
Independent Lens
Playwright: From Page to Stage
The lives of two young playwrights — one from Miami’s inner city and the other from Cleveland — are brought together.
The composer of "Take the A-Train" and other Duke Ellington hits, Billy Strayhorn struggled with obscurity and prejudice as a gay man.
Robert Levi is an independent writer, director, producer and cinematographer. In 2008, Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life became the first show in broadcast history to receive three important awards in one year: the Emmy for Best Documentary, the Peabody Award, and the Writers Guild Award for Best Documentary Screenplay. In addition, Levi received three Best… Show more
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As Duke Ellington's co-composer, arranger, and right-hand man, Billy Strayhorn wrote some of the greatest American music of the 20th century. But as a gay man in the ’40s and ’50s, Strayhorn had to lead a discreet existence, while Ellington played to thunderous applause on center stage. Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life tells the story of the unheralded man who changed jazz and popular music forever, maintaining artistic and personal integrity, while challenging prejudice along the way.
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