Ballad of John Latouche

Born into a poor Virginian family John Treville Latouche (1914-56) in his short life made a profound mark on America's musical theater as a lyricist book writer and librettist. The wit and skill of his lyrics elicited comparisons with the likes of Ira Gershwin Lorenz Hart and Cole Porter but he had too noted Stephen Sondheim a large vision of what musical theater could be and he proved especially venturesome in helping to develop a lyric theater that innovatively combined music word dance and costume and set design. Many of his pieces even if not commonly known today remain high points in the history of American musical theater. <p/>A great American genius in the words of Duke Ellington Latouche initially came to wide public attention in his early twenties with his cantata for soloist and chorus <em> Ballad for Americans</em> (1939) with music by Earl Robinson-a work that swept the nation during the Second World War. Other milestones in his career included the all-black musical fable <em>Cabin in the Sky </em>(1940) with Vernon Duke; an interracial updating of John Gay's classic <em>The Beggar's Opera as Beggar's Holiday </em>(1946) with Duke Ellington; two acclaimed Broadway operas with Jerome Moross: <em> Ballet Ballads</em> (1948) and <em>The Golden Apple</em> (1954); one of the most enduring operas in the American canon <em>The Ballad of Baby Doe </em>(1956) with Douglas Moore; and the operetta <em>Candide</em> (1956) with Leonard Bernstein and Lillian Hellman. Extremely versatile he also wrote cabaret songs participated in documentary and avant-garde film translated poetry adapted plays and much else. <p/>Meanwhile as one of Manhattan's most celebrated raconteurs and hosts he developed a wide range of friends in the arts including to name only a few Paul and Jane Bowles (whom he introduced to each other) Yul Brynner John Cage Jack Kerouac Frederick Kiesler Carson McCullers Frank O'Hara Dawn Powell Ned Rorem Virgil Thomson Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams-a dazzling constellation of diverse artists working in sundry fields all attracted to Latouche's brilliance and joie de vivre not to mention his support for their work. <p/>This book draws widely on archival collections both at home and abroad including Latouche's diaries and the papers of Bernstein Ellington Moore Moross and many others to tell for the first time the story of this fascinating man and his work.<br>