One of the greatest tragedies to befall the American theater was the death of Jerry Ross on November 11, 1955 at the age of 29. Ross, a supremely talented lyricist and songwriter, along with his writing partner, Richard Adler, created two of our most famous musicals, The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees. Not only were they both amazingly successful, each running for more than 1000 performances and adding many hit songs to the American Songbook, but they were produced within a year of each other, in 1955 and 1956. Both were made into successful movies and are being staged even today all over America. One can only imagine what theatrical treasures we would have today if Jerry Ross had lived. If you are at all fans of American musicals, I encourage you to visit YouTube and watch the San Jose Children's Theater version of "You've Gotta Have Heart" and the Stratford High School version of "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo." I predict they will make your day.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
What a loss.
One of the greatest tragedies to befall the American theater was the death of Jerry Ross on November 11, 1955 at the age of 29. Ross, a supremely talented lyricist and songwriter, along with his writing partner, Richard Adler, created two of our most famous musicals, The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees. Not only were they both amazingly successful, each running for more than 1000 performances and adding many hit songs to the American Songbook, but they were produced within a year of each other, in 1955 and 1956. Both were made into successful movies and are being staged even today all over America. One can only imagine what theatrical treasures we would have today if Jerry Ross had lived. If you are at all fans of American musicals, I encourage you to visit YouTube and watch the San Jose Children's Theater version of "You've Gotta Have Heart" and the Stratford High School version of "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo." I predict they will make your day.
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