ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCES

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About the Creators

THOMAS MEEHAN received the Tony Award for co-writing the book for The Producers in 2001 and in 2003 for co-writing the book for Hairspray. He received his first Tony Award in 1977 for writing the book of Annie, which was his first Broadway show, and has written the books for the musicals Rocky, Elf the Musical, Cry-Baby, Young Frankenstein, Chaplin, Bombay Dreams, I Remember Mama, Ain’t Broadway Grand and Annie Warbucks. In addition, he was a long-time contributor of humor to The New Yorker, an Emmy-Award winning writer of television comedy, and a collaborator on a number of screenplays, including Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs and To Be Or Not To Be. Mr. Meehan was also a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild. He and his wife, Carolyn, divided their time between a home in Nantucket and an apartment in Greenwich Village, near which, on Hudson Street, she owned and presided over the long-running and near-legendary children’s store Peanut Butter & Jane.

MARK O’DONNELL’S plays include That’s It, Folks!, Fables for Friends, and The Nice and the Nasty (all produced at Playwrights Horizons), and Strangers on Earth and Vertigo Park (both produced by Zena Group Theatre). He wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Tots in Tinseltown. Mr. O’Donnell collaborated with Bill Irwin on an adaptation of Moliere’s Scapin. and he co-authored a translation of Feydeau’s A Flea in Her Ear, both for the Roundabout. For Manhattan Theatre Club he translated Jean Claude Carriere’s La Terrasse. He has published two collections of comic stories Elementary Education and Vertigo Park and Other Tall Tales (both Knopf) as well as two recent novels Getting Over Homer and Let Nothing You Dismay (both now in Vintage paperback). His humor, cartoons, and poetry have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Spy, The New Republic, and Esquire, among many others. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lecomte du Nuoy Prize, and the George S. Kaufman Award.

MARC SHAIMAN has been writing music, lyrics, arrangements, orchestrations and very lengthy Emails since entering show business at the age of 16, at LaMama, in 1976.

Mr. Shaiman has been nominated for two Tony Awards (winning one for co-writing the score to Hairspray with co-lyricist Scott Wittman), four Grammy Awards, (winning one for The Original Cast Recording of Hairspray), eleven Emmy Awards (winning one for his work on Billy Crystal’s Academy Award hosting) and if he hadn’t lost each of his five Oscar nominations (for “Sleepless In Seattle”, “Patch Adams”, “The First Wives Club”, The American President” and “South Park-Bigger, Longer & Uncut”), he could boast of being an EGOT. Till then, he remains a EGT.

Mr. Shaiman’s other film work includes “Beaches”, “When Harry Met Sally”, “City Slickers”, “The Addams Family”, “A Few Good Men”, “Sister Act” (1 & 2), “Hocus Pocus”, “The Bucket List” and “Parental Guidance”, to name a few. He and Mr. Wittman were Executive Producers of the successful film adaptation (not remake!!) of their musical Hairspray.

Besides Hairspray, his and Mr. Wittman’s other original Broadway musicals are the Tony-nominated Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and the Tony-winning Catch Me If You Can, while Off-Broadway productions include The High-Heeled Women, Livin’ Dolls and Andre De Shields’ Haarlem Nocturne. Broadway concert credits are “Peter Allen-Up In One”, Bette Midler’s “Divine Madness”, Ellie Greenwich’s “Leader Of The Pack” and “Patti LuPone On Broadway”.

SCOTT WITTMAN co-wrote (with Marc Shaiman) the lyrics for the Olivier Award wining musical Hairspray, for which the pair received Tony and Grammy Awards. He also served as an executive producer on the hit film starring John Travolta. They teamed up again on Broadway for Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, which he also directed, and Catch Me If You Can, which received a Tony nomination for Best Musical. For their original songs on NBC’s musical drama “Smash”, Scott & Marc were nominated for two Emmy Awards, a Grammy and a Golden Globe. On SMASH they have composed songs for Jennifer Hudson, Uma Thurman, Bernadette Peters, and Liza Minnelli. Their original score for the Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell was released on Sony Records. Scott co wrote the lyrics to “Charlie and Chocolate Factory” directed by Sam Mendes, currently playing to sold out houses at The Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London’s West End. For Patti LuPone, Scott has created and directed two Broadway shows, three recordings and three sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts. At La Mama, Scott conceived and directed “Jukebox Jackie” starring Justin Vivian Bond, Cole Escola, Steel Burkhardt and Bridget Everett. He collaborated with Shaiman on new songs for Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns”, directed by Rob Marshall. He and Shaiman received on Oscar nomination for the song “The Place Where Lost Things Go”, featured in the film.