Apparently, they were in the middle of writing and re-writing several things, and AFAIK nobody expected this. It happens to everyone eventually I guess.
Yeah, I just saw this on CNN. As a musical theatre writer, I was especially drawn to their work, and always thought Fred Ebb’s lyrics were touching and clever. God bless him, he left behind a wonderful legacy.
Kander & Ebb were a great song writing team who did a lot for the careers of Liza Minelli & Bob Fosse. Everyone knows the songs they wrote, even if they don’t know their names.
They also did a version of “Phantom” with the worst timing in musical history. Some people like it better than you-know-who’s.
K&E are/were one of my favorite songwriters. Broadway lost a real heavyweight when FE died.
I don’t know if FE’s death was really unexpected, though. K&E appeared in the AFI’s recent “100 Greatest Movies Songs” television program, and FE looked like he was at death’s door then. Another clue that something was wrong was the fact that JK did most of the talking – very surprising because FE was always the chatty one while KE usually just sat there nodding. I emailed a musical theater insider friend about it and he confirmed that FE was, in fact, in declining health.
People who like their better-known stuff should get a recording of their first Bway show, Flora the Red Menace (which starred the newcomer Liza Minelli who won a Tony). Its undeservedly obscure score is really boffo.
Well I just assumed that because all I knew is what the article I linked to said. I assumed that if it had been expected, I probably would have heard that, and the article probably would have said “… who had been in poor health for several months…”