Theatre Register

E. Y. Harburg

Shows · E. Y. Harburg

LyricistDirectorBook Writer 1896–1981

Edgar Yipsel "Yip" Harburg (born Isidore Hochberg; April 8, 1896 – March 5, 1981) was an American popular song lyricist and librettist who worked with many well-known composers. He wrote the lyrics to the standards "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (with Jay Gorney), "April in Paris", and "It's Only a Paper Moon", as well as all of the songs for the film The Wizard of Oz, including "Over the Rainbow". Harburg was known for the social commentary of his lyrics, as well as his left-wing political leanings. He championed racial, sexual, and gender equality and labor unionism, and was an ardent critic of high society and religion.

Also credited on7 works

Bloomer Girl
Darling of the Day
Finian’s Rainbow
Flahooley
Hooray For What!
Jamaica
The Wizard Of Oz

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature8 passages

  • 19 . The title Phinney’s Rainbow incorporated allusions to Finian’s Rainbow , a popular musical of 1947 with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg and music by Burton Lane and to the president of Williams at the time, James Phinney Baxter.ebooks/Block, Geoffrey/Enchanted Evenings_The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber - Geoffrey Block.txt
  • Direction : E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy; Producers : Cheryl Crawford in association with E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy; Choreography : Helen Tamiris; Scenery and Lighting : Howard Bay; Costumes : David Ffolkes; Musical Direction : Maurice Levine; Note : Yma Sumac’s special material was written and composed by Moises Vivanco.ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
  • Burton Lane’s richly melodic score and E. Y. Harburg’s alternately romantic and satiric lyrics gave Broadway one of its finest scores and solidified the period as one of the Broadway musical’s golden eras, with the openings of such classics as Oklahoma! , One Touch of Venus , Bloomer Girl , On the Town , Carousel , Annie Get Your Gun , St…ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
  • Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg wrote some solid songs, but Walter Kerr in the Herald Tribune distilled the problem in ten words: “Can you make a whole show out of sheet music?” Today, those who backed Smokey Joe’s Cafe and Mamma Mia! would give an unqualified yes, while those behind All Shook Up and Good Vibrations wouldn’t be as sure.ebooks/Filichia, Peter/Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks - Peter Filichia.txt
  • E. Y. Harburg got the idea for Finian’s Rainbow because he wanted to satirize an economic system that requires gold reserves to be buried at Fort Knox. He then began thinking of leprechauns and their legendary crock of gold that could grant three wishes. In the story that Harburg and Fred Saidy devised, Finian McLonergan (Albert Sharpe),…ebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
  • E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy’s sharply disguised satire of racial prejudice, Southern politics, and economic unrest struck a relevant chord when this revival (the show’s first in a half century) made its debut at the onset of a severe American recession. But despite garnering glowing reviews, the producers closed the show after less than…ebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Any staging. This name appears in no production cast list we hold — 1,877 of 7,139 people are in that position, most of them writers, composers and designers rather than performers.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — lyricist, director, book writer — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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