Musical Theatre
Legrand composed the score for the musical Amour, which premiered in 2002 on Broadway and was translated into English by Jeremy Sams and was directed by James Lapine. This musical was his Broadway debut, and while it ran for only 17 performances and 31 previews, it garnered a loyal fan base due to its much-praised cast album on Ghostlight Records, and subsequent multiple Tony Award nominations (2003), including Best Score for Michel Legrand and Best Actress for its leading actress Melissa Errico.
Legrand continued his collaboration with Errico to the present day, appearing at such jazz venues as Dizzy's at Lincoln Center. Though he has rarely done this for any solo artist, Michel Legrand arranged, conducted and accompanied Errico with a 100-piece symphony on her CD "Legrand Affair" (released in October 2011 on Ghostlight Records) featuring his songs, hidden French gems, as well as one new song with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The CD was produced by Phil Ramoneand is featured in Ramone's biography "Making Records."
The world premiere of the new musical Marguerite from Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, the creators of Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, included music by Michel Legrand and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Marguerite is set during World War II in occupied Paris, and was inspired by the romantic novel La Dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. It premiered in May 2008 at the Haymarket Theatre, London and was directed by Jonathan Kent.
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Famous quotes containing the words musical and/or theatre:
“Then, bringing me the joy we feel when wee see a work by our favorite painter which differs from any other that we know, or if we are led before a painting of which we have until then only seen a pencil sketch, if a musical piece heard only on the piano appears before us clothed in the colors of the orchestra, my grandfather called me the [hawthorn] hedge at Tansonville, saying, “You who are so fond of hawthorns, look at this pink thorn, isn’t it lovely?””
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“I think theatre should always be somewhat suspect.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)