Alan Jay Lerner (1918-1986) and Frederick Loewe (1910-1988) were one of America’s most successful Broadway teams. Lerner wrote the lyric, the words to the song, and Loewe wrote the music. Lerner also often wrote the “book,” the story and dialogue for the musical.
They met in New York City in 1942. Their first show was Life of the Party, written for a Detroit stock company in 1942. What’s Up? Had a short Broadway run in 1943, as did The Day Before Spring in 1945.
Brigadoon, which opened on Broadway on March 13, 1947, was their first real hit. It ran for 581 performances, a long run for the time. It won a Tony for Agnes De Mille’s choreography. It also received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. It was adapted as a film – in a greatly re-written form – in 1954.
Their next Broadway show was 1951’s Paint Your Wagon, another major success. Then came My Fair Lady, opening on Broadway on March 15, 1956. It broke all existing musical records, running for 2,717 performances over nine years.
Lerner and Loewe collaborated on the script and music for the film Gigi in 1958. It won that year’s Academy Award for Best Picture.
Their last major stage show was Camelot, which opened on Broadway on December 3rd of 1960 and ran for 873 performances.
Lerner also worked with other music writers. He and Kurt Weill wrote Love Life in 1948. He wrote the story, screenplay, and lyrics for the film Royal Wedding. His story and screenplay for the 1951 film An American in Paris won him an Oscar.
Loewe suffered a heart attack in 1958, and officially retired when Camelot opened. Lerner said of him at the time: “There will never be another Fritz. Writing will never again be as much fun. A collaboration as intense as our inescapably had to be complex. But I loved him more than I understood or misunderstood him, and I know he loved me more than he understood or misunderstood me.”
