Playwright that does it all

[Forester]

Posted: 7/13/05 at 8:56am

Just wondering, are there any musical playwright that writes the score, lyric and the book?

Edit spelling mistakes. Updated On: 7/13/05 at 08:56 AM

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 7/13/05 at 8:58am

A what?

[JakeB]

Posted: 7/13/05 at 8:58am

Willy Russell - Blood Brothers.

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 7/13/05 at 9:02am

Considering you mean a Playwrite:
Meredith Wilson (The Music Man)
Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood)

Hmm, not sure, I think Andrew Lippa did it all for his version of "the wild party".

[Aigoo]

Posted: 7/13/05 at 9:07am

No..It's a playwright. No -er, though.

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 7/13/05 at 9:15am

Then I'm begging for pardon for misspelling it as well. I could use Bill Finn now

+ Charles Strouse (Nightingale)

[professor]

Posted: 7/13/05 at 10:05am

The most obvious answer here is Jonathan Larson, who wrote the book, music and lyrics for RENT.
There's also a few that come to mind from the past:
Clark Gesner-- You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown
Elizabeth Swados-- several shows in the 70s (Alice in Concert, Runaways, etc.)
Dan Goggin-- Nunsense

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 7/13/05 at 10:47am

Mike Batt wrote the music, book and lyrics for 'Hunting of the Snark' (though obviously, he was heavily influenced by Lewis Carrol) in addition to also designing and directing it. However, whilst innovative, it wasn't really very good

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 7/13/05 at 2:52pm

Richard O'Brien - The Rocky Horror Show

Stephen Dolginoff - Thrill Me

[Racetrack]

Posted: 7/14/05 at 1:17am

Alex Harding-Only Heaven Knows

[TabooPhan1]

Posted: 7/14/05 at 4:22am

good thinking bare-nakedlady! I didn't even think of Rocky Horror... I love that show...

[BroadwayBound06]

Posted: 7/14/05 at 7:06am

Schwartz tries to. The very very first draft of Pippin was entirely done by Schwartz.

[QueenS]

Posted: 7/14/05 at 7:52pm

On a side note, Rupert Holmes was the first solo writer to win the Tony for both Best Book as well as Best Score... And I think that Larson is the only other who has since.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 7/14/05 at 10:45pm

And my money is on Michael John LaChiusa to be the next.

[Liz_Bennet]

Posted: 7/14/05 at 11:05pm

Judging from the fame of the majority of the musicals mentioned so far, I'm not sure if it's a good idea. There are only a few composer/lyricists that convince me that they really are composer/lyricists instead of composers who also write lyrics or lyricists who also write music, so someone who could also pull off a great book as well, well, wow.

[MrBungee7]

Posted: 7/15/05 at 2:19am

Finn definitely did it for the March of the Falsettos (not sure about the rest of the trilogy) and almost did it for A New Brain (with help from Lapine on the book). The latter doesn't suprise me though, as it was somewhat autobiographical. Impressive still, though.