Female Composers?

[levitatingcow11]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 12:54pm

I'm trying to think of some, but none come to mind.

[justme2]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 12:55pm

Betty Comden? Did she and Green do both lyrics and music?

[commasplice]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:03pm

Jeanine Tesori (Violet, Caroline or Change, Shrek)

[jaystarr]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:05pm

Mary Rodgers (Once Upon a Matress)

J*

[walkedthroughmany]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:08pm

Carol Hall (Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) did music and lyrics.

[walkedthroughmany]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:10pm

Lisa Lambert (The Drowsy Chaperone), also music and lyrics.

[walkedthroughmany]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:12pm

Lucy Simon (The Secret Garden). I'm on a roll here.

[Kelly2]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:12pm

Amanda Green does both music and lyrics, no?

[Timmer]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:15pm

Mary Rodgers (Guettel), daughter of Richard R,odgers and mother of Adam Guettel.

For some reason, female lyricists seem to be more common than female composers. I can think of Betty Comden, Carolyn Leigh, and Carole Bayer Sager right off the bat.
Updated On: 8/6/08 at 01:15 PM

[Timmer]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:19pm

No, I think that Comden and Green were just lyricists, often with Jule Styne. But you can check this on http://www.ibdb.com
Updated On: 8/6/08 at 01:19 PM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:22pm

Comden and Green were definitely lyricists, not composers.

I'm of the opinion that Jeanine Tesori is one of the best composers working today (along with Adam Guettel and Scott Frankel). She is definitely the best female composer working on Broadway at the time.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:28pm

I agree with you ray! Tesori, Guettel and Frankel are my favorite composers. Though I will add Jason Robert Brown and Michael John LaChiusa.

J*

[skb2010]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:32pm

Tesori did Thoroughly Modern Millie as well.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:34pm

Not all the songs though! they used some of the old songs from the Julie Andrew's movie!

J*

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:38pm

Polly Pen has, ahem, penned several off-Broadway cult favorites, such as "Goblin Market" and "Bed and Sofa."
Updated On: 8/6/08 at 01:38 PM

[Timmer]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:39pm

Here is a link to a performance Rebecca Luker did saluting female songwriters of Broadway. However, it doesn't seem to make any distinction between composers and lyricists.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/printcolumn.cfm?id=6030

[Timmer]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:44pm

Here is an article about a female composer/lyricist who is not that well known these days:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Ronell

[jordangirl]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 1:46pm

Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich. Who have written the musicalized version of Ever After.

[defyingravity07]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 2:01pm

Brenda Russell & Allee Willis did the music to The Color Purple with Stephen Bray.

[commasplice]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 2:04pm

Jill Williams (supposedly the first woman to have written the book, music, and lyrics to a Broadway show, with the flop-a-riffic Rainbow Jones)

[BroadwayBound115]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 2:11pm

TMM only used 2 or 3 songs from the original movie with Julie Andrews, Tesori did much of the score herself.

[commasplice]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 3:11pm

Jill Santoriello (A Tale of Two Cities)
Georgia Stitt (The Water)
Kirsten Childs (The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin)
Lisa DeSpain (Storyville - her lyricist is Kristen Anderson-Lopez, wife of Robert "Avenue Q" Lopez)
Leslie Arden (The Boys Are Coming Home)
Melissa Manchester (I Sent a Letter to My Love)
Julie Mandel (Two)
Margaret Martin (the most recent Gone With the Wind)
Elizabeth Swados (Runaways, Doonesbury, among others)
Helen Miller (Inner City)
Barbara Damashek (Quilters)
Jill Dowse (Thatcher the Musical)
Marguerite Monnot (Irma La Douce)
Kay Swift (Fine and Dandy)
Debra Barsha (Radiant Baby)
Ruth Wallis (Boobs: The Musical)
Mary Murfitt (Cowgirls)
Claudia Perry (Queen of Hearts)
Angela Peterson (The Dragonslayers)
Phylliss K. Robinson (Angel Levine)
Ann Ronell (Count Me In)
Naomi Caryl Hirshhorn (Spoon River Anthology)
Julie Shannon (The Christmas Schooner)
Nancy Shayne (Marcy in the Galaxy)
Nancy Ford (I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road, The American Girls Revue, among others)
Carole King (Really Rosie)
Victoria Wood (Acorn Antiques)
Dianne Adams (The Wind in the Willows)

Debra Monk and Cass Morgan are two of the composers of Pump Boys and Dinettes
Debra Monk and Mary Murfitt are two of the composers of Oil City Symphony
Portia Nelson is one of the composers of Almost Crazy
Nell Benjamin is one of the composers of Legally Blonde and Cam Jansen
Melissa Morris is one of the composers of Evil Dead: The Musical
Ilene Reid is one of the composers of Bingo
Nancy White is one of the composers of Anne and Gilbert
Judy Hart Angelo is one of the composers of Preppiess
Caryl Brahms is one of the composers of Cindy-Ella or I Gotta Shoe
Ann Duquesnay is one of the composers of Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk
Marian Grudeff is one of the composers of Baker Street

(why, yes, I did cheat and use Wikipedia for some of this, how ever could you tell?)

[DMsquared2]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 7:32pm

Has nobody mentioned Julie Styne?!

[commasplice]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 8:27pm

"Has nobody mentioned Julie Styne?!"

As in the composer of Gypsy and Funny Girl? Male.

[DMsquared2]

Posted: 8/6/08 at 8:53pm

Haha! OK. I feel stupid.