 | Michael Kunze writer: Encyclopedia II - Michael Kunze writer - Life and work
Michael Kunze writer - Life and work
Kunze grew up in Munich. While studying law in the mid-1960s, he began writing song lyrics. Stars such as Udo Jürgens, Nana Mouskouri, Peter Alexander, Jürgen Drews, Münchener Freiheit and Holger Biege had some of their greatest hits with his songs.
Kunze also had international success with Silver Convention, Julio Iglesias, Herbie Mann, Gilbert Bécaud, Lulu, and Sister Sledge among others; for these purposes he sometimes used the pseudonym "Stephan Prager" (composed of the name of his son, Stephan, and his birth city, Prague). Silver Convention's hit Fly, Robin, Fly reached number 1 in the US "Billboard" Charts.
At the height of his success he would occasionally withdraw from the pop scene in order to write books. Straße in Feuer (English: Highroad to the Stake: A Tale of Witchcraft) became a worldwide best-seller, to which the "New York Times" Book Review Supplement devoted a two-page review.
In the 1980s, Kunze discovered the musical. His successful translations of the works of Andrew Lloyd Webber (Evita, Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love, Sunset Boulevard) and above all, of Stephen Sondheim (Company, Follies, Into the Woods), have brought him reknown in the field. Likewise he is credited with the German versions of A Chorus Line, Little Shop of Horrors, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King, Mamma Mia!, and Elton John's Aida.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, Kunze has written several of his own musicals. In 1990, together with his friend Sylvester Levay he produced Hexen, Hexen, and in 1992, Elisabeth, which played for more than four years at the Theater an der Wien. This was followed by Dance of the Vampires (with Roman Polanski, music by Jim Steinman) and Mozart!.
More recent works include a play entitled Lenya (premiered at the Kurt-Weill-Fest in Dessau, 2002); an American opera, Raoul (music: Gershon Kingsley); and the German version of the musical Dracula (music: Karel Svoboda), which had its premiere at the Musicaltheater, Basel, on 30 April 2004.
Kunze is currently working on the musical Rebecca (music: Sylvester Levay) with a world premiere planned for Autumn, 2006 in Vienna.
He divides his time between New York and Munich.
Other related archives1943, 1960s, 1975, 1980s, 1989, 1990s, 1991, 1993, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 30 April, 9 November, A Chorus Line, Aida, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Aspects of Love, Basel, Cats, Company, Dance of the Vampires, Dessau, Dracula, ECHO, Elisabeth, Elton John, Evita, Follies, Gershon Kingsley, Gilbert Bécaud, Grammy, Herbie Mann, Into the Woods, Jim Steinman, Julio Iglesias, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Little Shop of Horrors, Lulu, Mamma Mia!, Munich, Münchener Freiheit, Nana Mouskouri, Peter Alexander, Phantom of the Opera, Prague, Rebecca, Roman Polanski, Silver Convention, Sister Sledge, Stephen Sondheim, Sunset Boulevard, Sylvester Levay, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King, Theater an der Wien, Udo Jürgens, Vienna, musical
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