Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand (French pronunciation: [miʃɛl ləɡʁɑ̃]; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, jazz pianist,[1] and singer. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many songs.[2] His scores for two of the films of French New Wave director Jacques Demy, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), earned Legrand his first Academy Award nominations. Legrand won his first Oscar for the song "The Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968),[3] and additional Oscars for Summer of '42 (1971) and Barbra Streisand's Yentl (1983).
Michel Legrand
Musical theatre[edit]
In 1997, Legrand composed the score for the musical Le Passe-muraille, with a book by Didier Van Cauwelaert. It premiered on Broadway in 2002 as Amour and was translated into English by Jeremy Sams and was directed by James Lapine.[18] This musical was his Broadway debut[19] and he was nominated for a Tony Award in 2003 for Best Score.[20] Later he recorded Legrand Affair with Melissa Errico,[20] a 100-piece symphony orchestra that included songs with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman.[21]
The world premiere of the new musical Marguerite from Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, the creators of Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, included music by Michel Legrand and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Marguerite is set during World War II in occupied Paris, and was inspired by the romantic novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils. It premiered in May 2008 at the Haymarket Theatre, London and was directed by Jonathan Kent.[22]