Cy Coleman

Cy Coleman, the Tony Award-winning composer of such Broadway shows as "Sweet Charity," "On the Twentieth Century" and "City of Angels," who also wrote some of the most enduring songs in pop music, including "Witchcraft" and "The Best Is Yet to Come," died Thursday night. He was 75. Coleman and his wife, Shelby, had attended the opening-night performance on Broadway of the Michael Frayn play "Democracy" and were at a party after the performance when Coleman said he was feeling ill.

Cy Coleman's music has a way of sounding chipper even when the lyrics from one of his songwriting partners are scathingly sardonic. This spritzy irony between words and notes is part of Coleman's signature showmanship. Just because you're jangled and jaded doesn't mean you don't deserve an old-fashioned orchestra kick. That brassy fullness is on dapper display in "The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman," receiving its world premiere at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura. A celebratory revue devised and directed by lyricist David Zippel, who won a Tony for the score he and Coleman wrote for "City of Angels," the production surveys Coleman's catalog, plucking out glittering pop standards, sparkling Broadway tunes (including a few deliciously bawdy ones)

Cy Coleman is not easily encapsulated, and that would please him. Those of us who knew him appreciated his depth, wisdom, humor, style and contradictorily chameleon qualities that also happened to embody his music. He never stopped moving, surprising, living and sharing who and what he was. When he entered a room, he filled it up. At age 75, when most composers of his generation were played out, Cy was at the top of his game. Everybody was still excited to hear the next thing he was writing.

Cy Coleman is not easily encapsulated, and that would please him. Those of us who knew him appreciated his depth, wisdom, humor, style and contradictorily chameleon qualities that also happened to embody his music. He never stopped moving, surprising, living and sharing who and what he was. When he entered a room, he filled it up. At age 75, when most composers of his generation were played out, Cy was at the top of his game. Everybody was still excited to hear the next thing he was writing.

Cy Coleman's music has a way of sounding chipper even when the lyrics from one of his songwriting partners are scathingly sardonic. This spritzy irony between words and notes is part of Coleman's signature showmanship. Just because you're jangled and jaded doesn't mean you don't deserve an old-fashioned orchestra kick. That brassy fullness is on dapper display in "The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman," receiving its world premiere at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura. A celebratory revue devised and directed by lyricist David Zippel, who won a Tony for the score he and Coleman wrote for "City of Angels," the production surveys Coleman's catalog, plucking out glittering pop standards, sparkling Broadway tunes (including a few deliciously bawdy ones)

It all started with a phone call. About two years ago, Billy Taylor called Oscar-winning lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman wanting to commission a jazz song cycle for Washington's Kennedy Center, where Taylor serves as artistic advisor for jazz. "I said, 'Yes ... but what's a jazz song cycle?' " Marilyn Bergman recalls. "And he said, 'Anything you want it to be.' " Who could resist?

A special performance of "On the Twentieth Century," the madcap 1978 musical set in the '30s by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Cy Coleman, will be held June 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Colony Studio Theatre, 1944 Riverside Drive, Silver Lake, to benefit Equity Fights AIDS. Tickets are $25. Information: (213) 665-3011.

From Broadway to the 'City of Angels'?"City of Angels" may be on its way to the City of the Angels. The producers of the Larry Gelbart/Cy Coleman Broadway musical hope to begin previews Oct. 9 for a Century City production at the Shubert Theatre, said co-producer Roger Berlind. A spokesman for the Shubert Organization confirmed that "the intention is to have the show out here as soon as possible, but there is no booking at the moment."

Sometimes the show doesn't go on-even with good reviews. "City of Angels," which opened Monday, canceled today's matinee and evening performances because one of its stars, Gregg Edelman, has laryngitis. He is expected back Thursday, spokesman Bill Evans said. The musical, a parody of 1940's Hollywood detective movies, opened to mostly favoritie reviews and took in more thatn $324,000 Tuesday, the day the notices appeared, Evans said. The $4.

A group of us were shocked at the positive review of the schlock the Mark Taper Forum is offering audiences this month ("Likable 'Jazz' Gets in the Swing of Things," by Reed Johnson, Dec. 5). We were attracted to the show by the famous names of composer Cy Coleman, writer Larry Gelbart, lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman, choreographer Patricia Birch and director Gordon Davidson. What a waste of good talent. "Like Jazz" is a bland cabaret act -- not theater. Why pay major dollars for a Broadway show that should have been presented in an intimate club?

Cy Coleman, the Tony Award-winning composer of such Broadway shows as "Sweet Charity," "On the Twentieth Century" and "City of Angels," who also wrote some of the most enduring songs in pop music, including "Witchcraft" and "The Best Is Yet to Come," died Thursday night. He was 75. Coleman and his wife, Shelby, had attended the opening-night performance on Broadway of the Michael Frayn play "Democracy" and were at a party after the performance when Coleman said he was feeling ill.

It all started with a phone call. About two years ago, Billy Taylor called Oscar-winning lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman wanting to commission a jazz song cycle for Washington's Kennedy Center, where Taylor serves as artistic advisor for jazz. "I said, 'Yes ... but what's a jazz song cycle?' " Marilyn Bergman recalls. "And he said, 'Anything you want it to be.' " Who could resist?

The Actors' Fund of America will honor Broadway composer Cy Coleman in a Nov. 6 fund-raising event featuring appearances by Carole Cook, Tyne Daly, Nancy Dussault, Rod McKuen, Brian Stokes Mitchell, James Naughton, Chita Rivera and John Schneider, among others. The show will be held at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex on the campus at Cal State Los Angeles. Coleman, whose credits include "Sweet Charity," "Will Rogers Follies" and "On the Twentieth Century," also will perform.

When the Reprise! revival of "On the Twentieth Century" opens at UCLA's Freud Playhouse on Wednesday, the largest orchestra that the company has ever assembled on stage at the Freud -- 24 musicians including the conductor -- will perform the original Hershy Kay orchestrations of the 1978 Cy Coleman score. But Kay won't be mentioned in the program or anywhere else.