Graduate Musical Theatre Writing

Biography

Mike is the composer for The Ballad of Little Jo with Sarah Schlesinger. The Ballad of Little Jo, which opened at the Bridewell Theatre in London in July, 2003 was premiered by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company as their first musical.  He previously collaborated with Ms. Schlesinger on the opera Different Fields. They have also written an original chamber musical, In This House, and have recently completed the score for Casanova Returns, which was just chosen to be one of the six musicals showcased by the Global Search for New Musicals in Cardiff Wales in October, 2006. Mike is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter with more than 30 Top Ten pop and country hits recorded by many artists including Bonnie Raitt  “I Can’t  Make You Love Me”, Anita Baker, Kenny Rogers,Wynonna Judd,Alabama, Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Tanya Tucker, Collie Raye, Leroy Parnell, Lorrie Morgan and Bette Midler.    He was commissioned by the Kandisky Trio of Roanoke, Virginia to write Appalachian Tales and Eye of the Blackbird and by the Amernet Quartet to write Prairie Songs, a piece for chorus and string quartet with lyrics by Sarah Schlesinger. He has been the recipient of The Richard Rodgers Award, a Gilman-Gonzalez Falla Theatre Foundation Award,Chicago’s Jeff Award for best original musical, and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2005.