Charles Strouse, composer of ‘Annie’ and ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’ dies at 96 : NPR

Broadway composer Charles Strouse in New York Metropolis in 2011. Strouse died Thursday, Might 15, 2025, at 96.

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Andy Kropa/Getty Pictures

Broadway composer Charles Strouse in New York Metropolis in 2011. Strouse died Thursday, Might 15, 2025, at 96.

Andy Kropa/Getty Pictures

Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Charles Strouse has died. The creator of the hit musicals Bye Bye Birdie, Applause and Annie died at his dwelling in New York Metropolis on Thursday, in line with a press launch shared with NPR by The Press Room. Strouse was 96.

His 4 youngsters, Benjamin, Nicholas, Victoria, and William, shared the information of his passing. He was predeceased by his spouse, choreographer Barbara Siman, in 2023 after six a long time of marriage.

Strouse was a musical chameleon, stated theater historian Laurence Maslon. “Strouse was an incredible craftsperson. He adopted and tailored his vocabulary to regardless of the wants of the actual style had been.”

He might write songs within the type of early rock and roll, like “One Final Kiss” from Bye Bye Birdie, or Despair-Period New York, like “You are By no means Totally Dressed With out A Smile” in Annie, or ultra-groovy Seventies New York, as in “However Alive” from Applause.

Strouse was classically educated on the Eastman Faculty of Music in Rochester, New York, and labored with American composer Aaron Copland. He was making a dwelling taking part in rehearsal piano for Broadway exhibits till a stage supervisor who wished to be a producer approached him, as he advised NPR in 2008.

“And he stated to me, ‘I hear you write music,'” Strouse recounted. “And I stated, ‘Sure, I do.’ He stated, ‘I’ve an concept for a present about youngsters, would you have an interest?’ I stated, ‘Would I!'”

The present was Bye Bye Birdie. It opened in 1960 and, though the New York Occasions panned it (calling it “neither fish nor fowl nor good musical comedy”), the present grew to become an unlimited hit, profitable the Tony for Finest Musical. And since then, it has been some of the carried out exhibits in group theaters and excessive faculties.

“It is a fantastic feeling. And I’m modest, although not humbled in any manner,” Strouse advised NPR. “However I am a really fortunate man.”

Although he suffered a string of flops afterwards, Strouse had one other Tony Award-winning smash in 1970 with Applause, a musical model of All About Eve.

Strouse heard much more applause, and in 1977, he received a Tony Award for finest rating, with Annie, based mostly on the cartoon “Little Orphan Annie.” He stated the best-known music from that rating, “Tomorrow,” was written in rehearsal, simply to cowl a set change.

“She discovered the canine and he or she needed to, in 12 seconds, as an example, get again to the orphanage,” he defined. “So, we wanted a music there.”

Andrea McArdle was 12 years previous when she starred in Annie. “My favourite factor was to hearken to him play his songs,” McArdle stated. “Not each composer is as charming as Charles Strouse is when he performs his music.”

Strouse stored working into his 80s on new initiatives, at a time when most creators would have been glad resting on their laurels.

“I really like composing, I adore it,” Strouse stated. “You realize, and if I am not composing, if I haven’t got a brand new challenge or one thing, I am moderately at a lack of what to do.”