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The Broadway composer Charles Strouse wrote music for shows such as “Applause” and “Bye Bye Birdie,” and the theme to Norman Lear’s “All in the Family,” but he is best known for the musical “Annie”—that gateway drug into musical theatre for generations of children. Strouse died last week at ninety-six. In one of Strouse’s final interviews, from 2023, The New Yorker Radio Hour’s Jeffrey Masters joined him at his Manhattan apartment, crowded with boxes, as he sorted through old papers and mementos in preparation for donating his archives to the Library of Congress. In their conversation, he reflected on Jay-Z, who helped produce a 2014 film remake of “Annie,” and his rivalry with Stephen Sondheim, a composer who received more critical plaudits. “Stephen and I were friendly enemies,” Strouse remarked. “He didn’t like me much. I didn’t like him less.” Strouse remained nimble enough on the piano for a rendition of his classic earworm “Tomorrow.” “It’s a funny thing about composing,” Strouse said. “It comes from your heart, in a way, but it really comes from nowhere. It’s God-given. I would think that’s a God-given gift that I’ve been fortunate enough to get.”
This segment originally aired on January 20, 2023.
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