Frank Loesser has been called the most versatile of all Broadway composers.  His five Broadway musicals, each a unique contribution to the art of the American musical theatre, were as different from each other as they were from the theatre of their day: “Where’s Charley?,” “Guys and Dolls,” “The Most Happy Fella,” “Greenwillow,” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”  He is also reknown for the dozens of songs he wrote for Hollywood with such collaborators as Jule Styne, Hoagy Carmichael, Burton Lane and Arthur Schwartz.

Born June 29, 1910, in New York City, Frank never studied music formally.  He dropped out of school during the Depression and supported himself with an array of jobs.  By the mid-1930’s he tried his hand at singing and playing piano in nightclubs.  By 1939 he had penned his first song, words and music, for the movies (“Seventeen”).  Following service in World War II, Frank began his Broadway career, a string of critical and popular hits.  Among those, “Guys and Dolls” is considered one of the great masterworks of American Musical Theatre, and “How to Succeed in Business” won a Pulitzer Prize and seven Tony Awards.   In the midst of all his stage work he created one of his best loved scores for the film “Hans Christian Andersen” (1952).  Subsequently, Tommy Steele stared in a long running stage adaptation at London’s Palladium.

Frank was married twice, first to actess Lynn Loesser, with whom he had two children, and then to his “Most Happy Fella” leading lady, Jo Sullivan, who gave him two daughters.  He died of lung cancer at the age of 59 on July 26, 1969 in his beloved New York City.

(source: www.frankloesser.com)

R E V I E W S

“Loesser’s exuberance brings out the spunkier side of a singer whose aura of elegance suggests a cross between Audey Hepburn and Dina Merrill.” 
--THE NEW YORK TIMES

“An incredibly personal and insightful portrait of a tunesmith and his legacy.  Marcovicci’s musical journey through the Loesser songbook amounts to an intimate theatre piece laced with sophistication, charm and her own infectious brand of wit.”
--VARIETY

“Just watch and listen to her sing in her designer dress (Valentino?) “Spring Will be a Little Late This Year,” and “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So,” so exquisitely acted you want to hand her an award.”
--BACKSTAGE

“. . .seduced by Andrea Marcovicci’s touching rendition of Frank Loesser’s ‘More I Cannot Wish You.”  Marcovicci, a consummate temptress, is weaving her spell.”
--SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE