Harris had played Sally Bowles in I Am a Camera, the basis for Cabaret.) During the 1960s, he wrote the librettos for two acclaimed musicals: Bock and Harnick’s She Loves Me (1963), and Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret (1966). It was Masteroff’s idea to call the show Cabaret, after the creative team realized that the original title, Welcome to Berlin, would turn off Jewish theatergoers. Five years later, Masteroff re-teamed with Kander and Ebb to write the libretto for the lesser-known 70, Girls, 70. Although no new Masteroff plays or musicals have appeared on Broadway since 1971, he has written the libretto for an opera version of Desire Under the Elms, the book and lyrics to the musicals Paramour and Six Wives, and the libretto for a musical version of Anna Christie.
John Kander (1927- ) and Fred Ebb (1933?-2004)
MUSIC and LYRICS
Kander and Ebb were a successful songwriting team for 40 years. Kander’s brassy, hard-driving melodies and Ebb’s clever but accessible lyrics often epitomize the Broadway sound.
Kander grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and studied music at Oberlin College and Columbia University. His start on Broadway was as substitute rehearsal pianist for West Side Story. This experience led to jobs arranging dance music for Gypsy and Irma la Douce. In 1962, Kander composed his first musical, A Family Affair (lyrics by William Goldman). In addition to his Broadway songwriting, Kander has scored movies such as Kramer vs. Kramer and Places in the Heart.
Ebb’s birth year has been listed as anywhere from 1928 to 1936. What’s certain is that he grew up in Manhattan and graduated from New York University and Columbia University. During the 1950s, he wrote lyrics for pop songs and Broadway revues. His first book musical, Morning Sun, was a flop off-Broadway.
In 1964, a music publisher introduced Kander and Ebb to one another. After they wrote the hit pop songs “My Coloring Book” and “I Don’t Care Much” (recorded by Barbra Streisand), Hal Prince chose them to write the score for Flora the Red Menace. This musical starred a 19-year-old Liza Minnelli, who went on to become the duo’s favorite actress. In 1966, Kander, Ebb, and Prince collaborated on the smash-hit Cabaret, which ran over 1100 performances.
Kander and Ebb followed up Cabaret with the less successful The Happy Time, Zorba, and 70, Girls, 70. During the 1970s, they branched out into film and television work, helping adapt Cabaret for the big screen (it won 8 Oscars but lost Best Picture to The Godfather), and writing songs for Funny Lady, New York, New York, and Liza Minnelli’s television specials. Their next big Broadway success was Chicago (1976), starring Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera. Kander and Ebb continued to write for legendary actresses: Minnelli in The Act (1978), Lauren Bacall in Woman of the Year (1981), Rivera and Minnelli in The Rink (1984), Rivera in Kiss of the Spiderwoman (1993). And the World Goes ‘Round, a revue of their songs, played off-Broadway in 1991, and Bob Fosse’s famous dances for Cabaret and Chicago were recreated in Fosse. Kander and Ebb’s output slowed in the 1990s, especially after their flop Steel Pier in 1997. However, during this time, Cabaret and Chicago were successfully revived on Broadway. In 2002, Chicago was adapted into a Best Picture-winning film.
Together, Kander and Ebb are the recipients of four Tony Awards (three for the scores of Cabaret, Woman of the Year, and Kiss of the Spiderwoman, and one for Best Musical for Cabaret), two Emmy Awards (for Liza with a Z and Liza Minnelli Live!), two Grammy Awards (for the cast albums of Cabaret and the revival of Chicago), and the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award. Ebb also won an Emmy for his work on Shirley MacLaine’s TV special Gypsy in My Soul. Kander and Ebb were nominated for many additional Tonys, Golden Globes, and Oscars, though surprisingly, their most famous song, “New York, New York,” didn’t even get a nomination.
When Ebb died of a heart attack in 2004, the duo was working on several musicals that had not yet made it to Broadway. These included The Visit (which played in Chicago starring Chita Rivera), All About Us (an adaptation of The Skin of Our Teeth, previously produced as Over and Over) and the backstage murder-mystery Curtains. Curtains opened on Broadway this spring with additional lyrics by Rupert Holmes and Kander himself. Kander’s contribution, the ballad “I Miss the Music,” has been interpreted as a moving tribute from him to his songwriting partner of 40 years.
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