Trude Rittman, 96; Arranger Helped Shape Major Broadway Shows
Trude Rittman, 96, a choral and dance music arranger who help shape such landmark Broadway productions as “Carousel,†“The Sound of Music†and “Camelot,†died Feb. 22 in Lexington, Mass. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Rittman left her native Germany during the rise of Adolf Hitler and arrived in New York in 1937. A composer and pianist, she landed a job as an accompanist and soon became musical director for George Balanchine’s American Ballet Caravan, before taking a similar post with choreographer Agnes De Mille’s concert company.
Her resume included collaborations with some of Broadway’s legendary teams, from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Lerner and Loewe, as well as Jerome Robbins and Irving Berlin.
She arranged or composed music for both Jean Arthur’s and Mary Martin’s “Peter Pan†(1950 and 1954, respectively) and arranged music or dance for “South Pacific†(1949), “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes†(1949), “The King and I†(1951), “Paint Your Wagon†(1951), “My Fair Lady†(1956) and “The Sound of Music†(1959).
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