Composer John Kander formed one of Broadway’s most enduring and influential alliances with lyricist Fred Ebb, their brash and theatrical approach fueling a string of hit-driven yet daring shows such as Cabaret, Chicago, and Kiss of the Spider Woman. Born on March 18, 1927, in Kansas City, Missouri, Kander took up music study in his early years, launched his professional work in 1950 via Second Square, and spent 1955 through 1957 as choral director and conductor at Rhode Island’s Warwick Musical Theatre. He subsequently supplied dance arrangements for Gypsy and Irma la Douce before making his Broadway composing bow with the unsuccessful 1962 production A Family Affair. Later in 1962 he encountered Ebb, and the pair promptly wrote the songs “My Coloring Book” and “I Don’t Care Much,” both of which Barbra Streisand later recorded. Their initial stage musical, Golden Gate, never reached production, yet it persuaded Harold Prince to commission Flora, The Red Menace, a satire targeting bohemian culture and radical politics that introduced Liza Minnelli in her Tony Award-winning Broadway debut.
Kander and Ebb’s following project sustained Flora’s political focus but adopted graver tones: the 1966 musical Cabaret, a piercing portrait of fascism in pre-war Berlin, propelled the team to widespread acclaim and box-office triumph, securing seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, completing 1,166 performances, and inspiring an Academy Award-winning screen version. In 1968 the collaborators delivered two further musicals, The Happy Time and Zorba, then unveiled 70, Girls, 70 three years afterward; they also supplied songs for Minnelli’s Emmy-winning 1972 television special Liza With a Z. After furnishing material for Streisand’s 1975 film Funny Girl, Kander and Ebb opened Chicago later that year, a show that drew scant notice on its first run yet achieved enormous popularity upon revival two decades later. In 1977 they composed the score for Martin Scorsese’s film musical New York, New York, whose title song became a signature hit for Frank Sinatra and an unofficial anthem for the city; the same year they premiered the Broadway musical The Act, with both projects starring Minnelli.
Following a four-year stage hiatus, Kander and Ebb resurfaced with 1981’s Woman of the Year, tailored for Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall and recipient of four Tony Awards; three years afterward they introduced The Rink, then remained largely inactive through the rest of the decade. Their 1991 election to the New York Theatre Hall of Fame coincided with the off-Broadway premiere of And the World Goes ’Round, a revue spotlighting dozens of their compositions. Kiss of the Spider Woman, which opened in 1993, restored the team to earlier prominence, earning Best Musical honors from the New York Drama Critics Circle and several Tony Awards, among them Best Actress for Chita Rivera. Steel Pier arrived in 1997, and later that year Kander and Ebb were named recipients of the 21st annual Kennedy Center Honors.
