Songwriter, Adam Schlesinger passes away of COVID

JBroadway said: "https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Award-Winning-Songwriter-Adam-Schlesinger-Passes-Away-Due-to-COVID-19-Complications-20200401

Another tragedy.

Schlesinger only had a few theatre credits, but he has contributed a lot to the musical theatre community, and the musical-theatre-adjacent community (such as his work on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend). Gone far too soon.

It should also be noted that he was slated to have his Off-Broadway debut this month, writing the songs for Sarah Silverman's new musical at the Atlantic. Obviously the show won't be going on as scheduled because of the theatre shut-downs, but I do hope we will still get to see the show in some form next season."

He was also working with Rachel Bloom on songs for The Nanny musical.

So sad. Bloom just had a baby and was posting about Adam earlier today (on instagram).

Holy ****, this is a big one for me. I have been a fan of Fountains of Wayne for a long time. I find it eery that, just as I saw this post, one of their songs popped up while listening to my iTunes on shuffle.

This is devastating. He was a songwriting genius. What's more, as well as his work in his band and for TV and film, it seemed like he was only just getting started in his contributions to musical theatre. His work on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend alone was groundbreaking. As well as co-writing the 150+ songs, he composed the background music and integrated the whole score like, well, a Broadway show. As far as I'm concerned, he was instrumental in creating the first successful long-form musical comedy, and also probably the longest non-jukebox musical ever written.

I saw him perform in one of the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Live concerts. This song is just one example of his brilliance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdmH6PSrQPs

Uh oh, a VERY stellar lineup : https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Coverage-Go-Inside-Atlantic-Theater-Companys-Couples-Choice-Gala-20200303

Cry-Baby is ridiculously amusing. It took far too long to get a (mostly) original cast recording but I’m glad we finally did. I remember the album dropped digitally the same day the Hamilton cast album was released and I was probably one of a handful of people who listened to Cry-Baby first.

Updated On: 4/3/20 at 03:04 AM