Michael J. Lewis (composer)

Last updated

Michael John Lewis (born 11 January 1939 in Aberystwyth) is a Welsh-born composer of film, theatre, television, and choral music. He studied harmony, counterpoint and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After a brief teaching career in North London he became a full time composer at the age of 24.

Contents

His first major work was Please, Sir, a stage musical that attracted the attention of English writer/director Brian Forbes and actor Richard Attenborough. In 1968, Forbes invited Lewis to score his film The Madwoman of Chaillot, starring Katharine Hepburn. Lewis's first film score won him an Ivor Novello Award in 1969/1970. Subsequently, he composed the scores for Upon This Rock, a dramatized documentary of St. Peter’s Basilica starring Orson Welles, which premiered at the 1970 Venice Film Festival, and Julius Caesar starring Charlton Heston, Jason Robards and John Gielgud. 1973 saw Lewis' Broadway musical debut with Cyrano starring Christopher Plummer, who won a Tony Award for his stellar performance. The show was co-written with Anthony Burgess, author of the novel, A Clockwork Orange.

Through the late 1970s and early 80s, Michael J. Lewis scored a series of films including the British cult horror film, Theatre of Blood, starring Vincent Price, The Medusa Touch, starring Richard Burton and the animated film, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which earned Lewis an Emmy Award.

In 1982, Lewis composed the score for Franklin J Schaffner’s thriller, Sphinx, starring Frank Langella and Lesley-Anne Down. Lewis worked with Franklin J. Schaffner a second time on MGM/UA ’s musical, Yes, Giorgio, starring Luciano Pavarotti. The music credit was shared with John Williams.

Later, Lewis began writing British TV commercials, (British Rail, Tesco, 7 Up, Ford, Audi), and subsequently relocated to the United States in 1986, where he scored national TV campaigns including IBM, Lipton, Kentucky Fried Chicken, 3M, and Connecticut National Bank. Lewis's first US TV score, Rose and the Jackel, starring Christopher Reeve, won him a Cable ACE Award nomination.

Following the death of his daughter Susannah in 1994, Lewis moved away from film scores to concentrate on writing and adapting the music, sacred and secular, of his native Wales. He issued The Romantic Splendour of Wales (Gogoniant Rhamantaidd Cymru) CD in 1997, recorded in Welsh. This spawned further recordings in subsequent years including, In the Language of Heaven, a collection of Welsh Folk songs performed a cappella in Welsh), The Golden Harp, Hearts Afire, Piano Moon, Celtic Moon, and others.

Lewis has lived in the Wiggins, Mississippi area for many years, where he continues to work as a composer, arranger, and musician.

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franklin J. Schaffner</span> American director

Franklin James Schaffner was an American film, television, and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for Patton (1970), and is known for the films Planet of the Apes (1968), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Papillon (1973), and The Boys from Brazil (1978). He served as president of the Directors Guild of America between 1987 and 1989.

<i>Julius Caesar</i> (play) Play by William Shakespeare

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (First Folio title: The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar), often abbreviated as Julius Caesar, is a history play and tragedy by William Shakespeare first performed in 1599.

<i>The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe</i> 1950 childrens fantasy novel by C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a portal fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). Among all the author's books, it is also the most widely held in libraries. It was the first of The Chronicles of Narnia to be written and published, but is marked as volume two in recent editions that are sequenced according the stories' internal chronology. Like the other Chronicles, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and her work has been retained in many later editions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Chamberlain</span> American actor (born 1934)

George Richard Chamberlain is an American actor and singer who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare (1961–1966). He subsequently appeared in several miniseries, such as Shōgun (1980) and The Thorn Birds (1983) and was the first to play Jason Bourne in the 1988 television film The Bourne Identity. Chamberlain has also performed classical stage roles and worked in musical theatre.

<i>Dear World</i> 1969 Broadway musical

Dear World is a musical with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. With its opening, Herman became the first composer-lyricist in history to have three productions running simultaneously on Broadway. It starred Angela Lansbury, who won the Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Musical in 1969 for her performance as the Countess Aurelia.

Martin Charnin was an American lyricist, writer, and theatre director. Charnin's best-known work is as conceiver, director, and lyricist of the musical Annie.

<i>The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe</i> 2005 film by Andrew Adamson

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 high fantasy film directed by Andrew Adamson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ann Peacock and the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in the children's book series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The film is the first installment in The Chronicles of Narnia film series. It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.

<i>William Shakespeares Julius Caesar</i> 1953 Shakespearean film by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Julius Caesar is a 1953 American film adaptation of the Shakespearean play, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by John Houseman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It stars Marlon Brando as Mark Antony, James Mason as Brutus, Louis Calhern as Caesar, John Gielgud as Cassius, Edmond O'Brien as Casca, Greer Garson as Calpurnia, and Deborah Kerr as Portia.

Michael Bogdanov was a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for young people.

Walter Scharf was an American musician, best known as a film, television and concert composer and arranger/conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Lewis Jones</span> Welsh actor

Mark Lewis Jones is a Welsh actor, whose roles include that of a First Order Captain Moden Canady in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, a police inspector in BBC drama series 55 Degrees North, a whaler in the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, soldier Tecton in Troy and Rob Morgan in the series Stella. He is known for being the voice of Letho of Gulet the King Slayer in The Witcher 2 and 3.

<i>The Madwoman of Chaillot</i> (film) 1969 film by Bryan Forbes, John Huston

The Madwoman of Chaillot is a 1969 American satirical film made by Commonwealth United Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. It was directed by Bryan Forbes and produced by Ely A. Landau with Anthony B. Unger as associate producer. The screenplay was by Edward Anhalt, based on The Madwoman of Chaillot, Maurice Valency's adaption of La Folle de Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux. The music score was by Michael J. Lewis and the cinematography by Burnett Guffey and Claude Renoir. It was shot at the Victorine Studios in Nice and on location in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Ray Simm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen J. Lawrence</span> American composer (1939–2021)

Stephen J. Lawrence was an American composer, who lived and worked in New York City. He was also known as Stephen Lawrence, but used his middle initial to differentiate him from the singer Steve Lawrence.

<i>Cyrano</i> (musical)

Cyrano is a musical with a book and lyrics by Anthony Burgess and music by Michael J. Lewis.

<i>The Madwoman of Chaillot</i>

The Madwoman of Chaillot is a play, a poetic satire, by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943 and first performed in 1945, after his death. The play is in two acts. The story concerns an eccentric woman who lives in Paris and her struggles against the straitlaced authority figures in her life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hobson (actor)</span> American actor

Thomas Hobson is an American stage, film, and television actor and singer. He is best known for his roles as Shout in the Nick Jr. Channel television series The Fresh Beat Band and its animated spin-off Fresh Beat Band of Spies and Bryce in the Nickelodeon television series That Girl Lay Lay. He has also starred in films such as Clubhouse Detectives (1996), Free Enterprise (1999), 12 Hour Shift (2020) and Ghosts of the Ozarks (2021).

Maurice Valency was a playwright, author, critic, and popular professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia University, best known for his award-winning adaptations of plays by Jean Giraudoux and Friedrich Dürrenmatt. He wrote several original plays, but is best known for his adaptations of the plays of others. Valency's version of The Madwoman of Chaillot would become the basis of the Jerry Herman musical Dear World on Broadway.

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages. Written by Lewis between 1949 and 1954, illustrated by Pauline Baynes and published in London between October 1950 and March 1956, The Chronicles of Narnia has been adapted several times, complete or in part, for television, radio, the stage, film, in audio books, and as video games.

Aaron Krister Johnson is a Chicago-based composer, musician, and teacher. His experience ranges from the Western classical keyboard tradition, to folk music, and to modern electro-acoustic free improvisation. The Chicago Sun-Times called his composition "evocative", and his improvisations have been hailed by Keyboard Magazine as "challenging and creative". His work has appeared on National Public Radio, and has been lauded by Chicagocritic.com, the Chicago Tribune, the Windy City Times, and the online music journal Tokafi.com

Anthony B. Unger is an American film producer whose 40-year international career includes such titles as Nicolas Roeg's 1973 thriller Don't Look Now as well 1969's Battle of Neretva, The Madwoman of Chaillot, The Magic Christian and The Promise. His 1970 credits include the first color production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and the Ava Gardner vehicle Tam-Lin. In the 1980s he produced The Unseen and Chuck Norris' Silent Rage.

References