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Craig Carnelia

CRAIG CARNELIA

  
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC  represented by John Buzzetti

Craig Carnelia has had four shows produced on Broadway. Working with composer Marvin Hamlisch, he wrote lyrics for Sweet Smell of Success, written with John Guare and Imaginary Friends, written with Nora Ephron. Hamlisch and Carnelia received Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations for their score for Sweet Smell of Success and Carnelia received a Drama Desk nomination for his lyrics for Imaginary Friends. As both composer and lyricist, Craig wrote the score for Is There Life After High School? and contributed four songs to Studs Terkel's Working for which he received his first Tony nomination. Off-Broadway, he wrote the music and lyrics for Three Postcards at Playwrights Horizons. Three Postcards, written with playwright Craig Lucas, was named one of the year's 10-Best in Time magazine and is included in the Burns-Mantle anthology Best Plays of 1986-1987 as Best Musical of the Season. Regional premieres include the musical Actor, Lawyer, Indian Chief at Goodspeed's Norma Terris Theatre and a new Studs Terkel musical at Northlight Theatre in Chicago, The Good War, both written with playwright-director David H. Bell.Craig has won a number of major songwriting awards, including the Johnny Mercer Award, the first annual Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theatre Award and the prestigious Kleban Award for distinguished lyric writing. Recent highlights include the publication of an "Expanded Edition" of The Craig Carnelia Songbook from Hal Leonard, the premiere of a new compilation of the composer's work, Life On Earth at the Laurie Beechman Theater, and a beautiful recording of Flight on Sutton Foster's debut CD Wish. He is currently writing a new musical with playwright Joe Tracz. Craig has been a council member of the Dramatists Guild since 1995, where he is chairman of the anti-Piracy Committee and a member of the Contracts Committee. He serves as head-teacher of the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project each June at Northwestern University. Craig lives in New Jersey with his wife, Broadway actress, Lisa Brescia.

Research:    Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)

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below is a list of Craig Carnelia's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Actor, Lawyer, Indian Chief (aka Cowboys & Lawyers)         Diamonds         Good War, The         Imaginary Friends         Is There Life After High School?         Pictures In The Hall         Poster Boy         Striking 12         Sweet Smell Of Success         Three Postcards         Working

Actor, Lawyer, Indian Chief (aka Cowboys & Lawyers)

Synopsis:
An original musical set in 1990 about an older actor who originated the role of a cowboy hero on a Saturday morning TV series in the 1950's. He has been making his living doing public appearances as the character he created since the show went off the air in the 1960's. He is barred from continuing to do this when a movie studio options the property for a big-screen remake. He and a lawyer who grew up watching him on TV fight the studio.

Notes:
music and lyrics by Craig Carnelia; book by David H Bell

1st Produced:
Landers Theatre, Springfield, MO     2000

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Diamonds

Synopsis:
Revue about baseball

Notes:
contributions by Cy Coleman, Comden and Green, Kander and Ebb, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, David Zippel, Larry Grossman, John Lahr, John Weidman and others.

1st Produced:
off Broadway, NY     1984

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
revue

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:   6-10 actors or singers

Further Reference:
-

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Good War, The

Synopsis:
This collage of human experience from World War II based on Terkel's great book makes rich use of the music of the era.

Notes:
Written by David H Bell And Craig Carnelia. Based on the book by Studs Terkell

1st Produced:
Northlight Theater, Stokie, IL     2004

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Imaginary Friends

Synopsis:
Novelist Mary McCarthy's notorious statement on the Dick Cavett Show calling playwright Lillian Hellman a liar exploded into one of the most famous of all literary feuds. This surreal farce portrays these two literary lionesses battling it out in hell. It chronicles a compelling story of two women shaped by their different but equally unsettled childhoods, their looks (one was a beauty, one was not' and the men in their lives while it brilliantly examines to great comic effect the concept of truth in fiction: Who can you believe? Interspersed throughout are witty songs that enable the ensemble to comment on the action. the acclaimed Broadway production starred famed actresses Swoozie Kurtz and Cherry Jones

Notes:
by Nora Ephron, Music And Lyrics by Marvin Hamlisch And Craig Carnelia

1st Produced:
Old Globe Theatre, San Diego     12 Dec 2002

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Dramatic Farce with music

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Is There Life After High School?

Is There Life After High School?
Is there Life after High School? is a light-hearted musical about a group of people remembering the joys and sorrows of their high school days. Did their high school experience determine their collective or individual fates? Is the beauty always a beauty? Is the bully always a bully? This show will take you back and make you laugh and cry with all the antics from school. and with songs such as Kid Inside, you'll feel like you're 17 all over again!

Notes:
Book by Jeffrey Kindley. Suggested by the book of the same title by Ralph Keyes. Music And lyrics by Craig Carnelia

1st Produced:
Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York     07 May 1982

Organisations:
Hertford Stage Company

1st Published:
Samuel French Inc, New York,    

Music:
Original cast recording: Orginal Cast Records (OC-8240) 1982

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=11491

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Pictures In The Hall

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Greenwich Village Club "88's" , NY     1990

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
Cast Album: Original Cast Records (Out of Print)

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
revue

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Poster Boy

Synopsis:
Original musical based on a contemporary event.

Notes:
music and lyrics by Craig Carnelia; book by Joe Tracz

1st Produced:
Upcoming 1st reading at Roundabout    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
WIP

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:   6-10 actors or singers

Further Reference:
-

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Striking 12

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
apply for a license: www.theatricalrights.com/contact-us/

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Sweet Smell Of Success

Sweet Smell Of Success
Based on the novel by ernest Lehman and the MGM/United artists motion picture. It's New York, 1952. Welcome to Broadway, the glamour and power capital of the universe. JJ Hunsecker rules it all with his daily gossip column in the New York Globe, syndicated to sixty million readers across America. JJ has the goods on everyone, from the President to the latest starlet. and everyone feeds JJ scandal, from J. Edgar Hoover and Senator Joe McCarthy down to a battalion of hungry press agents who attach their news to a client that JJ might plug. You can become no one if JJ turns on you.

Notes:
Music by Marvin Hamlisch; Lyrics by Craig Carnelia; Book by John Guare

1st Produced:
Martin Beck Theatre, NY     14 Mar 2002

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
Original cast recording: Sony (SK 89922) 2002

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  18            Female:  9            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Three Postcards

Synopsis:
the place is a trendy restaurant in Greenwich Village, empty except for Bill (the pianist) and Walter (the waiter). Three young women, Big Jane, Little Jane and K.C., arrive for dinner, and for the conversation, daydreams and memories which then engage them. Deceptively simple and often very funny their table talk is mostly about everyday things, but in the fantasies to which they escape the veneers of their lives are peeled back as they regress to childhood, take an imagined trip to outer space, or reveal the problems besetting their marriages and careers. Punctuated by songs, accompanied (and sometimes joined in) by Bill, and with Walter (the waiter) assuming a variety of roles as the action requires, the play probes deftly and surely ever deeper until (in the words of edith Oliver) "at the end, when Little Jane hands her credit card to Walter, there is little we do not know about the inner and outer lives of these three women over the years."

Notes:
musical play by Craig Lucas, music and lyrics by Craig Carnelia

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Working

Synopsis:
the cast of six actors portrays 36 ordinary Americans as they strive to transcend the everyday and to find significance in their jobs. WORKING is based on the 1974 bestseller Working: People Talk About What they Do All Day and How they Feel About What they Do by the noted oral historian and radio broadcaster Studs Terkel. 2012 is Terkel's centenary year.
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
Book By: Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, with additional contributions by Gordon Greenberg; Music & Lyrics By: by Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Rodgers & Susan Birkenhead, Stephen Schwartz, and James Taylor. From the book by Studs Terkel

1st Produced:
46th Street Theatre     14 May 1978

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
the cast of six actors portrays 36 ordinary Americans as they strive to transcend the everyday and to find significance in their jobs. WORKING is based on the 1974 bestseller Working: People Talk About What they Do All Day and How they Feel About What they Do by the noted oral historian and radio broadcaster Studs Terkel. 2012 is Terkel's centenary year.   

Music:
Original Cast Album: SONY (Out of Print)

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=4061

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