Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Charles Strouse has died. The creator of the hit musicals Bye Bye Birdie, Applause and Annie died at his home in New York City on Thursday, according to a press release shared with NPR by The Press Room. Strouse was 96.
His four children, Benjamin, Nicholas, Victoria, and William, shared the news of his passing. He was predeceased by his wife, choreographer Barbara Siman, in 2023 after six decades of marriage.
Strouse was a musical chameleon, said theater historian Laurence Maslon. "Strouse was a great craftsperson. He adopted and adapted his vocabulary to whatever the needs of the particular genre were."
He could write songs in the style of early rock and roll, like "One Last Kiss" from Bye Bye Birdie, or Depression-Era New York, like "You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile" in Annie, or ultra-groovy 1970s New York, as in "But Alive" from Applause.