Broadway Babies

After Kern, Berlin, Rodgers, Gershwin and Porter, a generation of new composers wrote hit after hit for the Great White Way. On four Monday evenings in March, the American Musicals Project and a cast of Broadway singers honor the song writers who kept the tradition of great American musicals and led Broadway into the second half of the 20th century.

March 1 at 7 p.m.
Harold Rome: He Made the Garment Center Sing
He left the Yale School of Architecture for Tin Pan Alley and gave us Pins and Needles, Wish You Were Here and I Can Get It for You Wholesale. And along the way he wrote Call Me Mister, Fanny and made Barbra Streisand a star. Hear “South America, Take It Away,” “Nobody Makes a Pass at Me,” “All of a Sudden My Heart Sings,” “Miss Marmelstein” and many more.

March 8 at 7 p.m.
Harold Arlen: From Stormy Weather to Over the Rainbow
He started as a jazz singer but soon met lyricists Yip Harburg, Johnny Mercer and Ira Gershwin and gave Broadway and Hollywood hits like “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” “Get Happy” and “Lydia the Tattooed Lady,” plus scores for Bloomer Girl, St Louis Woman and House of Flowers. Historian Richard Furia tells the tale.

March 15 at 7 p.m.
Jule Styne: Everything’s Coming Up Roses
Broadway’s biggest trunk of hit songs belonged to Jule Styne. Trained as a classical musician he became a star composer in Hollywood and then hit his stride on Broadway with fabulous scores for High Button Shoes, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Funny Girl, Bells Are Ringing, Peter Pan and the incomparable Gypsy. Jule Styne was Chicago’s gift to Broadway and the world.

March 22 at 7 p.m. – The American Musicals Project Benefit Gala
Cy Coleman: The Best Gets Better
Starting as one of the best jazz pianists around, Cy Coleman composed hits like “Witchcraft” before creating great scores for Sweet Charity, Little Me, On the 20th Century, The Will Rogers Follies, Wildcat, Barnum, The Life and City of Angels. More is on the way; as his song goes, “The Best Is Yet to Come.” Cy himself takes us there on this gala evening.