Wally Harper

Wally Harper (died October 8, 2004), a graduate of the New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School of Music, has worked as musical director, composer, conductor, dance arranger, and musical supervisor for many Broadway productions including:

*Broadway
**"The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public" (1994, Musical Supervision/Vocal and Dance Arrangements)
**"My Favorite Year" (1992, Dance Arrangements)
**"Grand Hotel" (1989, Music Supervision/Additional Music)
**"Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre" (1987, Music arranged and conducted by/Original Songs (Music))
**"The Three Musketeers" (1984, Dance Arrangements)
**"5-6-7-8...Dance!" (1983, Composer/Musical Supervisor)
**"My One and Only" (1983, Musical Concept/Dance Arranger)
**"Nine" (1982, Musical Director)
**"A Day in Hollywood-A Night in the Ukraine" (1980, Musical Director/Vocal and Dance Arranger)
**"Peter Pan" (1979, Dance Arrangements)
**"The Grand Tour" (1979, Musical Direction)
**"Company" (Musical Supervisor)
**"Irene" (Musical Supervisor)
**"Brigadoon" (Musical Supervisor)
*Off-Broadway
**"Whispers on the Wind" (1970, Musical Consultant)

He composed the musical "Say Yes!" with book and lyrics by Sherman Yellen, which was produced at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, as well as "Josephine Tonight! with Yellen, which was produced by Theatre Building Chicago in '06, and received praise from The Chicago Sun Times for his fine score. He also composed the Off-Broadway musical, "Sensations", and several songs for "Irene", as well as dance music for the film, "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas".

Harper produced the original cast recordings of "My One and Only", "A Day in Hollywood/A Night in The Ukraine", the Pointer Sisters' revival of "Ain't Misbehavin' " and Tommy Tune's "Slow Dancin"'.

As a symphony conductor, Harper has conducted such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

He has performed at The White House for four administrations.

Donating his time and experience, Wally Harper has served as guest lecturer for the Juilliard School and the Broadway Musical Theatre Project [http://www.tau.ac.il/taunews/97fall/broadway.html] with Tel Aviv University.

During Harper's collaboration with Barbara Cook, he arranged and conducted the CD, "Oscar Winners: The Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II". He produced and arranged "It's Better With a Band", for which he wrote the title song and "The Disney Album", arranged for symphony orchestra. He co-produced "Close as Pages in a Book", celebrating the lyrics of Dorothy Fields, "Barbara Cook: Live from London", "Barbara Cook at Carnegie Hall", "As of Today", "All I Ask of You", "The Champion Season" and their latest CD, "Barbara Cook Sings Mostly Sondheim".

Harper died of cardiac arrest in New York October 8, 2004 [http://www.lifeinlegacy.com/2004/WIR20041009#D36] .

External links

* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=69947 Internet Broadway Database]
* [http://www.theatredb.com/QPerson.php?pid=p000481 ITDb]
* [http://broadwayworld.com/galleryphoto.cfm?photoid=1122&personid=7778 Photo of Wally Harper and Barbara Cook]