John Kander
{{Short description|American musical theatre composer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = John Kander
| image = JohnKander-byPhilipRomano.jpg
| caption = Kander in 2023
| background = non_performing_personnel
| birth_name = John Harold Kander
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1927|03|18}}
| birth_place = Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
| occupation = Composer
| instrument = Piano
| genre = Musical theatre, film, television
| years_active = 1957–present
| associated_acts = Kander and Ebb
| spouse = {{marriage|Albert Stephenson|2010}}
}}
John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927){{Cite book|title = The World of Musical Comedy: The Story of the American Musical Stage as Told through the Careers of Its Foremost Composers and Lyricists|last = Green|first = Stanley|author-link=Stanley Green (historian)|publisher = Da Capo|year = 1984|isbn = 0498023443|location = New York, NY|page = 331}} is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (with lyricist Fred Ebb), Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including Cabaret (1966) and Chicago (1975), both of which were later adapted into acclaimed films. He and Ebb also wrote the standard "New York, New York" (officially known as "Theme from New York, New York"). The team received numerous nominations, including eleven for Tony Awards (won four, followed by a Lifetime Achievement Award for Kander), two nominations for Academy Awards, and five for Golden Globe Awards.
Early life
John Kander, the second son of Harold and Bernice (Aaron) Kander, was born on March 18, 1927, in Kansas City, Missouri.Kander, John, and Fred Ebb with Greg Lawrence. Colored Lights: Forty Years of Words and Music, Show Biz, Collaboration, and All That Jazz. Faber and Faber, 2003, p.3 He has stated that he grew up in a loving, middle-class Jewish family and maintained a lifelong close relationship with his older brother, Edward, who became a sales manager at a brokerage house in the city.Kander, Ebb and Lawrence, pp. 5-7. Kander attributes his early interest in music (starting at age four) to the family's love of singing around the piano.Kander, Ebb and Lawrence, pp. 5-6. His first composition was a Christmas carol, written during second-grade mathematics class; his teacher's encouragement led to the school choir singing it for a holiday assembly.Kander, Ebb and Lawrence, pp. 4-5. The teacher discreetly asked Kander's parents for permission to use the song, since he is Jewish. He attended his first opera performances at the age of nine, when the San Carlo Opera came to Kansas City with productions of Aida and Madama Butterfly. According to Kander, "My mother took me and we sat in the first row. There were these giants on the stage, and my feet were dangling over my seat. It was overwhelming for me, even though I could see the strings that held the beards on the Egyptian soldiers.... My interest in telling a story through music in many ways derived from early experiences like those."{{Cite book|title=Kander and Ebb (Yale Broadway Masters Series)|last=Leve|first=James|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0300114874|location=New Haven|page=12}}
Kander attended Westport High School before transferring to the Pembroke Country-Day School. During World War II, Kander joined the U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps. After completing his training in California and sailing between San Francisco and Asia, Kander left the Corps on May 3, 1946. However, due to rule changes governing national service, Kander was forced to enlist in the Army Reserves in September of the same year, after having completed one semester at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. During the Korean War, Kander was ordered back into active duty, but he had to remain in New York City for six months of observation after a medical exam revealed scars on his lungs. He was officially discharged on July 3, 1957.
Kander graduated with a degree in music at Oberlin College in 1951 and went on to graduate studies at Columbia University, where he was a protégé of Douglas Moore{{NewMusicBox|id=john-kander-passing-through-curtains|title=Passing Through Curtains|composer=John Kander|author=Frank J. Oteri|conducted=April 7, 2010|published=May 1, 2010}} and studied composition with Jack Beeson and Otto Luening. He earned his master's degree from Columbia University in 1953.
Career
Following his studies, Kander began conducting at summer theaters before serving as a rehearsal pianist for the musical West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins in New York. While working, Kander met the choreographer Jerome Robbins, who suggested that Kander compose dance music.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}} After that experience, he wrote dance arrangements for Gypsy in 1959 and Irma la Douce in 1960.{{cite web |url=https://playbill.com/person/john-kander-vault-0000000991 |title=John Kander |website=Playbill |access-date=April 29, 2025}}
Kander's first produced musical was A Family Affair in 1962, written with James and William Goldman. The same year, Kander met Fred Ebb through their mutual publisher, Tommy Volando. The first song Kander and Ebb wrote together, "My Coloring Book", was made popular by a recording from Sandy Stewart. Their second song, "I Don't Care Much", was made famous by Barbra Streisand, and Kander and Ebb became a permanent team.
In 1965, Kander and Ebb wrote music for their first show on Broadway, Flora the Red Menace, produced by Hal Prince, directed by George Abbott, and with book by George Abbott and Robert Russell, in which Liza Minnelli made her Broadway debut.{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/production/flora-the-red-menace-alvin-theatre-vault-0000000893 |title=Flora, the Red Menace Broadway @ Alvin Theatre - Tickets and Discounts |website=Playbill |access-date=January 10, 2018 }}
Kander and Ebb have since been associated with writing material for both Liza Minnelli{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/production/liza-winter-garden-theatre-vault-0000011544 |title=Liza Broadway @ Winter Garden Theatre - Tickets and Discounts |website=Playbill |access-date=January 10, 2018 }}{{cite web |url=http://nymag.com/movies/features/16105/ |title=Suddenly Liza |last=Schillinger |first=Liesl |work=New York |date=February 23, 2006 |publisher=New York Media, LLC |access-date=January 10, 2018 }} and Chita Rivera (including the musicals Zorba, Chicago, The Rink, and Kiss of the Spider Woman) and have produced special material for their appearances live and on television, such as Liza with a Z.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}} Most notably, Kander and Ebb wrote the dramatic title song that Minnelli introduced in her 1977 film, New York, New York, at the request of director Martin Scorsese and co-star Robert De Niro.{{cite episode |type=Radio broadcast |url=https://www.npr.org/2002/01/28/1137093/new-york-new-york |title=New York, New York |first=Jeff |last=Lunden |series=Morning Edition |publisher=NPR |date=January 28, 2002 |access-date=April 29, 2025}}
The Broadway musicals Cabaret and Chicago have been made into films. The film version of Chicago won several 2002 Academy Awards, including for best picture, film editing, costume design, art direction and sound.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/24/movies/chicago-big-oscar-winner-but-pianist-surprises-hollywood-glamour-still-stars.html |title='Chicago' Is Big Oscar Winner, but 'Pianist' Surprises; Hollywood Glamour Still Stars at Ceremony, but Security and War Play Supporting Roles |last=Lyman |first=Rick |date=March 24, 2003 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 10, 2018 }} In his musicological and biographical study of the collaboration of Kander and Ebb, James Leve discusses the full history of Cabaret and Chicago in chapters titled "The Divinely Decadent Lives of Cabaret" and "Chicago: Broadway to Hollywood". As Leve notes, Cabaret, a musical adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's The Berlin Stories, was an "ideal vehicle for Kander and Ebb's brittle and self-referential brand of musical theater."{{Cite book|title=Kander and Ebb|last=Leve|first=James|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-300-11487-4|pages=35}} This insight also holds true for Chicago.
Kander, along with Ebb, also wrote songs for Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, which was set to premiere in London, but the rights were pulled by Wilder's nephew. Kander also says that Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, the writers of The Fantasticks, wrote a musical of Wilder's Our Town, which took them thirteen years to write, only to have the rights pulled as well by the nephew.{{cite web |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/InDepth-InterView-John-Kander-20101102-page2 |title=InDepth InterView: John Kander |last=Cerasaro |first=Pat |date=November 2, 2010 |website=Broadway World |access-date=November 24, 2010 }}
Ebb died in 2004, and Kander's first musical without Ebb in many years, The Landing, with book and lyrics by Greg Pierce, premiered off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre on October 23, 2013.{{cite web |url=http://www.vineyardtheatre.org/john-kander-greg-pierce-and-nicky-silver-announced-for-2013-2014-season/ |title=John Kander, Greg Pierce and Nicky Silver announced for 2013-14 Season |website=Vineyard Theatre |date=April 23, 2013 |access-date=July 4, 2014 }} The musical, which was a series of three "mini-musicals", was directed by Walter Bobbie and starred David Hyde Pierce and Julia Murney.{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/the-verdict-critics-review-john-kander-greg-pierce-musical-the-landing-starring-david-hyde-pierce-off-broadway-com-210923 |title=The Verdict: Critics Review John Kander-Greg Pierce Musical The Landing, Starring David Hyde Pierce, Off-Broadway |date=October 24, 2013 |work=Playbill |access-date=February 1, 2017 }}
Kander's musical Kid Victory, with book and lyrics by Greg Pierce, had its world premiere February 28, 2015, at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia.{{cite news|last1=Clement|first1=Olivia|title=New John Kander Musical Kid Victory Opens Tonight at the Signature|url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/new-john-kander-musical-kid-victory-opens-tonight-at-the-signature-342918|date=February 28, 2015|access-date=February 28, 2015|work=Playbill}} Kid Victory premiered off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre on February 1, 2017, in previews, and opened officially on February 22, 2017. Direction was by Liesl Tommy, with choreography by Christopher Windom. The cast featured Jeffry Denman and Karen Ziemba.{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/john-kanders-kid-victory-musical-opens-off-broadway |title=John Kander's Kid Victory Musical Opens Off-Broadway |last=Clement |first=Olivia |date=February 22, 2017 |work=Playbill |access-date=February 22, 2017 }}
Kander (music) and David Thompson (lyrics) wrote the dance play The Beast in the Jungle, which opened off-Broadway in 2018 at the Vineyard Theatre. The play was directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman, and featured Tony Yazbeck and Irina Dvorovenko.{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/world-premiere-of-beast-in-the-jungle-opens-off-broadway |title=World Premiere of Beast in the Jungle Opens Off-Broadway |last=Clement |first=Olivia |date=May 23, 2018 |work=Playbill |access-date=May 23, 2018 }} Kander (music) collaborated with Lin-Manuel Miranda (lyrics) for Miranda's Hamildrops series: "Cheering for Me Now" is an uplifting track about New York's ratification of the constitution.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lin-manuel-miranda-cheering-for-me-now-video-john-kander-758705/|title=See Lin-Manuel Miranda Celebrate Diversity in 'Cheering for Me Now' Video|last=Legaspi|first=Althea|date=November 17, 2019|magazine=Rolling Stone}}
James Leve discusses Kander's prolific career and his late musical style in the essay "John Kander: the First Ninety-Two Years".{{Cite book|title=The Routledge Companion to the Contemporary Musical|last=Leve|first=James|year=2019|chapter=John Kander: the first Ninety-Two Years}}
Personal life
In 2010, Kander married dancer and choreographer Albert Stephenson, his partner since 1977, in Toronto.{{cite web|url=http://www.timteeman.com/2012/10/16/john-kander-life-is-still-a-cabaret/ |title=John Kander: Life is still a cabaret |last=Teeman |first=Tim |work=The Times |date=October 16, 2012 |access-date=December 2, 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/11/25/457289950/broadway-composer-john-kander-reflects-on-a-career-of-hidden-treasures |title=Broadway Composer John Kander Reflects On A Career Of 'Hidden Treasures' |work=Fresh Air |publisher=NPR |date=November 25, 2015 |access-date=December 2, 2015}} Kander's grand-nephew Jason Kander was formerly the Missouri Secretary of State.{{cite news |last=Newmark |first=Judith |date=June 24, 2012 |title=John Kander brings his memories to Muny's 'Chicago' |url=http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/john-kander-brings-his-memories-to-muny-s-chicago/article_4616ccde-bbc2-11e1-b0cb-0019bb30f31a.html |newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |access-date=December 2, 2015}}
Works
Lyrics by Fred Ebb unless otherwise noted
= Theatre =
- A Family Affair (1962) – lyrics by William Goldman
- Flora the Red Menace (1965)
- Cabaret (1966)
- Go Fly a Kite (1966) – music and lyrics also by Walter Marks
- The Happy Time (1968)
- Zorba (1968)
- 70, Girls, 70 (1971)
- Chicago (1976)
- The Act (1978)
- Woman of the Year (1981)
- The Rink (1984)
- Diamonds (1984) – two songs: "Winter In New York" and "Diamonds Are Forever"
- And The World Goes 'Round (1991)
- Kiss of the Spider Woman (1992)
- Steel Pier (1997)
- Fosse (1999)
- Over and Over (1999) – working title: The Skin Of Our Teeth
- The Visit (2001)
- Curtains (2006) – additional lyrics by Kander{{Cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/with-curtains-kander-writes-a-love-letter-to-theatre-and-to-absent-friends-com-139465|title=With Curtains, Kander Writes a Love Letter to Theatre — and to Absent Friends|first=Kenneth|last=Jones|date=March 22, 2007|website=Playbill}} and Rupert Holmes
- All About Us (2007 revision of Over and Over)
- The Scottsboro Boys (2010) (Additional lyrics by Kander)
- The Landing (2013) - lyrics by Greg Pierce
- Kid Victory (2015) - lyrics by Greg Pierce
- The Beast in the Jungle (2018)
- New York, New York (2023) - lyrics by Fred Ebb with additional lyrics by Lin Manuel Miranda
= Film =
Kander and Ebb also contributed songs for the following movies:
- Cabaret (1972) – 12 songs (mostly originally from the musical of the same name)
- Funny Lady (1975) – 6 songs
- Lucky Lady (1976) – 2 songs
- A Matter of Time, aka Nina (1976) – 2 songs
- New York, New York (1977) – 4 songs
- French Postcards (1979) – 1 song
- Stepping Out (1991) – 1 song ("Stepping Out")
- Chicago (2002) – 15 songs (mostly originally from the musical of the same name, plus one song cut from the original show, which runs under the end credits)
;Film scores
- Something for Everyone (1970)
- Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
- Still of the Night (1982)
- Blue Skies Again (1983)
- Places in the Heart (1984)
- An Early Frost (TV film, NBC, 1985)
- I Want to Go Home (1989)
- Billy Bathgate (1991)
- Breathing Lessons (TV film, CBS, 1994)
- The Boys Next Door (TV film, CBS, 1996)
= Television =
- Liza! (1970)
- Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back (1973) (Frank Sinatra)
- Liza with a Z (1972)
- Gypsy in my Soul (1976) (Shirley MacLaine)
- Baryshnikov on Broadway (1980){{cite web |url=https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/baryshnikov-on-broadway |title=Baryshnikov on Broadway |date=October 23, 2017 |publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |access-date=January 10, 2018 }}
- Liza in London (1986){{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/29/arts/liza-in-london-presented-on-hbo.html |title='LIZA IN LONDON' PRESENTED ON HBO |last=O'Connor |first=John J. |date=May 29, 1986 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 10, 2018 }}
- Sam Found Out, A Triple Play (1988)
- Liza Minnelli, Live From Radio City Music Hall (1992)
Awards and nominations
Honorary awards
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name}}
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{IOBDB name}}
- {{Playbill person|john-kander-vault-0000000991|John Kander}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20120122143616/http://www.playbillvault.com/Person/Detail/991/John-Kander archive])
- [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p39769|pure_url=yes}} Kander biography, AllMusic]
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{{Kennedy Center Honorees 1990s}}
{{National Medal of Arts recipients 2010s}}
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