Brian Yorkey
Encyclopedia
Brian Yorkey is an American
playwright, lyricist, and theatre director. He shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
and the 2009 Tony Award for Best Original Score
with composer Tom Kitt
, and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
for Next to Normal.
A native of Issaquah, Washington
, Yorkey graduated from Columbia University
, where he served as the artistic director of the Varsity Show
. He also is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop
.
Prior to bringing Next to Normal to Broadway, Yorkey was affiliated with Village Theatre
, where he began as a KidStage student and eventually progressed to a six-year tenure as associate artistic director. Five musicals written by Yorkey - Funny Pages (1993), Making Tracks
(2002), The Wedding Banquet
(2003), Play it by Heart (2005), and A Perfect Fall (2007) - were staged there.
Next to Normal began as a ten-minute-long piece called Feeling Electric recent college graduates Yorkey and Kitt wrote as a final project for the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop at the end of the 1990s. Their inspiration was a segment about electroconvulsive therapy
Yorkey saw on Dateline NBC
. Yorkey has observed it's "exponentially harder to write an original musical. Musicals that go wrong can be ridiculous because it’s a ridiculous art form. People bursting into song can be ridiculous. But musicals that go right can be sublime."
Yorkey is currently writing Untitled Fashion Musical for Paramount and Parkes McDonald, in collaboration with Shaiman and Wittman. His screenplay Love Undercover is set up at Overture with Pandemonium producing. He also scripted Sluts for Lionsgate Films and co-created the series The Bears Next Door for the Logo Network. Brian’s first feature film pitch, Time After Time, sold in a bidding war for high six figures to Universal. He is also working with English singing legend Sting on a piece of musical theatre based on Sting's seminal masterpiece "The Soul Cages" Page text.
In August 2010, Tom Kitt and Yorkey's musical In Your Eyes was workshopped at the Village Theatre's Festival of New Musicals in Issaquah, Washington (they also workshopped Feeling Electric there as well). The show is about "The students of Lakeshore High School are sent into a full-blown lock down (not to mention a flood of animosity, fear, and insecurity) when a plot of gun violence is suspected. As a group of unsupervised students attempts to make sense of the chaos, they end up learning more about themselves and their classmates—from the troubled rocker spitting lyrics, to the sarcastic fashionista pointing fingers from her pedestal."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
playwright, lyricist, and theatre director. He shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
and the 2009 Tony Award for Best Original Score
Tony Award for Best Original Score
The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical in that year. The score consists of music and lyrics...
with composer Tom Kitt
Tom Kitt (musician)
Tom Kitt is an American composer, conductor, orchestrator and musician. For his score for the musical Next to Normal, he shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Brian Yorkey...
, and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible...
for Next to Normal.
A native of Issaquah, Washington
Issaquah, Washington
Issaquah is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 30,434 at the 2010 census.Based on per capita income, Issaquah ranks 25th of 522 areas in the State of Washington to be ranked....
, Yorkey graduated from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he served as the artistic director of the Varsity Show
Varsity Show
The Varsity Show is one of the oldest traditions at Columbia University and certainly its oldest performing arts presentation. Founded in 1894 as a fundraiser for the university's fledgling athletic teams, the Varsity Show now draws together the entire Columbia undergraduate community for a series...
. He also is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop
BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop
The BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop is a workshop in New York for musical theatre composers, lyricists and librettists.-History:The BMI Workshop was founded in 1961 by Lehman Engel and the performing rights organization BMI ....
.
Prior to bringing Next to Normal to Broadway, Yorkey was affiliated with Village Theatre
Village Theatre
Village Theatre is a 5013 non-profit professional producing musical theatre company founded in 1979. Village Theatre is based out of Issaquah and Everett, Washington, both near Seattle...
, where he began as a KidStage student and eventually progressed to a six-year tenure as associate artistic director. Five musicals written by Yorkey - Funny Pages (1993), Making Tracks
Making tracks
Making Tracks is an Asian American musical theater production by Second Generation, with music by Woody Pak, lyrics by Brian Yorkey, and concept and book by Welly Yang.Making Tracks tells the story of the rich and diverse history of Asians in America...
(2002), The Wedding Banquet
The Wedding Banquet
The Wedding Banquet is a 1993 film about a gay Taiwanese immigrant man who marries a mainland Chinese woman to placate his parents and get her a green card. His plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet....
(2003), Play it by Heart (2005), and A Perfect Fall (2007) - were staged there.
Next to Normal began as a ten-minute-long piece called Feeling Electric recent college graduates Yorkey and Kitt wrote as a final project for the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop at the end of the 1990s. Their inspiration was a segment about electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy , formerly known as electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Its mode of action is unknown...
Yorkey saw on Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
. Yorkey has observed it's "exponentially harder to write an original musical. Musicals that go wrong can be ridiculous because it’s a ridiculous art form. People bursting into song can be ridiculous. But musicals that go right can be sublime."
Yorkey is currently writing Untitled Fashion Musical for Paramount and Parkes McDonald, in collaboration with Shaiman and Wittman. His screenplay Love Undercover is set up at Overture with Pandemonium producing. He also scripted Sluts for Lionsgate Films and co-created the series The Bears Next Door for the Logo Network. Brian’s first feature film pitch, Time After Time, sold in a bidding war for high six figures to Universal. He is also working with English singing legend Sting on a piece of musical theatre based on Sting's seminal masterpiece "The Soul Cages" Page text.
In August 2010, Tom Kitt and Yorkey's musical In Your Eyes was workshopped at the Village Theatre's Festival of New Musicals in Issaquah, Washington (they also workshopped Feeling Electric there as well). The show is about "The students of Lakeshore High School are sent into a full-blown lock down (not to mention a flood of animosity, fear, and insecurity) when a plot of gun violence is suspected. As a group of unsupervised students attempts to make sense of the chaos, they end up learning more about themselves and their classmates—from the troubled rocker spitting lyrics, to the sarcastic fashionista pointing fingers from her pedestal."