The Playwrights Database
JAMES LAPINE
(1949 - )
Nationality:
USA
email:
n/a
Website:
Click here
Literary Agent:
Creative Artists Agency NY represented by
George Lane
JAMES LAPINE was born in 1949 in Mansfield, Ohio and lived there until his early teens when his family moved to Stamford, Connecticut. He attended public schools before entering Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he majored in History. He went on to get an MFA in Design from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. After graduate school, he moved to New York City where he worked part-time as a waiter; a page and tour guide at NBC; a free-lance photographer and graphic designer; and an architectural preservationist for the Architectural League of NY. One of his free-lance jobs was designing the magazine of the Yale School of Drama, Yale/Theater, then edited by Rocco Landesman and Robert Marx. The dean of the School of Drama, Robert Brustein offered Lapine a full-time job designing all of the printed materials for the School of Drama and the Yale Repertory Theatre as well as a faculty position teaching a course in advertising design. While at Yale, his students urged him to direct a play during the annual January period when both faculty and students undertook a project outside of their areas of study or expertise. At their suggestion Lapine directed a Gertrude Stein play, PHOTOGRAPH. The play was five acts, and just three pages in length. Assembling students and friends, the play was presented in New Haven and came to the attention of director Lee Breuer, who helped arrange for a small performance space in Soho to present the work for three weeks. The production was enthusiastically received and won Lapine an Obie award. Lapine was approached to create a new piece for the Music-Theatre Group. He wrote and directed a workshop version of TWELVE DREAMS, a work inspired by a Jungian case history. The play was later presented at the Public Theatre and revived by Lincoln Center Theatre. Lapine eventually left the visual arts for a career in the theatre where he has also written and directed the plays TABLE SETTINGS, LUCK, PLUCK and VIRTUE, THE MOMENT WHEN, FRAN's BED and MRS. MILLER DOES HER THING. He has written the book for and directed Stephen Sondheim's SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, INTO THE WOODS, PASSION and the multi-media revue SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM. He also directed MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG as part of Encores! at New York City Center. With William Finn he has collaborated on MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS and FALSETTOLAND, later presented on Broadway as FALSETTOS, A NEW BRAIN, MUSCLE and the soon to be produced, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE which will open at 2nd Stage Theatre. On Broadway he has also directed David Henry Hwang's GOLDEN CHILD, THE DIARY OF Anne FRANK, Michel Legrand's AMOUR, and THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE. He directed Jenny Allen's solo piece I GOT SICK AND THEN I GOT BETTER with Darren Katz. Lapine directed the 2012 Broadway revival of ANNIE. He has co-producing and directed the HBO documentary SIX BY SONDHEIM, which aired in December 2013. In the Spring of 2014 Lincoln Center Theater produced his stage adaptation of the Moss Hart memoir, ACT ONE. Lapine has also directed several productions off-Broadway as well as three films and wrote the screenplay for a film version of INTO THE WOODS for director Rob Marshall that will be released at Christmas 2014. He is the recipient of three Tony Awards, five Drama Desk Awards and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2011, he was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. Lapine is a member of the Dramatist Guild Council and for the last twelve years has been a mentor for TDF's Open Doors Program. He is also on the board of Ars Nova Theatre. He currently lives in New York City.
Research: Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)
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Act One
Synopsis:
The chronicles of Moss Hart's impoverished New York childhood and his long struggle to Broadway success. Growing up in an impoverished immigrant family in the Bronx, Moss Hart dreamed of being part of the glamorous, magical world of show business- someday, somehow. From dropping out of school to becoming the toast of the town, his autobiography ACT ONE recounts the making of a Broadway legend.
Notes:
Written by James Lapine; From the autobiography by Moss Hart; Original Music by Louis Rosen. Commissioned by the Lincoln Center Theater and developed by the Vineyard Arts Project. A reading was held in July 2012.[4] There was also a workshop in Martha's Vinyeard in July 16-21, 2012
1st Produced:
Lincoln Center Vivian Beaumont Theater, NY
17 Apr 2014
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, Inc. NY (2015)
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy/Drama
Parts:
Male: 30 Female: 21 Other: doubling, flexible casting
Further Reference:
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Der Glockner von Notre Dame
Synopsis:
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a musical based on the 1996 Disney film of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the 1831 Victor Hugo novel of the same name. This was Disney's first musical to premiere outside the US,[3] and it became one of Berlin's longest-running musicals to date. As with Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, Der Glockner Von Notre Dame opened three years after the release of the movie it is based on. The musical is a darker, more gothic adaptation of the film. According to translator Michael Kunze, he was " 'campaigning to allow Esmeralda to die at the end, as she does in the book. There was a feeling that the audience would be depressed if Esmeralda dies. I feel that a European audience would see this as a very romantic ending. . .two lost souls finally find each other. People will cry, but they'll be moved. And it is a very romantic ending.' " The producers wanted to see how "preview audiences react before making the final decision."
Notes:
music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and book by James Lapine. The first English version of the musical was performed by The King's Academy in 2013 (though other sanitised or abridged versions were also performed earlier).
1st Produced:
Musical Theater Berlin (Now Theater Am Potsdamer Platz)
05 Jun 1999
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Dirty Blonde
Synopsis:
Mae West reincarnated and swaggering downstage, taking the sexual upper hand as she plays the hussy with ballsy humour
Notes:
Written by Claudia Shear; Conceived by Claudia Shear And James Lapine; Music Arranged by Bob Stillman
1st Produced:
Helen Hayes Theatre, NY
14 Apr 2000
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: doubling
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Falsettoland
Synopsis:
a plump Jewish matron sits in the stands watching her son play baseball, then looks over in consternation at a new arrival in the crowd and croons to herself, ''Just what I wanted at a Little League game -- my ex-husband's ex- lover. Isn't that what every mother dreams of?'' In that moment, actually among the funniest and happiest of an off-Broadway musical set in the early months of the aIDS epidemic, Falsettoland expresses its edgy wit, cockeyed charm and matter-of-fact acceptance of a world Norman Rockwell never painted. Handsome men in sports clothes and sweatbands play racquetball, snorting like stags in battle, then sing love songs to each other. a female doctor and her lover, a would-be inventor of nouvelle kosher cuisine, cheerily introduce themselves as ''the lesbians from next door.'' the matron's husband, and surrogate Father to her son, is the ex-husband's ex-psychiatrist. the shrink and the boy do a vaudeville-inspired soft-shoe number called everyone Hates His Parents. the mother probably speaks for a whole generation or two when she describes her occupation in life as ''holding to the ground as the ground keeps shifting.''
Notes:
music and lyrics by William Finn; book by James Lapine And William Finn. Originally produced off-Broadway As two separate shows. "March of the Falsettos" And "Falsettoland".
1st Produced:
Playwrights Horrizons, New York
08 Jun 1990
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
Original cast recording: DRG (CDSBL 12601) 1990
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Genre:
Musical One act. - - Gay/Lesbian, musical
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Flying Over Sunset
Synopsis:
A meeting of three users of LSD - Cary Grant, Clare Boothe Luce and Aldous Huxley
Notes:
Music Tom Kitt; lyrics by Michael Korie; book by James Lapine
1st Produced:
Rehearsed reading at Vineyard Arts Project,Martha's Vineyard
Aug 2015
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Fran's Bed
Synopsis:
Fran's Bed asks the question "What constitutes a life?". as Fran lies comatose in a hospital room, her husband, Hank, and two daughters, Vicki and Roberta, are forced to decide her fate, but in so doing, discover things about her and about themselves that they might have preferred to leave unexamined. Fran comfortably sits to the side and watches as her family tries to understand how this seemingly normal middle-aged housewife has come to her current situation. their efforts to deal decisively with Fran's future are complicated by her devoted nurse, Dolly, who brings a different perspective to the matter of death and what our responsibilities are to those who can't speak for themselves. the play, told with wit and compassion, does not simplify the intellectual, political and emotional issue of a person's right to life.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut
2003
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2007
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 5 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Into the Woods
Winner of 3 1988 Tony awards, this brings to musical life favourite characters from children's fairy-tales, such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood & Jack and the Beanstalk
Notes:
Music by Stephen Sondheim; Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; Book by James Lapine
1st Produced:
Old Globe Theatre
04 Dec 1986
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Theatre Communications Group 1990
Simon and Schuster,
Music:
Original cast recording: RCa (6796) 1987
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Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: 13 Female: 9 Other: -
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Into the Woods Jr
Synopsis:
Little Red Riding Hood, Jack of the Beanstalk and CinderElla are pursued by a Witch in the woods
Notes:
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; book by James Elliot Lapine. Youth version of "Into the Woods"
1st Produced:
Broadhurst Theatre, NY
13 Apr 2002
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Hal Leonard
Music:
-
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Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Little Miss Sunshine
Synopsis:
On life's twisty road, sometimes you need to pull over and change direction. When the coveted title of Little Miss Sunshine is unexpectedly within her reach, young Olive Hoover convinces her family to make the 800-mile trek to the pre-teen pageant of her dreams. Along the way, a series of mishaps threatens to derail the group's quest for the crown, until they realize a young girl's far-fetched goal may actually hold the key to the family's happiness. From the Tony Award-winning team of James Lapine and William Finn comes Little Miss Sunshine, a new musical comedy about one modern family's unexpected route to brighter days.
Notes:
book by James Lapine, music and lyrics by William Finn. based on the film Little Miss Sunshine by Michael Arndt
1st Produced:
Mandell Weiss Theater
15 Feb 2011
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
musical
Parts:
Male: 8 Female: 8 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Luck, Pluck And Virtue
Synopsis:
Everything is tough for Lester Price. His mother bullies him. He has troubles with the bank. He is robbed on the way to New York. He is jailed for a crime he did not commit. Has all his teeth removed. He has an eye taken out and a leg amputated. Then he gets scalped
Notes:
Music by Allen Shawn; lyrics by ellen Fitzhugh; book by James elliot Lapine
1st Produced:
Mandell Weiss Theatre
27 Jul 1993
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: 5 in ensemble
Further Reference:
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Moment When, The
The Moment When follows five people as their lives intertwine and separate. Steven, an artist, meets the writer Alice at a fashionable New York party hosted by Paula, a legendary literary agent. Paula's young assistant, Dana, introduces herself to Alice and Steven, and the courses of the next fifteen years of their lives are set in motion. the play marks those moments in our lives that may pass unnoticed but determine who we become. the MOMeNT WHeN, while tracking the successes and failures of career, marriage, parenthood and friendship, also charts the life of Dana and Steven's son, Charley, who begins his own trajectory towards fulfillment and loss.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Playwrights Horizons, NYC
21 Mar 1999
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2007
in Plays From Playwrights Horizons, Volume 2, Broadway Play Pub; first edition (October 1, 2010)
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 3 Other: 1 man or woman (1 of the men is a teenager):
Further Reference:
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Mrs Miller Does Her Thing
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
Written by James Lapine; Conceived by Mark Oliver Everett and James Lapine
1st Produced:
Vineyard Playhouse
18 Sep 2008
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Muscle
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
Music by William Finn, Lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh, Book by James Lapine
1st Produced:
Pegasus Players
26 Jun 2001
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
musical
Parts:
Male: 10 Female: 8 Other: -
Further Reference:
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New Brain, A
Synopsis:
the story, which is loosely autobiographical, begins with composer Gordon Schwinn working at his piano, irritable because he's up against a deadline. He's supposed to write a song about spring for his boss, a dictatorial children's TV star named Mr. Bungee (he's a frog). Gordon goes to meet his friend Rhoda for lunch, passing a tart homeless woman on the way. at the restaurant, Gordon suddenly clutches his head in pain, falls face-forward into his pasta, and then collapses. at the hospital, Gordon learns that he has a rare condition called arteriovenous malformation, which causes fluid to build up on his brain. an operation is needed, but it's potentially dangerous; there's a significant chance that Gordon could die, or never recover his faculties. Surrounded by his tiny but supportive family--Rhoda, his mother, and his lover Roger--Gordon nonetheless must face this crisis alone. and what haunts him the most are the songs that he fears he will never write if he doesn't survive. and so--from his hospital bed, from his wheelchair, from the depths of an MRI, and even while comatose--Gordon writes them. they flow out of his imagination and his subconscious breathlessly and uncontrollably. Little remembered snatches of reality crop up surreally in these weirdly magical musical numbers: the homeless lady, for example, keeps appearing, and when Gordon's doctor mentions just before surgery that he has tickets to see Chicago that night, the spirit of that dark, brittle show pervades a long nightmarish sequence that Gordon hallucinates (dreams?) while in a coma.
nytheatre.com
Notes:
book by William Finn And James Lapine; music And lyrics by William Finn
1st Produced:
Mitzi E Newhouse Theatre, New York
18 Jun 1998
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
Original cast recording: RCa (09026 63298 2) 1998
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Genre:
Gay/Lesbian, musical
Parts:
Male: 6 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Passion
Giorgio is a lusty officer in the Italian army, transferred to a remote outpost under the watchful eye of Colonel Ricci. Ricci's ward, Fosca, is a sickly and unattractive girl, who falls heavily in love with Giorgio at first sight. This is a love so compelling that she gradually wins the young officer over - but at what cost?
Notes:
Music by Stephen Sondheim; Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; Book by James Lapine; Based on the film "Passione d'amore" directed by ettore Scola
1st Produced:
Plymouth Theatre, NY
24 Mar 1994
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Theatre Communications Group, USA
Music:
Promotional recording only 2010
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Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: 11 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Photograph
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
adapted from book by Gertrude Stein
1st Produced:
Open Space Theatre, NYC
15 Sep 1977
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
adaptation
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 6 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Sondheim On Sondheim
Synopsis:
He brought us Into the Woods, Company, Sweeney Todd, a Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George, a Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum, West Side Story, and Gypsy (to name a few). By writing songs that reflect the complexity of his characters, he has changed the way we define a great musical. But even though millions of fans know his songs by heart, few know much about Stephen Sondheim himself. Until now. Roundabout presents Sondheim On Sondheim, an intimate portrait of the famed composer in his own words. . . and music. Through the use of exclusive interview footage, you'll get an inside look at Sondheim's personal life and artistic process. an ensemble cast of Broadway's best will perform brand-new arrangements of over two dozen Sondheim tunes, ranging from the beloved to the obscure. Directed by frequent Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, this unique experience will take you inside the life and mind of an ordinary New Yorker. . .with an extraordinary talent.
- nytheatre.com
Notes:
Created And Directed By James Lapine; Music And Lyrics By Stephen Sondheim
1st Produced:
Studio 54, NY
22 Apr 2010
Organisations:
Roundabout Theatre Company
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Sunday In the Park With George
Setting: act I: a series of Sundays from 1884 to 1886; a park on an island in the Seine just outside of Paris and George's studio. act II: an American art museum and on the island in 1984.
Notes:
Music by Stephen Sondheim; Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; Book by James Lapine
1st Produced:
Booth Theatre, NY
02 May 1984
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Contained in: Word Plays Five: New American Drama published by PaJ Publications 1 Jun 1986
Music:
-
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Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Table Settings
three generations of a Jewish family with the Jewish mother to end all Jewish mothers
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Playwrights Horizons, NYC
21 Mar 1979
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Samuel French Inc, New York, 1980
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 3 Other: 1 voice
Further Reference:
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Twelve Dreams
Inspired by an actual case history denoted by Carl Jung, the play traces the story of a little New england girl, Emma, who makes a booklet of her dreams which she gives to her psychiatrist father, Charles Hatrick, for Christmas. Still numbed with grief over the death of his wife, Dr. Hatrick is unable to make sense of these amazing dreams and passes the book along to his mentor, the Professor, who is visiting from abroad. the structure of the play sets the daily life of Emma against the re-creation of these dreams, which are enacted by the individuals who inhabit her world: her governess-housekeeper, Jenny; her best friend, Rindy; a rich neurotic whom Dr. Hatrick is treating, Dorothy Trowbridge; Emma's ballet teacher, Miss Banton; and a young protege of Dr. Hatrick's, Sanford Putnam. the dreams, which are disturbing and phantasmagoric, are described by the Professor as those of an older person, one who is facing death. as the events of the play gather force, we learn that the young girl is in fact fatally ill-a tragic destiny which her father, for all his erudition and experience, is helpless to understand or avert. TWeLVe DReaMS is ultimately a meditation on love and loss, and the forces of life and fate.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Lenox Arts Center, Ma
1978
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: 2g (revised version 3m 3f 2g)
Further Reference:
-
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