Robert Wright, a Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist whose songwriting collaboration with George "Chet" Forrest included the hit Broadway musicals "Song of Norway," "Kismet" and "Grand Hotel,". He was 90.
Wright and Forrest were Florida high school students in the late 1920s when they met. The first song they wrote together was the school song "Hail to Miami High." During their more than 70-year collaboration, they wrote the lyrics and music to more than 2,000 compositions for 16 produced stage musicals, 18 stage revues, 58 motion pictures and numerous cabaret acts.
The partners received Tonys for the score of "Kismet," the hit 1953 Broadway musical based on themes of 19th century Russian composer Alexander Borodin. The show included songs such as "Stranger in Paradise" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads." Wright and Forrest, along with Maury Yeston, received Tony nominations for best music and lyrics for their final musical on Broadway, "Grand Hotel," which opened in 1989 and won five Tonys, including best director for Tommy Tune, who also choreographed the show.
Bob and Chet were gifted songwriters who spent most of their careers adapting the music of classical composers for stage or screen.
Wright studied piano as a child and became a working musician early in life. He won an amateur contest playing the Rachmaninoff C-Sharp Minor Prelude when I was 9 and went into vaudeville. He found out very young that there was money in music, so he never touched the piano unless he was paid. His work included playing piano in a silent movie theater and leading his own orchestra while in high school, where he met Forrest, who was a year younger, when Forrest came in to audition for the Glee Club.
In 1942, when MGM wanted the partners to rewrite Rodgers and Hart's hit musical "I Married an Angel," Kreuger said, they were outraged at being asked to rewrite the work of Broadway legends. They did it, he said, but then quit the studio.
In 1995, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers presented the team with the Richard Rodgers/ASCAP Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to the American Musical Theater. Before Forrest's death in 1999 at age 84, he and Wright were working on several possible musical projects.
Wright and Forrest were Florida high school students in the late 1920s when they met. The first song they wrote together was the school song "Hail to Miami High." During their more than 70-year collaboration, they wrote the lyrics and music to more than 2,000 compositions for 16 produced stage musicals, 18 stage revues, 58 motion pictures and numerous cabaret acts.
The partners received Tonys for the score of "Kismet," the hit 1953 Broadway musical based on themes of 19th century Russian composer Alexander Borodin. The show included songs such as "Stranger in Paradise" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads." Wright and Forrest, along with Maury Yeston, received Tony nominations for best music and lyrics for their final musical on Broadway, "Grand Hotel," which opened in 1989 and won five Tonys, including best director for Tommy Tune, who also choreographed the show.
Bob and Chet were gifted songwriters who spent most of their careers adapting the music of classical composers for stage or screen.
Wright studied piano as a child and became a working musician early in life. He won an amateur contest playing the Rachmaninoff C-Sharp Minor Prelude when I was 9 and went into vaudeville. He found out very young that there was money in music, so he never touched the piano unless he was paid. His work included playing piano in a silent movie theater and leading his own orchestra while in high school, where he met Forrest, who was a year younger, when Forrest came in to audition for the Glee Club.
In 1942, when MGM wanted the partners to rewrite Rodgers and Hart's hit musical "I Married an Angel," Kreuger said, they were outraged at being asked to rewrite the work of Broadway legends. They did it, he said, but then quit the studio.
In 1995, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers presented the team with the Richard Rodgers/ASCAP Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to the American Musical Theater. Before Forrest's death in 1999 at age 84, he and Wright were working on several possible musical projects.
Robert Wright, a Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist whose songwriting collaboration with George "Chet" Forrest included the hit Broadway musicals "Song of Norway," "Kismet" and "Grand Hotel,". He was 90.
Wright and Forrest were Florida high school students in the late 1920s when they met. The first song they wrote together was the school song "Hail to Miami High." During their more than 70-year collaboration, they wrote the lyrics and music to more than 2,000 compositions for 16 produced stage musicals, 18 stage revues, 58 motion pictures and numerous cabaret acts.
The partners received Tonys for the score of "Kismet," the hit 1953 Broadway musical based on themes of 19th century Russian composer Alexander Borodin. The show included songs such as "Stranger in Paradise" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads." Wright and Forrest, along with Maury Yeston, received Tony nominations for best music and lyrics for their final musical on Broadway, "Grand Hotel," which opened in 1989 and won five Tonys, including best director for Tommy Tune, who also choreographed the show.
Bob and Chet were gifted songwriters who spent most of their careers adapting the music of classical composers for stage or screen.
Wright studied piano as a child and became a working musician early in life. He won an amateur contest playing the Rachmaninoff C-Sharp Minor Prelude when I was 9 and went into vaudeville. He found out very young that there was money in music, so he never touched the piano unless he was paid. His work included playing piano in a silent movie theater and leading his own orchestra while in high school, where he met Forrest, who was a year younger, when Forrest came in to audition for the Glee Club.
In 1942, when MGM wanted the partners to rewrite Rodgers and Hart's hit musical "I Married an Angel," Kreuger said, they were outraged at being asked to rewrite the work of Broadway legends. They did it, he said, but then quit the studio.
In 1995, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers presented the team with the Richard Rodgers/ASCAP Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to the American Musical Theater. Before Forrest's death in 1999 at age 84, he and Wright were working on several possible musical projects.
Wright and Forrest were Florida high school students in the late 1920s when they met. The first song they wrote together was the school song "Hail to Miami High." During their more than 70-year collaboration, they wrote the lyrics and music to more than 2,000 compositions for 16 produced stage musicals, 18 stage revues, 58 motion pictures and numerous cabaret acts.
The partners received Tonys for the score of "Kismet," the hit 1953 Broadway musical based on themes of 19th century Russian composer Alexander Borodin. The show included songs such as "Stranger in Paradise" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads." Wright and Forrest, along with Maury Yeston, received Tony nominations for best music and lyrics for their final musical on Broadway, "Grand Hotel," which opened in 1989 and won five Tonys, including best director for Tommy Tune, who also choreographed the show.
Bob and Chet were gifted songwriters who spent most of their careers adapting the music of classical composers for stage or screen.
Wright studied piano as a child and became a working musician early in life. He won an amateur contest playing the Rachmaninoff C-Sharp Minor Prelude when I was 9 and went into vaudeville. He found out very young that there was money in music, so he never touched the piano unless he was paid. His work included playing piano in a silent movie theater and leading his own orchestra while in high school, where he met Forrest, who was a year younger, when Forrest came in to audition for the Glee Club.
In 1942, when MGM wanted the partners to rewrite Rodgers and Hart's hit musical "I Married an Angel," Kreuger said, they were outraged at being asked to rewrite the work of Broadway legends. They did it, he said, but then quit the studio.
In 1995, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers presented the team with the Richard Rodgers/ASCAP Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to the American Musical Theater. Before Forrest's death in 1999 at age 84, he and Wright were working on several possible musical projects.
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