Meet the Composer of the Brassy, Sassy Music from
"It’s a Bird It’s a Plane It’s Superman"
A LOOK BACK: In 2008, Charles Strouse celebrated his 80th birthday AND published his memoirs. Mr. Strouse is, thankfully, still with us and still maintains a fascinating web site, CharlesStrouse.com.
In addition to the score of "It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman©" (available from Amazon.com), Strouse also composed the music for Bye, Bye Birdie, Applause, Annie, and many other musicals. The Tony Award-winning composer has just written an autobiography, titled Put On a Happy Face: A Broadway Memoir.
Charles Strouse was devastated when "It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman©" closed. As he wrote:
The show closed on July 17,1966. I went to the last performance so that I could be with the cast. I felt awful. We all did. How do you feel when you watch your best friend die?
Charles Strouse has never forgotten "his best friend." He visits many revivals of the show, and actually took on the role of "Daily Planet" editor Perry White in the York Theatre Company revival in 2007.
Truth be known, Charles Strouse has never left our favorite show behind. In October, 2006, he attended a revival of "It’s a Bird It’s a Plane It’s Superman" staged in Kirkland, Washington. In a delightful Question and Answer Talkback session after the show, he entertained the audience with anecdotes from past productions and tantalizing promises of new shows to come.
Mr. Strouse chuckled with the audience regarding changes that had to be made to the villains in Superman.
“We had what we thought was a political problem. We first wrote the show for Chinese, and then China became our friend. We wrote it for
Russians, and then they became our friends.” Another re-write turned the villains into Middle Eastern terrorists, but that had to be
scrapped because,
in the aftermath of 9-11, no one felt it was appropriate to
stage the terrorists blowing up City Hall. Mr. Strouse felt that Kirkland’s variation, inventing villains from the fictional
"Moldavia," was a brilliant solution.
That night in Kirkland, Charles Strouse reminisced that Bob Holiday “was wonderful.” Night after night, he recalled, Bob Holiday would remain in his Superman costume to greet people gathered around the stage door. How many Broadway shows can boast of an actor so dedicated to his role?
Web Hostess Toni Collins attended the Kirkland event, and
Mr. Strouse graciously signed her 40-year old Souvenir Program.
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In his 2008 book, Put On A Happy Face: A Broadway Memoir, Charles Strouse outlined how tough it was to find the right Superman: “He had to be tall, dark, and handsome, look good in tights, and have the muscular physique so familiar to comic book readers (these were the days before everyone went to the gym). Not to mention, he had to sing, act, and fly. He also needed to possess an innocent, naïve quality that would make us believe him when he sang about his job of 'Doing Good.' We couldn’t think he was campy in any way. Hal [Prince] suggested Bob Holiday, [and] he proved to have just the right qualities.” Fans of the show agree with Charles Strouse and Hal Prince. Bob Holiday was the perfect Superman. |
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Bob Holiday and Charles Strouse saw each other one last time at Bob's final public appearance. The occasion was the Encore! revival of "It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman" in March, 2013, held at New York City Center. After the performance, a 45-minute Question and Answer session was held. It was great honor for Bob when he was introduced from the stage as the original Broadway Superman. |
Text © 2008, 2019, 2025 Brian McKernan and Toni Collins
Quotes from Put on a Happy Face: A Broadway Memoir,
© 2008 by Charles Strouse,
Union Square Press, an imprint of Sterling Publishing, Co., Inc. All rights reserved.
Photos with Bob Holiday, © Brian McKernan
SUPERMAN and all related elements are the property of DC Comics. TM & © 2025
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