Milton Schafer

{{Short description|American musician (1920–2020)}}

Milton Schafer (September 24, 1920 – April 12, 2020[https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Broadway-Composer-Milton-Schafer-Has-Passed-Away-20200427 Broadway Composer Milton Schafer Has Passed Away]: Broadway World. Retrieved May 12, 2020.) was an American composer and pianist. After being a runner-up for first prize in the Texas-based national guild of piano teachers competition, Schafer continued his studies for a year in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He returned to the U.S. to give his Town Hall début as a pianist in 1950, receiving very favorable reviews and performed there again in 1954.

He worked as musical assistant (accompanist and adviser) to Bob Merrill ("(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?") for two years and after a stint at MGM in Hollywood, Vernon Duke signed him as a composer with Frank Loesser's publishing company, Frank Music. {{Citation needed|date=December 2012}}

His first (unproduced) musical was The Happy Time based on Samuel Taylor's play (and not Kander and Ebb’s later musical of the same name), for which he wrote both lyrics and music. This was followed by an album of children’s songs recorded by Danny Kaye, called Mommy Gimme a Drinka Water{{cite book|first=Steven|last=Suskin|title=Broadway Yearbook 2001-2002: A Relevant and Irreverent Record|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=in2on7YbNfwC&pg=PA41|accessdate=October 9, 2012|date=May 29, 2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-515877-9|page=41}} for which he also wrote music and lyrics. His first produced musical was Bravo Giovanni!{{cite book|first=Jerry|last=Osborne|title=Movie/TV Soundtracks and Original Cast Recordings Price and Reference Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMVP0SX35wAC&pg=PA1982-IA3|accessdate=October 9, 2012|date=November 2002|publisher=Jerry Osborne Enterprises|isbn=978-0-932117-37-3|page=79}} which was nominated for a Tony in 1962, and which starred Cesare Siepi and Michele Lee. This was followed in 1965 by Drat! The Cat!{{cite book|first=Tom|last=Shea|title=Broadway's Most Wanted™: The Top 10 Book of Dynamic Divas, Surefire Showstoppers, and Box-Office Busts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ktT8Vg4atkkC&pg=PT133|accessdate=October 9, 2012|date=September 30, 2004|publisher=Potomac Books, Inc.|isbn=978-1-61234-033-3|page=133}} starring Elliott Gould and Lesley Ann Warren, with lyrics and book by Ira Levin, from which score Barbra Streisand recorded “He Touched Me”{{cite book|first=James|last=Trager|title=The New York Chronology: The Ultimate Compendium of Events, People, and Anecdotes from the Dutch to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xvGhQoNT27IC&pg=PA661|accessdate=9 October 2012|date=26 October 2004|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-074062-7|page=661}} (originally titled She Touched Me).