Mitch Leigh
Mitch Leigh | |
---|---|
Born | Irwin Michnick (1928-01-30)January 30, 1928 Brooklyn, New York |
Died | March 16, 2014(2014-03-16) (aged 86) New York, New York |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Yale University (1951) |
Occupation | composer |
Years active | 1951–2014 |
Known for | musical Man of La Mancha |
Relatives | Eve, David, Andy (children) |
Awards | Tony Award Contemporary Classics Award |
Mitch Leigh (born Irwin Michnick; January 30, 1928 – March 16, 2014) was an American musical theatre composer and theatrical producer best known for the musical Man of La Mancha.
Biography
Early years
Leigh was born in Brooklyn, New York as Irwin Michnick. He graduated from Yale in 1951 with a Bachelor of Music, and in 1952 received his Master of Music[1] under Paul Hindemith.
He began his career as a jazz musician, and writing commercials for radio and television. On the 1955 LP recording of Jean Shepherd Into the Unknown with Jazz Music Leigh wrote the jazz interludes between radio broadcaster Jean Shepherd's improvisations.
Broadway
In 1965, Leigh collaborated with lyricist Joe Darion and writer Dale Wasserman to write a musical based on Wasserman's 1959 television play, I, Don Quixote. The resulting show, the musical Man of La Mancha opened on Broadway in 1965 and in its original engagement ran for 2,328 performances. It has been revived multiple times.
Leigh followed with the show Chu Chem, which he also produced, exactly a year after Man of La Mancha, but closed on the road. It finally opened on Broadway in 1989 but ran for only 68 performances.
Cry for Us All, based on the play, Hogan's Goat, opened on Broadway in 1970; it ran for only nine performances. Leigh was the producer as well as composer.[2] His musical Home Sweet Homer, starring Yul Brynner, officially opened on Broadway in January 1976 but closed after one performance. He produced and wrote the music for Saravá which ran for 101 performances in 1979. Leigh both produced and directed the 1985 revival of The King and I starring Brynner featuring in his final performances as the King of Siam.[citation needed]
Lee Adams asked Leigh to collaborate on a musical titled Mike, about producer Mike Todd, but it closed during its pre-Broadway tryout in 1988. After renaming it Ain't Broadway Grand!, the show made it to Broadway in 1993, but lasted only 25 performances.[3] He wrote the musical Halloween with Sidney Michaels, and although Barbara Cook and José Ferrer were in the cast, it did not reach Broadway.[4]
Television
Leigh established Music Makers, Inc., in 1957 as a radio and television commercial production house and was its creative director.[5] His television music included the instrumental music for the ABC Color Logo (1962–65);[6] the TV commercial jingle "Nobody Doesn't Like Sara Lee";[7][8] the Meet the Swinger Polaroid Swinger commercial sung by Barry Manilow; and the Benson & Hedges theme "The Dis-Advantages of You," which reached the Top 40 for The Brass Ring in 1967[9][10] and was heard in a series of Benson & Hedges cigarette commercials at that time.[11][12]
Academic legacy
In 1977, Leigh and others at the Yale School of Music established the Keith Wilson scholarship, to be awarded "to an outstanding major in wind instrument playing." A building in The School of Music at Yale University was named "Abby and Mitch Leigh Hall" in 2001.[13]
Death
Leigh died in Manhattan on March 16, 2014, from natural causes at the age of 86.[14]
Awards
Leigh won a Tony Award for composing the music for Man of La Mancha. He was also nominated for a Tony Award as the director of the 1985 revival of The King and I. He received the Contemporary Classics Award from the Songwriter's Hall of Fame for "The Impossible Dream".[5]
References
- ^ YAM March 2001 - Who's Been Blue Archived 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Suskin, Steven."Mitch Leigh's Cry For Us All Comes to CD, Plus Kitty's Kisses" Archived 2010-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, playbill.com, October 25, 2009
- ^ [1] Archived October 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Weber, Bruce (2011-05-02). "Sidney Michaels, 83, Author Of Hit Broadway Shows - Obituary (Obit); Biography - NYTimes.com". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
- ^ a b Baker, Dorie. "Composer Mitch Leigh Endows Chair in Jazz at Yale" (Press release). Yale University Office of Public Affairs. Archived from the original on 2010-07-15. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
- ^ ABC - Network ID - 1960s - YouTube
- ^ Classic Sara Lee Commercial, YouTube
- ^ "Advertising Jingle Music Folio Books", classicthemes.com, accessed February 9, 2010
- ^ "The Dis-Advantages of You," The Brass Ring, 1967, YouTube
- ^ The Brass Ring, "The Dis-Advantages of You," 1967, YouTube
- ^ Vintage Benson & Hedges 1960s Cigarette TV Commercials, YouTube
- ^ The Disadvantages with the Benson & Hedges 100's, YouTube
- ^ "Yale School of Music Names Building in Honor of Mitch and Abby Leigh" Archived 2010-07-27 at the Wayback Machine, opa.yale.edu, September 7, 2001
- ^ "Mitch Leigh, Who Composed ‘Man of La Mancha,’ Dies at 86". The New York Times. March 17, 2014. Retrieved on December 25, 2016.
External links
- Mitch Leigh at IMDb
- Mitch Leigh at the Internet Broadway Database
- Mitch Leigh at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- v
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- Street Scene by Kurt Weill (1947)
- Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter (1949)
- South Pacific by Richard Rodgers (1950)
- Call Me Madam by Irving Berlin (1951)
- No Strings by Richard Rodgers (1962)
- Oliver! by Lionel Bart (1963)
- Hello, Dolly! by Jerry Herman (1964)
- Fiddler on the Roof by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (1965)
- Man of La Mancha by Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion (1966)
- Cabaret by John Kander and Fred Ebb (1967)
- Hallelujah, Baby! by Jule Styne, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green (1968)
- Company by Stephen Sondheim (1971)
- Follies by Stephen Sondheim (1972)
- A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim (1973)
- Gigi by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner (1974)
- The Wiz by Charlie Smalls (1975)
- A Chorus Line by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban (1976)
- Annie by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin (1977)
- On the Twentieth Century by Cy Coleman, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green (1978)
- Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim (1979)
- Evita by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (1980)
- Woman of the Year by John Kander and Fred Ebb (1981)
- Nine by Maury Yeston (1982)
- Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber and T. S. Eliot (1983)
- La Cage aux Folles by Jerry Herman (1984)
- Big River by Roger Miller (1985)
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Rupert Holmes (1986)
- Les Misérables by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer, and Alain Boublil (1987)
- Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim (1988)
- No Award (1989)
- City of Angels by Cy Coleman and David Zippel (1990)
- The Will Rogers Follies by Cy Coleman, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green (1991)
- Falsettos by William Finn (1992)
- Kiss of the Spider Woman by John Kander and Fred Ebb / The Who's Tommy by Pete Townshend (1993)
- Passion by Stephen Sondheim (1994)
- Sunset Boulevard by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, and Christopher Hampton (1995)
- Rent by Jonathan Larson (1996)
- Titanic by Maury Yeston (1997)
- Ragtime by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (1998)
- Parade by Jason Robert Brown (1999)
- Aida by Elton John and Tim Rice (2000)
- The Producers by Mel Brooks (2001)
- Urinetown by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis (2002)
- Hairspray by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (2003)
- Avenue Q by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (2004)
- The Light in the Piazza by Adam Guettel (2005)
- The Drowsy Chaperone by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison (2006)
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