With All Due Kander
As I've mentioned in the past, I went to summer camp with a friend named John Kander, who's the nephew of Broadway composer John Kander (who also went to Camp Nebagamon). The other day, John II sent me a video of his uncle being honored last Friday with a street in the theater district being named "Kander & Ebb Way" (The late Fred Ebb being his longtime lyricist writing partner.)
The timing was done in relation to a new musical he'd just completed -- which isn't shabby for anyone, but especially when you're 96. The show is a stage version of the 1977 movie New York, New York for which he and Ebb wrote the songs (including, of course, the famous title song). A totally new book has been written, and new songs have been added. To collaborate on the new songs, Kander teamed up with Lin-Manuel Miranda -- with whom he's had some other recent collaborations, including a sort of "after-the-fact" song for Hamilton, that I posted here.
The ceremony was affectionate, with comments made by Mayor Eric Adams, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Kander, among others, and ended with a performance of "New York, New York" performed by the Manhattan School of Music.
For those interested, here's the video of it. I'm posting it for a reason which I'll get to in a moment --
And I mention this because what leaps out to me the most and I find so wonderful, is that John Kander is one of the great composers in Broadway history -- he’s written Cabaret, Chicago, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Woman of the Year, Zorba and so many more, has won Tony Awards, is in the Songwriters Hall of Fame and received the Kennedy Center Honors -- he’s now 96 years old -- and...and I will bet that this is the first time he’s ever been a guest on a network late night talk show! I think that’s great. It’s about time. Better late than never…
By the way, pretty good writing a new musical at 96.
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