Songwriting Partners Charles Strouse, Lee Adams in Legal Dispute Over Rights

Composer Charles Strouse and lyricist Lee Adams were a pair of unknowns in 1960 when their Tony-winning musical BYE, BYE, BIRDIE, took Broadway by storm by spoofing the fairly new music craze called rock and roll.

They followed-up with ALL-AMERICAN, which included the now-standard "Once Upon A Time," and more popular shows like GOLDEN BOY, IT'S A BIRD... IT'S A PLANE... IT'S SUPERMAN and another Best Musical Tony-winner, APPLAUSE.

But the pair's last two collaborations, A BROADWAY MUSICAL and BRING BACK BIRDIE, closed quickly and Strouse found mega-success composing the score of ANNIE with lyricist Martin Charnin.

The New York Post reports that the former songwriting partners are in a legal dispute over the rights to Adams' work in three of their musicals.

In Manhattan Civil Court papers Strouse says that in 1979 he accepted Adams' offer to buy the lyricists' rights to APPLAUSE and GOLDEN BOY. Eight years later Adams sold Strouse his rights to BYE, BYE BIRDIE.

The Post reports that Adams has begun an arbitration process, claiming those two agreements have expired.

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Stars Chita Rivera, Dick Van Dyke, Paul Lynde, Dick Gautier and Susan Watson performed selections from BYE, BYE, BIRDIE on "The Ed Sullivan Show" during its Broadway run.