Herbert Greene (1921–1985) was an American conductor, music director, and vocal arranger who became one of the prominent figures of the Broadway stage in New York City. He won a Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director for The Music Man in 1958, and he also sang, acted, produced, and coached performers for the musical theater.
Background
Herbert Greene was born in June 1921 in Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn had become a borough of New York City in 1898, so Greene grew up in the largest urban center in the United States, in the same decades when Broadway was becoming the country's leading commercial theatre district.
As a boy, Greene studied to become an opera singer with Thomas LoMonaco, a protégé of the vocal scientist Doctor Douglas Stanley. His early career began with an unusual opportunity: he was accepted to sing the lead role in a radio performance of Beethoven's Fidelio for Arturo Toscanini, the Italian-born conductor known for his prominent orchestral and operatic broadcasts. Greene chose instead to sing in the chorus of Leonard Bernstein's 1944 Broadway musical On the Town.
Greene also aspired to be a composer. His Sonata for Cello and Piano was performed in New York City, and The White Notes, a series of piano pieces, was published.
Education
Greene's musical training was private rather than institutional. He studied singing with Thomas LoMonaco, and he had no formal training in conducting beyond practicing at home with recordings. His later work in the theater drew on these foundations in vocal performance, composition, and orchestral direction.
When he began conducting for Broadway, he approached the podium without formal instruction in the craft. He asked Leonard Bernstein if he could conduct the show that Greene had otherwise been offered only a chorus part in, and Bernstein's decision to give him the matinee conducting role launched his conducting career.
Career
Greene's Broadway career began with On the Town, a 1944 musical by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, drawing on Jerome Robbins's ballet Fancy Free. Greene sang in the chorus, and when he asked to conduct the show instead of accepting the lead role he had been offered, Bernstein was impressed by his nerve and gave him the conducting of the matinee performances. When Bernstein left the production, Greene took over as conductor.
During the 1950s he worked on a series of Broadway productions in musical director, conductor, and vocal arranger roles. He served as musical director and vocal arranger for Two on the Aisle, a 1951 musical revue, and for Silk Stockings, a 1955 Cole Porter musical adapted from the film Ninotchka. He also wrote vocal arrangements for Bells Are Ringing, which opened in 1956. Greene was the conductor, music director, or vocal arranger of a dozen other Broadway shows, including Guys and Dolls and The Most Happy Fella, the Frank Loesser musical based on Sidney Howard's 1924 play They Knew What They Wanted.
His most celebrated work came with The Music Man, Meredith Willson's 1957 musical, for which Greene was musical director, vocal music arranger, and co-producer. The Tony Awards, presented by the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League, recognized conductors and musical directors in a dedicated category from 1948 until 1964. At the 1958 ceremony Greene won the award for Best Conductor and Musical Director for The Music Man, a production that won six Tony Awards that year. He was also nominated in the same category for The Most Happy Fella in 1957 and for The Gay Life, the 1961 musical by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, in 1962.
Greene later worked on 42nd Street, the Gower Champion musical that opened in 1980, becoming its conductor. He moved to Los Angeles in 1966 to work in the film industry, and he is credited for uncredited additional music on the 1962 film version of The Music Man. He returned to New York to resume Broadway work in 1982. Greene was also known as a "voice doctor" who could prepare a film or stage actor to sing on Broadway. According to his New York Times obituary, many Hollywood stars came to him before performing on Broadway, among them Rex Harrison, Rosalind Russell, Angela Lansbury, Barbara Cook, Robert Preston, Don Ameche, and Judy Holliday.
Achievements
Served as foreign musical director and conductor of The Music Man in 1958 and as its foreign producer in the same year.
Served as foreign conductor and musical director of The Most Happy Fella in 1957, and as foreign musical director of The Gay Life in 1962.
Was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director for The Most Happy Fella in 1957 and for The Gay Life in 1962.
Helped film and stage actors, including Rex Harrison, Rosalind Russell, Angela Lansbury, Barbara Cook, Robert Preston, Don Ameche, and Judy Holliday, learn to sing for Broadway performances, earning a reputation as a "voice doctor."
Works
piano pieces
The White Notes
(A published series of short piano pieces by Greene, refle...)
sonata
Sonata for Cello and Piano
(A serious composition by Greene for cello and piano that ...)
Connections
Greene was married three times. His first marriage was to Lucy Greene, a performing pianist, accompanist, and piano pedagogue, and it ended in divorce in 1959. The couple had two children. He was then married for nine years to Norma Geist, owner of Rockaways' Playland, an amusement park in the Rockaway section of Queens. His last marriage was to the actress Carolyn Jones.
Wife:
Lucy Greene
Performing pianist, accompanist, and piano pedagogue; the marriage ended in divorce in 1959, and the couple had two children.
Wife:
Norma Geist
Owner of Rockaways' Playland, an amusement park in the Rockaway section of Queens; the marriage lasted nine years.
Wife:
Carolyn Jones
Actress and Greene's last spouse, following his marriages to Lucy Greene and Norma Geist.
References
Herbert Greene (Broadway conductor)
Encyclopedia article covering Greene's birth and death dates, his Broadway conducting and arranging career, his Tony Award, and his personal life.
Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director,
United States
Awarded at the 1958 Tony Awards for his work as conductor and musical director of The Music Man on Broadway. The Tony Awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League.
Awarded at the 1958 Tony Awards for his work as conductor and musical director of The Music Man on Broadway. The Tony Awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League.
