Adam Guettel

Adam Guettel (pronounced "Gettle") (b. 1965) is an American musical theater composer and lyricist best known for 2005's "The Light in the Piazza", for which he won a Tony Award. Guettel is the son of Mary Rodgers and grandson of Pulitzer Prize-winning musical theater composer Richard Rodgers.

Biography

Guettel born and raised in the Upper West Side New York City, New York. He performed as a boy soprano in operas including "Pelléas et Mélisande" at the Metropolitan Opera and "The Magic Flute" at the New York City Opera.cite news |last=Green |first=Jesse |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E5D6143AF935A35754C0A9659C8B63 |title=A Complicated Gift |publisher=The New York Times |date=2003-07-06 |accessdate=2007-03-19] Around the time his voice changed, Guettel began composing music, including one piece that Richard Rodgers overheard and asked Guettel to play louder. (Guettel has qualified the compliment, noting that "He was literally on his deathbed on the other side of the living-room wall.") The composer attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Interlochen Center for the Arts and graduated from Yale University in 1987.

His early works include 1996's "Floyd Collins", "Love's Fire", and "Saturn Returns" (which was recorded as "Myths and Hymns"). Guettel's music was almost immediately characterized by its complexity and use of various strings. He is perhaps one of the modern musical theater composers most heavily influenced by the work of Stephen Sondheim (for his part, Sondheim has referred to Guettel's work as "dazzling".)cite news |last=Rich |first=Frank |authorlink=Frank Rich| url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04EFDD1238F931A25750C0A9669C8B63 | title = Conversations With Sondheim | publisher =The New York Times |date = 2000-03-12 | accessdate = 2007-01-17] Guettel's songs have been recorded by such artists as Audra McDonald and Brian d'Arcy James.

In 2004, Guettel contributed vocals to Jessica Molaskey's P.S. Classics album "Make Believe", dueting with Molaskey on the song "Glad To Be Unhappy." After six years working on the project, Guettel's musical "The Light in the Piazza" opened on Broadway in 2005. The show, which starred Victoria Clark and Kelli O'Hara, met with mixed critical notices, but on June 5, 2005, Adam Guettel won the Tony Award for Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre for "The Light in the Piazza". He also took home the award for Best Orchestrations for the same show.

In 2003, one of Guettel's future projects was said to be "a shockingly ambitious concert piece for Audra McDonald." The composer also spent much of 2006 working on a musical adaptation of "The Princess Bride" with original screenwriter William Goldman. As of January 2007, Guettel had completed several songs for the project. An orchestral suite from the score was performed at the Hollywood Bowl in November 2006, and Lincoln Center conducted a workshop of "Bride" in January 2007. The project was abandoned when Goldman reportedly demanded 75 percent of the author's share, even though Guettel was writing both the music and the lyrics. [cite news |last=Riedel |first=Michael |url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162007/entertainment/theater/bride_not_to_be_theater_michael_riedel.htm |title='Bride' Not to Be While Broderick Balks at 'Producers' |publisher=New York Post |date=2007-02-16 |accessdate=2007-03-19]

In summer 2007, Guettel composed background music for a production of Anton Chekhov's play "Uncle Vanya" at the Intiman Playhouse in Seattle, Washington. [Hernandez, Ernio. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/108698.html "Samantha Mathis Stars in Lucas' New Uncle Vanya — with Music by Guettel — Beginning June 12"] , Playbill.com, 2007-06-12. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.]

Personal life

Guettel has struggled with depression, addiction and drug problems since the age of seven, when he began smoking cigarettes.

References

External links

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* [http://www.studio360.org/show082705.html Interview from "Studio 360" radio program] , 2005
* [http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=4759 NewMusicBox cover: Adam Guettel in conversation with Frank J. Oteri, August 7, 2006 (includes video)]