How Songwriting Duo Kander And Ebb Modernized The American Musical
Composer John Kander, left, and lyricist Fred Ebb are shown at the piano at Ebb’s New York City apartment on Feb. 25, 1991. K
The names Kander and Ebb may not be as familiar as Rodgers and Hammerstein or Lerner and Lowe, but the duo is seminal in the development of American musical theatre.
During their decades-long collaboration, John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the hit musicals “Chicago” and “Cabaret,” as well as their biggest single hit, “New York, New York.”
On “City Lights,” contributor Adam Koplan called Kander and Ebb “the inheritors and embodiers of this very old tradition” going back to George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin.
“But,” Koplan continued, “they have also been consistent innovators in how music is used, how songs are thought of and conceived, within musicals.”
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