Betty Comden, born in Brooklyn in 1917, was an American lyricist, screenwriter, and actress. She is best known for her work with Adolph Green, with whom she collaborated on numerous musicals and films.
Comden and Green met in 1938 while both were studying at New York University, and began writing together shortly thereafter. Their first Broadway credit was for On the Town, a musical about three sailors on a 24-hour leave in New York City. The show premiered in 1944 and was a huge success, cementing Comden and Green's place in the world of musical theater.
Comden and Green went on to ... read more
George Abbott was a renowned American theater director, producer, playwright, and actor who is known for his significant contributions to the American theater. Born on June 25, 1887, in Forestville, New York, Abbott began his career in the theater as an actor, but eventually became a successful producer and director.
Abbott's Broadway career spanned over seven decades, during which he produced and directed more than 100 Broadway productions, wrote over 30 plays and musicals, and acted in several productions. He made his Broadway debut as an actor in 1913 in The Misleading Lady and later went on to produce and direct ... read more
Philip J. Lang was a musician, composer and music educator who taught at the graduate schools of music at the University of Michigan and the University of Colorado and was the orchestrator of more than 50 Broadway musicals including My Fair Lady and Camelot (with Robert Russell Bennett); Annie Get Your Gun; Applause; Hello, Dolly!; Carnival; and 42nd Street. Mr. Lang was an orchestrator for the Metropolitan Opera and a frequent musical arranger for television including Hallmark Productions, David Susskind, Radio City Music Hall and "The Tonight Show." ... read more
JEROME ROBBINS (born 11 October 1918 in New York City) was the younger of two children of Harry Rabinowitz, who emigrated to America from Poland in 1904, and his wife Lena Rips. Rabinowitz was at first a shopkeeper with a delicatessen on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; in the 1920’s he moved the family to Jersey City and then to Weehawken, New Jersey, where he and a brother-in-law established the Comfort Corset Company. Young Jerome, who showed an early aptitude for music, dancing, and theatrics, attended schools in Weehawken and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1935. Intending ... read more
