Seymour Kaufman (aka Cy Coleman) was born
in New York City (okay, the Bronx, but doesn't that count?),
on June 14, 1929.
His mom and dad owned an apartment building,
and when one of the tenants moved out, leaving a piano,
4 year old Seymour made it his own.
Just 3 years later, this prodigy made his Carnegie Hall debut.
Jazz entered the picture in high school,
and soon Cy (and the Cy Coleman Trio)
were performing gigs in nightclubs and cocktail lounges...
that's Our Guy, Cy!
And yes, he composed one song that became known
as the "Playboy Theme Song".
Of course, you can still buy the trio's recordings,
just jump on Amazon!
Carolyn Leigh was Cy's second collaborator
(that's her, wearing her signature loops of pearls below).
Their writing relationship has been described as
"stormy", with "prickly" and "combative"
thrown in for good measure!
But together they did manage to write some very
successful pop songs,
notably "The Best Is Yet To Come" and "Witchcraft",
and two musicals:
Little Me (above and below) with Sid Caesar,
Nancy Andrews, and Virginia Martin in 1962, and...
... Wildcat, 1960,
with Lucille Ball.
Wildcat was supposed to star a 20-something heroine,
but when Lucy heard about it,
she wanted in
(financially and star-ally! is that a word??).
So Wildcat Jackson became 49, overnight!
Below Lucy with Don Tomkins...
... and with leading man, Keith Andes
(tho Lucy initially wanted Kirk Douglas. Who wouldn't?).
Below, with Edith King as The Countess.
Reviews weren't great, and then Lucy collapsed on stage.
After she left the show, the show left Broadway!
Barnum (1980) was the product of
Cy working with lyricist Michael Stewart.
It starred Jim Dale and Glenn Close,
and though it's certainly not MY favorite Coleman show,
it was a big hit with audiences,
and ran for over 800 performances.
Yup, that's Glenn as P.T.'s long-suffering wife, Charity Barnum.
The production also had some super
Joe Layton direction and choreography...
and replacing Jim Dale for a time was
(Ta Dah!) Tony Orlando???
My favorite Cy Coleman show is
City Of Angels,
a noir L.A. detective (if two-faced) musical with
Cy returning to his jazzy roots,
and teaming up with David Zippel and his insanely clever lyrics.
It starred James Naughton, Gregg Edelman,
Dee Hoty, Randy Graff, and Kay McClelland.
Best Musical of 1990,
and another 5 Tonys, including one for Best Score.
Oh, and not to forget
Rene Auberjonois as Buddy Fiddler,
producer/director who can't stop fiddling with those screenplays!
"The Buddy System"
Below, Dee and James sort of playing tennis.
For On The Twentieth Century, 1978,
Cy collaborated with that
Comden and Green Lyric Writing Machine!
At first Coleman didn't want to do this show:
"I didn't want to do twenties pastiche
– there was too much of that
around.
But when I realized the main characters had these
larger-than-life personalities, I thought – ah, comic opera!"
What a cast!
John Cullum, Madeline Kahn, Imogene Coca,
Kevin Kline, and a great supporting cast.
Judy Kaye replaced Madeline when she left after 9 weeks,
with damaged vocal chords.
No Best Musical Tony, but 5 in all,
and ANOTHER Best Score Award.
Probably the best known of the Coleman catalogue,
Sweet Charity opened on Broadway in 1966,
Cy worked on this show with Dorothy Fields (lyrics),
Neil Simon (book),
and Bob Fosse (direction/choreography).
Surprisingly, with alllll of the Tony nominations it received,
it won only 1, for Fosse's choreography.
Even Gwen Verdon's star turn was snubbed.
Rich Man's Frug above,
and love those specs!
The film, done in 1969, starred Shirley MacClaine,
John McMartin (who returned as Oscar)
and Sammy Davis Jr., who played Big Daddy
(love the Nehru jacket!).
From noir film music to circus to country to rhythm and blues,
Cy could change up his Broadway style to fit a show's needs.
He could write those BIG star turns,
("Hey Look Me Over", "If My Friends Could See Me Now")
those lovely intimate moments
("With Every Breath I Take", "The Colors Of My Life")
and cute character ditties
("The Prince's Farewell", "You Can Always Count On Me").
And prolific. Always working.
Even in that last week, he was creating a new musical,
revising older projects and
seeing new performances.
1929 - 2004
