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 Hague studied music in his native
Germany and later in Rome and the United States. After graduation
and service in the U.S. air force during the war, he pursued a career
in popular music.
He wrote individual songs and background music for many Broadway
productions, but his first full musical score that made it to the
stage was Plain and Fancy, with lyrics
supplied by Arnold B Horwitt. The show, set in an Amish community,
was well received by critics and was a solid success in both New
York and London. Hague provided a lovely, melodious score, a highlight
being This Is All Very New To Me,
sung in the original production by Barbara Cook.
Hague's next major project was Redhead
with Dorothy Fields. It was another great success, although it is
usually regarded as a triumph for star Gwen Verdon and director/choreographer
Bob Fosse rather than for the writers.
Hague's next show was The Girls Against
The Boys which closed after 16 performances. After that,
things got even worse. The next three shows were :
Café Crown (1964) was a story
of Yiddish theatre folk, and featured a “King Lear” ballet.
It closed after 4 performances.
The Fig Leaves Are Falling (1969)
with lyrics by Allan Sherman (Hello Mudder, Hello Fadder) boasted
the great George Abbott as director. It was apparently an uncomfortable
comedy about the sexual revolution and again, lasted only 4 performances.
Nice title though.
For Miss Moffat (1974), Hague appears
to have set music to lyrics already written by Emlyn Williams for
this version of Williams' play The Corn
Was Green. The show collapsed during its pre-Broadway tour,
when star Bette Davis withdrew.
Hague also wrote the score for a TV musical with lyrics by Dr Seuss,
How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
In the last twenty years, Hague has taken several acting roles,
including the music teacher in the TV series of Fame.
From 1997, he performed a cabaret act with his wife, Renee Orin.
Hague said that the showe, entitled "Still Young and Foolish",
was "really about our lives".
Hague talked about the difficulty of reviving Redhead.
"Redhead needs a major star, and there are very few people
of the caliber of a young Gwen Verdon."
He also said of Dorothy Fields "Dorothy is one of the few
geniuses I've had the pleasure to work with. One of the little secrets
she tried to keep is that she never went to college, and she had
an incredible use of language."
For more information on Hague, see the Tunesmiths Database : Albert
Hague
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