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Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American Broadway lyricist and librettist.

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Life & Works

Lerner was born in New York City on August 31, 1918, the son of Joseph Jay Lerner, the wealthy owner of a chain of dress stores (the Lerner Stores). He was educated at Bedales School, Choate Rosemary Hall, and Harvard. One of Lerner's school friends was John F. Kennedy. Lerner wrote for the Harvard annual musicals and produced radio scripts after college.

In 1942 he was introduced to Austrian composer Frederick Loewe, who needed a lyricist for an out-of-town musical. The Lerner/Loewe collaboration had begun. Their first major hit was Brigadoon (1947), a romantic fantasy set in a mystical Scottish village, directed by Robert Lewis. In 1951 they wrote the less successful Paint Your Wagon. That same year Lerner wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for An American in Paris. He had also written with Kurt Weill (the stage musical Love Life) and Burton Lane (the movie musical Royal Wedding).

After years of dead ends and only one true hit, Lerner and Loewe unveiled their masterpiece, My Fair Lady, in 1956. Their adaptation of Pygmalion retained George Bernard Shaw's social commentary, and added unusally appropriate songs for the characters of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, played originally by Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. My Fair Lady set box-office records in New York and London; the eventual movie version won seven Oscars. Lerner and Loewe's next work was the film musical hit Gigi. Their partnership cracked during the stress of Camelot in 1960, with Loewe resisting Lerner's desire to direct as well as write. Camelot was a hit nonetheless, with a poignant coda; immediately following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, his widow told Life Magazine that JFK's administration reminded her of the "one brief shining moment" of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot. To this day Camelot is invoked to describe the idealism, romance and tragedy of the Kennedy years.

Loewe retired to Palm Springs, California while Lerner went through a series of unsuccessful musicals with such esteemed composers as Andre Previn (Coco), John Barry (Lolita, My Love), Leonard Bernstein (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue), and Charles Strouse (Dance a Little Closer). The latter (nickamed "Close A Little Faster" by Broadway wags), based on the film, Idiot's Delight, closed after its first performance. In 1974 Lerner coaxed Fritz Loewe out of retirement to write the score for a musical film version of The Little Prince, based on the beloved children's tale by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This film was a critical and box office failure, but has become a cult favorite, with the soundtrack recording and the film itself back in print (on CD and DVD) after many years of being unavailable.

At the time of Lerner's death he had just begun to write lyrics for The Phantom of the Opera (Charles Hart took over), and he had turned down an invitation to write the English-language lyrics for the musical version of Les Miserables. He had also been working on a musical version of the classic film My Man Godfrey. In 1978 he published his autobiography, The Street Where I Live.

Throughout Lerner's career, his lyrics captured a sense of romantic yearning, and included witty references and occasional double entendres. His librettos had smart one-liners but, with the exception of My Fair Lady and Brigadoon, were structurally flawed.

Lerner was a handsome, sophisticated gentleman with an addictive personality; for over 20 years he battled an amphetamine addiction, and Lerner would marry eight times (one ex-wife quipped, "Marriage is Alan's way of saying goodbye"). The drugs and divorces cost him much of his wealth. When he died, he reportedly owed the IRS over $1,000,000 (USD) in back taxes. Yet the only thing most remember about Lerner are his lyrics, among the most literate and passionate in 20th century popular music.

He died in Manhattan at the age of 67, on 14 June, 1986, from lung cancer.

Alan Jay Lerner is the author of the magisterial book The Musical Theatre: A Celebration, published in 1986 and now out of print. He was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1971

Broadway Productions

(All shows with music by Frederick Loewe, unless otherwise noted.)

Films

(This listing does not include later films which used Lerner's songs as incidental music.)

External links

1918 births | 1986 deaths | Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters | American songwriters | American lyricists | American biographers | American Theatre Hall of Fame inductees | Musical theatre librettists | Musical theatre lyricists | People from New York City

Alan Jay Lerner | Alan Jay Lerner

 

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