Andrew Lippa | |
|---|---|
 Lippa in 2013 | |
| Born | December 22, 1964 |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Occupations |
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| Spouse | David Bloch (married 2008, divorced 2019) Tom Regouski (married 2022) |
| Website | andrewlippa.com |
Andrew Lippa (born December 22, 1964) is an American composer, lyricist, book writer, performer, and producer. He is a resident artist at the Ars Nova Theater in New York City.
Lippa was born in Leeds, England, [1] to English parents. He emigrated to the United States in October 1967 and grew up in Oak Park, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Lippa attended Oak Park High School and later the University of Michigan, where he studied vocal performance but eventually transferred into music education and received his bachelor's degree in music education. After graduating from college, [2] Lippa moved to New York City in 1987 and became a middle school music teacher at Columbia Grammar and Prep School (CGPS) on the Upper West Side. He was promoted his second year at CGPS to dean of 7th and 8th grade students – an assistant principal position – and held that post, in addition to teaching music, until June 1991. In 1988 Lippa was accepted into the celebrated BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop as a composer. There he met his future collaborator Tom Greenwald ( John & Jen ). He later pursued a career in musical composition.
Lippa began his professional theatrical career at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut. He was hired in early 1992 to be the pianist for a production of It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman but quickly rose to become the dance arranger and assistant music director. He then stayed on for the remainder of the season in that capacity. Following the Goodspeed, Lippa worked at various theatres as music director and/or pianist in addition to being an increasingly in-demand arranger.
The Goodspeed produced Lippa’s first musical, John & Jen (book by Tom Greenwald), in 1993 at the Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Connecticut. That production was followed by a workshop production the following year at the Berkshire Theatre Festival and, ultimately, a nearly 6-month run at Lamb's Theatre in New York City. The show was produced by Carolyn Rossi Copeland.
Lippa then went on to write the book, music, and lyrics for The Wild Party . He began work in 1996, and the Manhattan Theatre Club presented a reading of the first act later that year. Julia Murney, who later played the lead role of Queenie, was in the ensemble of that reading. The Wild Party had a two-week development at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut in the summer of 1997. Following that period, producers Jeffrey Seller and Kevin McCollum optioned the play and, with the Manhattan Theater Club, made plans for production. The Wild Party was given its world premiere in 2000 at the Off-Broadway Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City. The Wild Party won the Outer Critics Circle Award for best Off-Broadway musical of the season, [3] and Lippa won the 2000 Drama Desk Award for best music. The show was nominated for 13 Drama Desk Awards — the most of any show that year — including best new musical. [4]
In 1999, Lippa contributed three new songs to the Broadway version of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and created all new arrangements. The three songs were "My New Philosophy" (to be sung by Kristin Chenoweth), “Beethoven Day”, and the new version of the title song. Lippa also produced the original cast recording and was honored with a Grammy Award nomination for his work on that recording. [5]
In 2001, Lippa joined Brian Crawley to create a musical adaptation of A Little Princess . The show premiered in the summer of 2004 at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, California. The recording was released on September 13, 2011, on Ghostlight Records. Texas State University's musical theatre department, under the direction of actress Kaitlin Hopkins, presented a revised version of the show in concert with Lippa conducting October 16–19. [6] Following that production, Music Theatre International made the title available for license to theatres all over the world.
In 2006, the musical Asphalt Beach, with music and lyrics by Lippa and the book by T. C. Smith and Peter Spears, premiered at the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University. [7] After producing Asphalt Beach, Stuart Oken asked Lippa to write the music and lyrics for The Addams Family (book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice). Lippa was honored with a Tony Award nomination (Best Original Score) [8] and two Drama Desk nominations (Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics) [9] for his work on The Addams Family. The Addams Family starred Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, broke attendance records in Chicago during its 2009 try-out, and by its closing on December 31, 2011, had played 725 regular performances and 34 previews at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway. The US national tour began in New Orleans in September, 2011. International productions included São Paulo (March–December 2012), Sweden (September 2012–May 2013), and Sydney, Australia (March–June 2013). The Broadway cast recording was released on Decca Broadway, and vocal selections are available from Hal Leonard.
Lippa wrote the music and lyrics for Big Fish , a musical based on the 2003 film and the 1998 novel. The show, with a book by John August, premiered in Chicago, Illinois, at the Oriental Theatre from April 2013 through May 5, 2013. It opened on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre on October 6, 2013, following previews that began on September 5, 2013. Susan Stroman directed and choreographed, with scenic design by Julian Crouch, costume design by William Ivey Long, and lighting design by Donald Holder. Norbert Leo Butz starred as Edward Bloom with Kate Baldwin as Sandra and Bobby Steggert as Will. [10] Big Fish brought Lippa a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Music. [11]
In 1998, Lippa was commissioned by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver to create an anthem for a concert celebrating Israel's 50th birthday, to be sung by 350 singers and conducted by Sergiu Comissiona of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
As a singer, Lippa has performed at Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, The Rainbow Room, and The Supper Club. His vocal arrangements and singing can be heard in the songs of Stephen Schwartz in the animated feature The Prince of Egypt .
He has acted as Kristin Chenoweth's music director since 1999 and has conducted and played Chenoweth's concerts at the Metropolitan Opera House (January 2007), the San Francisco Symphony (2005), Carnegie Hall (2004), and the Donmar Warehouse (2002), among others. [12] Lippa wrote the music to the "Intervention Song" for Chenoweth's funnyordie.com video.
For Halloween weekend, 2011, the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Stuart Malina premiered The Addams Family Casket of Orchestral Grotesqueries, a symphonic suite from Lippa's musical The Addams Family, arranged by Lippa and Larry Hochman and orchestrated by Hochman. That same weekend the New Mexico Gay Men’s Chorus, under the direction of Aaron Howe, premiered Lippa’s “Move Toward The Darkness” from The Addams Family in a new choral arrangement by Lippa’s frequent collaborator Mary-Mitchell Campbell.
A show called Jerry Christmas, with music and lyrics by Lippa and book by Daniel Goldfarb, was produced by New York Stage and Film in 2007 but has since been shelved.
Lippa wrote the music and lyrics for The Man in the Ceiling, a musical based on Jules Feiffer's children's book of the same name, with book by Feiffer. The show, originally developed by Disney Theatrical and Tom Schumacher, had two readings in 2008 but didn't have its first full production until 2017, when it opened at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, New York. [13] Ghostlight Records released the cast recording, featuring Gavin Creel and Kate Baldwin, on April 18, 2019. [14]
In 2012, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus and several other gay men's choruses commissioned Lippa to write a musical tribute to the life and legacy of Harvey Milk. The resulting 60-minute oratorio, entitled I Am Harvey Milk and starring Lippa as Harvey Milk, premiered at San Francisco's Nourse Theater on June 26, 2013—the same day on which the U.S. Supreme Court declared Section 3 of DOMA and California Proposition 8 unconstitutional.
In November 2013, Lippa made his London debut with two concert performances at the St. James Theatre, London. Produced by James Yeoburn and Stuart Matthew Price of United Theatrical, the concert featured guest performances from Ashleigh Gray, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Jenna Russell, Tam Mutu, and Willemijn Verkaik. The concert exclusively previewed music from Lippa's latest Broadway musical Big Fish as well as a host of his other works, including I am Harvey Milk, The Addams Family, and The Man in the Ceiling. [15]
The Life of the Party: A Celebration of the Songs of Andrew Lippa premiered at London's Menier Chocolate Factory in May 2014. [16] The musical revue, performed by Lippa, Caroline O’Connor, Damian Humbley, and Summer Strallen, featured songs from Lippa's Broadway, Off-Broadway, and unproduced shows. [17] The Life of the Party had its American debut in August 2016 at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. [18]
Recordings include Julia Murney’s CD I’m Not Waiting (producer, 3 songs), The Wild Party (RCA Victor) which he also produced, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (RCA Victor) which earned him a Grammy Award nomination, The Addams Family (Decca Broadway), A Little Princess (Ghostlight), I Am Harvey Milk (A Cappella), and john & jen (Ghostlight) which he associate produced. Jazz phenom Peter Cincotti recorded Lippa's song “Raise The Roof” on his CD titled On The Moon (Phil Ramone, producer). In addition, Mr. Lippa produced the original cast recording of Bat Boy for RCA Victor, and his singing voice can be heard on The Sondheim Album on Fynsworth Alley and If I Sing on PS Classics. Vocal selections from The Addams Family, A Little Princess, The Wild Party and john & jen are published by Hal Leonard, and the shows are licensed by Music Theatre International. Hal Leonard also released The Andrew Lippa Song Book in Fall 2011.
Lippa married film marketing executive David Bloch in July 2008 in Los Angeles, California, shortly after that state's supreme court handed down a ruling permitting marriage of same-sex couples. They had been dating since they met through a mutual friend in 1998 seeing William Finn's A New Brain .
Lippa moved to Columbus, Ohio in 2017. [2]
Lippa married Tom Regouski in Columbus, Ohio on March 19, 2022. Guests included Kristin Chenoweth.
Jason Robert Brown is an American musical theatre composer, lyricist, and playwright. Brown's music sensibility fuses pop-rock stylings with theatrical lyrics. He is the recipient of four Tony Awards for his work on Parade and The Bridges of Madison County.
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Kristin Dawn Chenoweth is an American actress and singer, with credits in musical theatre, film, and television. In 1999, she won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown on Broadway. In 2003, Chenoweth received a second Tony Award nomination for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked. Her television roles include Annabeth Schott in NBC's The West Wing and Olive Snook on the ABC comedy drama Pushing Daisies, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2009. She also starred in the ABC TV series GCB in 2012, played Lavinia in Trial & Error in 2018, and played the characters Mildred Layton and Miss Codwell in the Apple TV+ musical comedy Schmigadoon! in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
Sutton Lenore Foster is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical twice, in 2002 for her role as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and in 2011 for her performance as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, a role which she reprised in 2021 for a production in London and for which she received a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her other Broadway credits include Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, Violet, and The Music Man. On television, Foster played the lead role in the short-lived ABC Family comedy-drama Bunheads from 2012 to 2013. From 2015 to 2021, she starred in the TV Land comedy-drama Younger.
Judy Kuhn is an American actress, singer and activist, known for her work in musical theatre. A four-time Tony Award nominee, she has released four studio albums and sang the title role in the 1995 film Pocahontas, including her rendition of the song "Colors of the Wind", which won its composers the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Michael John LaChiusa is an American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for musically esoteric shows such as Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party, and See What I Wanna See. He was nominated for four Tony Awards in 2000 for his score and book for both Marie Christine and The Wild Party and received another nomination in 1996 for his work on the libretto for Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
Jeanine Tesori, known earlier in her career as Jeanine Levenson, is an American composer and musical arranger best known for her work in the theater. She is the most prolific and honored female theatrical composer in history, with five Broadway musicals and six Tony Award nominations. She won the 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play for Nicholas Hytner's production of Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center, the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music for Caroline, or Change, the 2015 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Fun Home, making them the first female writing team to win that award, and the 2023 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Kimberly Akimbo. She was named a Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist twice for Fun Home and Soft Power.
Marc Kudisch is an American stage actor, who is best known for his musical theatre roles on Broadway.
David Joel Zippel is an American musical theatre lyricist, director, and producer.
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Julia Kathleen Murney is an American actress and singer, also known for television commercial voice-overs. Until 2005, she was commonly known as the Broadway actress who had technically never appeared on Broadway. This was because her fame came mostly from her performances on the Broadway charity circuit, and not traditional Broadway productions. She played the role of Elphaba in the musical Wicked, both on the US national tour (2006) and on Broadway (2007). She is also a two-time Drama Desk Award nominee, for The Wild Party (2000) and Falling (2013).
Rachel York is an American actress and singer. She is known for stage roles in City of Angels, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Les Misérables, Victor/Victoria, Kiss Me, Kate, Sly Fox, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Anything Goes. She also has many film and television credits, including her portrayal of Lucille Ball in the CBS biographical film Lucy.
Alice Ripley is an American actress, singer, songwriter and mixed media artist. She is known, in particular, for her various roles on Broadway in musicals, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal and Side Show. She most recently played three roles in the short-lived Broadway musical, American Psycho. Alice Ripley has released albums with her band, RIPLEY, including the single, "Beautiful Eyes", released in February 2012. She also performs as a solo artist, while in February 2011 she released Alice Ripley Daily Practice, Volume 1, a stripped-down collection of acoustic rock covers.
Laura Ann Osnes is an American actress and singer known for her work on the Broadway stage. She has played starring roles in Grease as Sandy, South Pacific as Nellie Forbush, Anything Goes as Hope Harcourt, and Bonnie and Clyde as Bonnie Parker, for which she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She also starred in the title role of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella on Broadway, for which she received a Drama Desk Award and her second Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.
The Wild Party is a musical with book, lyrics, and music by Andrew Lippa.
Joseph Peter Philip Iconis is an American composer, lyricist, and playwright. He is best known for writing the music and lyrics to the Broadway musical Be More Chill.
The Addams Family is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. The show is based upon The Addams Family characters created by Charles Addams in his single-panel gag cartoons, which depict a ghoulish American family with an affinity for all things macabre. Although numerous film and television adaptations of Addams' cartoons exist, the musical is the first stage show based on the characters. The Addams Family is also the first show produced by Elephant Eye Theatricals.
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Bruce Coughlin is an American orchestrator and musical arranger. He has won a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, and an Obie Award.
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