Three-time Tony Award-winner Charles Strouse, Broadway’s industrious, master melody-maker who composed the music for such classic hits as “Annie,” “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Applause,” has died.

In an interview with the Tribune in 2011, Strouse was asked if he had any idea that the Broadway show would be such a hit. “No,” he said. “This was a piece about the Depression. It was dark. The

Charles Strouse, the musical composer for such Broadway hits as Bye Bye Birdie, Applause and Annie, films including Bonnie and Clyde (1967) The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989) and for the TV series All In The Family,