Andrew Lippa - Musical Theatre Career

Musical Theatre Career

Lippa began his professional theatrical career at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut. 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. What followed that production was 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 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. 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 including best new musical.

In 1999, Lippa contributed three new songs to the Broadway version of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (including "My New Philosophy" for Kristin Chenoweth), and created all new arrangements. The other two songs were “Beethoven Day” and the new version of the title song. Lippa also produced the original cast recording and was honored with a Grammy nomination for his work on that recording.

In 2001, Lippa joined with Brian Crawley to create A Little Princess as a musical. That show was later premiered in the summer of 2004 at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, California. The recording was released on September 13, 2011 on Ghostlight Records. Texas State University’s musical theatre department under the direction of Kaitlin Hopkins presented the show in a revised version in concert with Lippa conducting October 16–19. Following that production, Music Theatre International (MTI) made the title available for license to theatres all over the world.

2006 saw the premiere of Asphalt Beach at the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University. Producer Stuart Oken produced that show and then asked Lippa to write the music and lyrics for The Addams Family. Lippa was honored with a Tony nomination and two Drama Desk nominations for his work on The Addams Family (book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice). 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 begins in New Orleans in September, 2011. Planned international productions include São Paulo (March, 2012), Scandinavia (summer, 2012), London (autumn, 2012), an 18-month tour of Australia (beginning March 2013), and more to be announced shortly. The recording was released on Decca Broadway and the vocal selections are available from Hal Leonard.

Big Fish, Lippa’s newest musical, with a book by John August, based on the 2003 film and the 1998 novel, is in development and will premiere on Broadway in the spring of 2013. Susan Stroman is director and choreographer.