The duo's signature songs include "Cabaret," "New York, New York," "Maybe This Time," "All That Jazz," and "How Lucky Can You Get." The music is lively and the lyrics are sophisticated, witty, and sometimes barbed. The theatrical works for which Kander and Ebb wrote scores tackle dark and controversial subjects not usually associated with musical theater. Their first hit,
Cabaret, dealt with anti-Semitism in Nazi-era Berlin; its female lead underwent an abortion.
Chicago cynically suggested that a cold-blooded killer could get away with anything provided a convincing lawyer was on hand.
Kiss of the Spider Woman set prison torture and homosexuality to music. "Kander and Ebb combine razzmatazz with a political conscience, and make brazen spirits seem a kind of moral courage," wrote David Richards in
The Washington Post. Despite the fame that has come with their nearly 50 successful years together, Kander and Ebb remain "the two nicest guys in show business," according to Thompson.
No Early Hint of Musical Genius
There is little in Ebb's background that would have portended a distinguished lifelong career in music. He was born into a poor family in a New York City tenement on April 8, 1932. He told David Thompson in a 1997 interview for television's "Great Performances" that growing up, "There was no music in my house.
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