Lyricist.
Bookwriter.
Playwright.
I’ve writen musicals that are performed all around the world. In languages I don’t speak. It’s thrilling, humbling. and continually surprising—it makes me want to sing a showtune.
In 2006, I wrote the book and lyrics to the Off-Broadway musical I Love You Because. Co-written with composer Joshua Salzman, the show went on to have a long life in licensing and launched our writing careers. We continued with the musicals Next Thing You Know, The Legend of New York, and Michael Collins. I was nominated for a Drama Desk for Outstanding Lyrics and the MAC Award for Song of the Year (twice!). And lost. (Both!) We won (yay!) the Larson Award and were selected for the ASCAP Workshop with Stephen Schwartz.
I also wrote two plays with award-winning writer Charles Antin, Half-Married and Television’s Greatest Playwright. They don’t get produced much. But they’re really funny. Trust me.
(Scroll for shows)
It all began in 2006, when our thesis at NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, I Love You Because, was produced Off-Broadway. We then recorded a cast album and licensed the show through Theatrical Rights Worldwide. The show has now been done around the world and translated into four languages. It continues to be performed around the country and “Even Though” and “Just Not Now” have become musical theatre audition staples.
Next Thing You Know is a quartet of a quarter-life crisis. The story follows four young New Yorkers as they love, laugh, drink, and dream in the city that never sleeps. It was produced at CAP21 in New York, the Landor Theatre in London, and in Paris (in French!) We recorded a three-episode audio musical of the show and it continues to get licensed across the country.
Michael Collins follows the true story of the Irish Rebel of the same name—but it’s more than just an Irish story. It’s a universal story of how people respond to oppression and the terrible cost to the oppressed when that response is violent—even if it ultimately leads to freedom. It’s been developed at the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University and the ASCAP Workshop with Stephen Schwartz.
The Legend of New York is a funk-driven musical comedy set during the 1977 New York City blackout. An angel is sent down to New York to send one man on a mission: find three worthy souls by sunrise. This man’s journey becomes an adventure through Manhattan’s seediest neighborhoods—including Times Square, CBGBs, and of course, Studio 54.