Offenbach, Jacques Levy

Offenbach, Jacques Levy, 1819-80, French composer, b. Cologne. The son of a cantor, he went to Paris to study at the conservatory and in 1849 became a conductor at the Théâtre Français. The most successful composer of French operettas, he wrote more than 100 of them, the most successful of which perhaps was Orphée aux enfers (1858). Others include La Belle Hélène (1864), La Vie parisienne (1866), Barbe-bleue (1866), La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867), and La Périchole (1868). Witty, fresh, gay, and cleverly orchestrated, they were immensely popular during the Second Empire, which they often satirized. Offenbach's one serious opera, Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Tales of Hoffmann, 1881), after E. T. A. Hoffmann, was his masterpiece. Unfinished at his death, the opera was produced posthumously, and in 1951 it was made into a motion picture combining opera and ballet.

Jacques Levy (29 July 1935 – 30 September 2004) was a Jewish American songwriter, theatre director, and clinical psychologist.

Levy was born in New York City in 1935, later attending its City College. He continued to earn a doctorate in psychology from Michigan State University. Levy was also a trained psychoanalyst, certified by the Menninger Institute for Psychoanalysis in Topeka, KS. Levy later returned to New York and became a clinical psychologist.

In 1965, he directed Sam Shepard's play Red Cross. Two years later he directed Jean-Claude van Italie's America Hurrah. In 1969, Levy directed the off-Broadway erotic revue Oh! Calcutta!, bringing him to the attention of Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, who fancied Levy as librettist for a project inspired by Peer Gynt. The musical stalled, but one song, "Chestnut Mare", co-written by McGuinn and Levy, became one of the Byrds' primary performances.

In the mid-Seventies, Levy met Bob Dylan. Shortly after, the two wrote the song "Isis". Levy also co-wrote six other songs which, along with "Isis", appeared on Dylan's album Desire. These songs included "Hurricane", about the imprisoned boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, and "Joey" about the mafia gangster and hit man, Joey Gallo. In 1975, Levy effectively stage-managed Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. Levy's lyrics entered the repertoires of Joe Cocker, Crystal Gayle, Carly Simon and McGuinn.

Levy also had several achievements in drama. In 1983 he staged Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy, based on the comic strip Doonesbury, and in 1988 he provided the lyrics for the stage musical of the film Fame. Later came Marat/Sade (1994), Bus Stop (1997) and Brecht on Brecht in 2000.

From 1993 until his death, he was an English professor and director of theatre at New York's Colgate University.

He had two children with his wife Claudia, Maya and Julien.

Work on Broadway

• Oh! Calcutta! (1969) - revue - director
• Oh! Calcutta! (1976 revival) - revue - director and contributing songwriter
• Almost an Eagle (1982) - play - director
• Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy (1983) - musical - director

Note: Fame the stage musical did not appear on Broadway but has been playing since 1995 in London's West End.

Work off Broadway

• TRYP (2003) - play - dramaturge

Source

• Obituary in The Guardian of November 26, 2004 (link)
• Jacques Levy at the Internet Broadway Database