Think Audio: 'Superman' Composer Charles Strouse

by Jerome Weeks 23 Jun 2010 4:22 PM

North Texas has something of a mini-Charles Strouse festival going on. The Broadway composer is represented here by Lyric Stage’s revival of ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’ his first big hit from 1960, and the Dallas Theater Center’s new, revised version of ‘It’s a Bird.. It’s a Plane… It’s Superman’ — opening Friday. Jerome Weeks, guest-hosting on Think for Krys Boyd, talks with Strouse about rock ‘n’ roll, comic books, Latin rhythms and Krypton lullabies.

A scene from the 1966 Broadway show, It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman

North Texas has something of a mini-Charles Strouse festival going on. The Broadway composer is represented here by Lyric Stage’s full-orchestra revival of Bye Bye Birdie, his first big hit from 1960, and the Dallas Theater Center’s new, revised version of one of his near-misses, the 1966 musical, It’s a Bird.. It’s a Plane… It’s Superman — which opens Friday.

Jerome Weeks, guest-hosting on Think for Krys Boyd, talks with Strouse about the rock ‘n roll influence on Birdie, the four new numbers he’s added to Superman (including a Krypton lullaby and the Boy Scout pledge set to music) and setting the musical back into 1939 — making this Strouse’s second musical, after Annie, that’s set in the Depression and the New Deal.