Biography
Born on 15 January 1911 in New York City, New York, USA, and passing away there on 17 May 2006, Cy Feuer took up the trumpet and trained at the Juilliard School of Music before turning professional. He relocated to Hollywood in 1938, composing scores for Republic Pictures productions and eventually heading the studio’s music department. By the close of the 1940s he had shifted to Broadway, launching his producing career with Frank Loesser’s Where’s Charley? in 1948, which he mounted alongside Ernest H. Martin. The same partnership brought forth Guys And Dolls in 1950, securing the first of three Tony Awards they would share.
Feuer and Martin continued through the mid-1960s with a string of productions, several of them major Broadway successes: Cole Porter’s Can-Can in 1953, Sandy Wilson’s The Boy Friend in 1954, and Porter’s Silk Stockings in 1955, the last of which Feuer also directed. In 1958 he produced and directed Whoop-Up, whose book he wrote with Martin and Dan Cushman from the latter’s novel Stay Away, Joe; Mark “Moose” Charlap and Norman Gimbel supplied the score, and the cast featured Ann Barry, Paul Ford, Susan Johnson and Sylvia Syms in a story set on a reservation.
Early in the following decade Feuer and his partner presented Loesser’s How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying in 1961 and Neil Simon’s Little Me in 1962; Feuer directed the latter and shared libretto credit, while the former earned the team two Tony Awards. He also staged Skyscraper in 1965, whose book by Peter Stone drew on Elmer Rice’s Dream Girl, with music and lyrics by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen and choreography by Michael Kidd, and starring Julie Harris. Walking Happy arrived in 1966, adapted by Roger O. Hirson and Ketti Frings from Harold Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice; Feuer again directed, and Cahn and Van Heusen once more wrote the songs.
He served as producer of the 1972 film version of Cabaret. Although his Broadway activity lessened during the 1970s, Feuer and Martin still mounted The Act in 1977 and I Remember Mama in 1979, the latter featuring music by Richard Rodgers near the end of his career and lyrics by Martin Charnin. Concurrently the partners maintained deep ties to West Coast light opera organizations. Feuer was named President of the League of American Theatres in 1989 and received a Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2003.
Feuer and Martin continued through the mid-1960s with a string of productions, several of them major Broadway successes: Cole Porter’s Can-Can in 1953, Sandy Wilson’s The Boy Friend in 1954, and Porter’s Silk Stockings in 1955, the last of which Feuer also directed. In 1958 he produced and directed Whoop-Up, whose book he wrote with Martin and Dan Cushman from the latter’s novel Stay Away, Joe; Mark “Moose” Charlap and Norman Gimbel supplied the score, and the cast featured Ann Barry, Paul Ford, Susan Johnson and Sylvia Syms in a story set on a reservation.
Early in the following decade Feuer and his partner presented Loesser’s How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying in 1961 and Neil Simon’s Little Me in 1962; Feuer directed the latter and shared libretto credit, while the former earned the team two Tony Awards. He also staged Skyscraper in 1965, whose book by Peter Stone drew on Elmer Rice’s Dream Girl, with music and lyrics by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen and choreography by Michael Kidd, and starring Julie Harris. Walking Happy arrived in 1966, adapted by Roger O. Hirson and Ketti Frings from Harold Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice; Feuer again directed, and Cahn and Van Heusen once more wrote the songs.
He served as producer of the 1972 film version of Cabaret. Although his Broadway activity lessened during the 1970s, Feuer and Martin still mounted The Act in 1977 and I Remember Mama in 1979, the latter featuring music by Richard Rodgers near the end of his career and lyrics by Martin Charnin. Concurrently the partners maintained deep ties to West Coast light opera organizations. Feuer was named President of the League of American Theatres in 1989 and received a Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2003.