Graduate Musical Theatre Writing
Scott Richards
Adjunct Faculty Composer |
Biography
Professor Richards is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson and the Frederick Loewe awards. Last spring he wrote the score for the World Premiere production of Dance of the Holy Ghosts by Marcus Gardley at the Yale Repertory Theatre (Starring Tony award winner, Chuck Cooper). He is currently at work on a commission to write music and lyrics for a musical adaptation of the Jean Shepherd film; A Christmas Story. Other musical theatre works include music and libretto for Charlie Crosses The Nation a Jazz Opera (Directors Company/Hal Prince Project), music for Coyote Goes Salmon Fishing (directed by Molly Smith at Perseverance Theatre/produced by Stuart Ostrow in Houston.) and Sanctuary D. C., a rap musical about the homeless in Washington (Helen Hayes Award nomination.)
Works for children include a number of commissions from Theatreworks U. S. A.; Corduroy (music, lyrics, orchestration), Sundiata! The Lion King ofMali (music, lyrics, orchestration), Island of the Blue Dolphins (orchestrations) and Junie B. Jones (orchestration.)
His playscores have been heard at resident theatres around the country including The Public, The Old Globe, The Alliance, and Madison Rep. Highlights include the world premiere of Lee Blessing’s Cobb at The Yale Repertory Theatre directed by Lloyd Richards and theU. S. premiere of Nikos Kazantzakis’s Christopher Columbus at the New Federal Theater.
As an actor, Mr. Richards originated the role of Sylvester in the original Broadway production of AugustWilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Professor Richards has been a member of the faculty atNew YorkUniversity’sTischSchool of the Arts Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program since 1997. He is currently an assistant professor of music/musical theatre at Montclair State University, and from 1995-2005, he was a teaching artist with Lincoln Center Institute where he authored publications for the Heckscher Foundation Research Center on such various subjects as The Blues, Margaret Leng Tan (The Art of the Toy Piano), and The Tangos of Astor Piazzolla.
