Andrew Lippa

Andrew Lippa (born December 22, 1964) is an American composer, lyricist, book writer, performer, and producer.

He is a resident artist at the Ars Nova Theater in New York City.

Lippa was born in Leeds, England, to English parents.

He emigrated to the United States in October 1967 and grew up in Oak Park, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.

Lippa attended Oak Park High School and later the University of Michigan, where he studied vocal performance but eventually transferred into music education and received his bachelor's degree in music education.

After graduating from college, Lippa moved to New York City in 1987 and became a middle school music teacher at Columbia Grammar and Prep School (CGPS) on the Upper West Side.

In 1988 Lippa was accepted into the celebrated BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop as a composer.

There he met his future collaborator Tom Greenwald (John & Jen).

He later pursued a career in musical composition.

Lippa began his professional theatrical career at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut.

He was promoted his second year at CGPS to dean of 7th and 8th grade students – an assistant principal position – and held that post, in addition to teaching music, until June 1991.

He was hired in early 1992 to be the pianist for a production of It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman but quickly rose to become the dance arranger and assistant music director.

He then stayed on for the remainder of the season in that capacity.

Following the Goodspeed, Lippa worked at various theatres as music director and/or pianist in addition to being an increasingly in-demand arranger.

The Goodspeed produced Lippa’s first musical, John & Jen (book by Tom Greenwald), in 1993 at the Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Connecticut.

That production was followed by a workshop production the following year at the Berkshire Theatre Festival and, ultimately, a nearly 6-month run at Lamb's Theatre in New York City.

The show was produced by Carolyn Rossi Copeland.

Lippa then went on to write the book, music, and lyrics for The Wild Party.

He began work in 1996, and the Manhattan Theatre Club presented a reading of the first act later that year.

Julia Murney, who later played the lead role of Queenie, was in the ensemble of that reading.

The Wild Party had a two-week development at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut in the summer of 1997.

Following that period, producers Jeffrey Seller and Kevin McCollum optioned the play and, with the Manhattan Theater Club, made plans for production.

In 1999, Lippa contributed three new songs to the Broadway version of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and created all new arrangements.

The three songs were "My New Philosophy" (to be sung by Kristin Chenoweth), “Beethoven Day”, and the new version of the title song.

Lippa also produced the original cast recording and was honored with a Grammy Award nomination for his work on that recording.

The Wild Party was given its world premiere in 2000 at the Off-Broadway Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City.

The Wild Party won the Outer Critics Circle Award for best Off-Broadway musical of the season, and Lippa won the 2000 Drama Desk Award for best music.

The show was nominated for 13 Drama Desk Awards — the most of any show that year — including best new musical.

In 2001, Lippa joined Brian Crawley to create a musical adaptation of A Little Princess.

The show premiered in the summer of 2004 at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, California.

In 2006, the musical Asphalt Beach, with music and lyrics by Lippa and the book by T. C. Smith and Peter Spears, premiered at the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University.

After producing Asphalt Beach, Stuart Oken asked Lippa to write the music and lyrics for The Addams Family (book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice).

Lippa was honored with a Tony Award nomination (Best Original Score) and two Drama Desk nominations (Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics) for his work on The Addams Family.

The recording was released on September 13, 2011, on Ghostlight Records.

Texas State University's musical theatre department, under the direction of actress Kaitlin Hopkins, presented a revised version of the show in concert with Lippa conducting October 16–19.

Following that production, Music Theatre International made the title available for license to theatres all over the world.

The Addams Family starred Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, broke attendance records in Chicago during its 2009 try-out, and by its closing on December 31, 2011, had played 725 regular performances and 34 previews at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway.

The US national tour began in New Orleans in September, 2011.

International productions included São Paulo (March–December 2012), Sweden (September 2012–May 2013), and Sydney, Australia (March–June 2013).

The Broadway cast recording was released on Decca Broadway, and vocal selections are available from Hal Leonard.