Composer Strouse Falls Ill While Accepting Philadelphia Award

The Philadelphia Daily News is reporting that 81-year old composer Charles Strouse took ill while in Philadelphia yesterday to accept a lifetime achievement award at the Arts Bank in Philadelphia. Strouse had attended "By Strouse" a tribute show and then was scheduled to do a talkback and to perform a couple of his songs.

The paper reports that 'Katz said that Hoffman had begun interviewing Strouse on the intimate stage of the Arts Bank, at Broad and South streets, in South Philadelphia, when at about 3:30 p.m. Strouse began "shaking" and looked "visibly sick, visibly ill."

After an ambulance was called, Strouse was taken to Pennsylvania Hospital, Katz said. Katz said that Strouse was in stable condition, but was to be kept at the hospital overnight. He is expected to return home to New York today'

By Strouse is a tuneful Broadway music revue of the songs of award-winning composer Charles Strouse. Most known for writing the scores to such illustrious hits as Annie, Bye Bye Birdie, Applause, Golden Boy, as well as the theme to the hit sitcom All in the Family, Charles Strouse has been a fixture of Broadway and Hollywood for over 50 years. By Strouse celebrates Strouse's career both with the songs you already love and some lost chestnuts that are sure to become new favorites. The revue features direction by Peter Reynolds (artistic director of Mauckingbird Theatre Company and the Director of Musical Theater for Temple University). The four-person case includes some of Philadelphia's best singers and actors and is sure to have you singing along in your seat!

Charles Strouse's impressive body of work has been an integral part of American culture for over 40 years. His autobiography, Put on a Happy Face: A Broadway Memoir, was released in June 2008. The original Bye Bye Birdie won him a Tony Award for best score and paved the way for his next show, All American (book by Mel Brooks). In 1964, Golden Boy (starring Sammy Davis, Jr.) earned four Tony Award nominations, and in 1970, Applause (starring Lauren Bacall) won him his second Tony. Mr. Strouse's 1977 hit, Annie, became a worldwide phenomenon and garnered another Tony and two GRAMMY® Awards. His other musicals include It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman, Dance A Little Closer (lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner), Charlie and Algernon (Tony nomination), Rags (Tony nomination), and Nick & Nora (Tony nomination). Film scores include Bonnie & Clyde, There Was a Crooked Man, The Night They Raided Minsky's, and All Dogs Go to Heaven.