Joseph Stein
Encyclopedia
Joseph Stein was an American playwright
best known for writing the books for such musicals
as Fiddler on the Roof
and Zorba.
to Jewish parents, Charles and Emma (Rosenblum) Stein, who had emigrated from Poland
, Stein grew up in the Bronx. He graduated in 1935 from CCNY
, with a B.S. degree, then earned a Master of Social Work degree from Columbia University
in 1937. He began his career as a psychiatric social worker from 1939 until 1945, while writing comedy on the side.
A chance encounter with Zero Mostel
led him to start writing for radio
personalities, including Henry Morgan
, Hildegarde, Tallulah Bankhead
, Phil Silvers
, and Jackie Gleason
. He later started working in television
for Sid Caesar
when he joined the writing team of Your Show of Shows
that included Woody Allen
, Mel Brooks
, Carl Reiner
, and Larry Gelbart
.
debut contributing sketches written with Will Glickman
to the 1948 revue Lend an Ear
. His first book musical came about when Richard Kollmar, husband of columnist
Dorothy Kilgallen
, asked him to write a musical about Pennsylvania
that would promote the state as Rodgers and Hammerstein
's Oklahoma!
had its namesake. Stein and his writing partner Will Glickman
were drawn to the Amish
community of Lancaster County
. They purchased a 50-cent tourist book filled with Pennsylvania Dutch
slang
and returned to New York to write Plain and Fancy
, which opened on Broadway on January 27, 1955 and ran for 461 performances. It was an "old-fashioned, low-pressure alternative set among the Pennsylvania Dutch. It was pleasant and certainly suitable for the family trade." The musical has been playing at The Round Barn Theatre at Amish Acres
in Nappanee, Indiana
annually since 1986, and surpassed 3,000 performances as of 2010. Richard Pletcher, founder and producer, dedicated The Round Barn Theatre
stage to Stein in 1997 during its production of The Baker's Wife.
The theatre has produced eight of Stein's musicals since then.
His greatest success came from writing the book for the 1964 musical play Fiddler on the Roof
, for which he won three major awards, including two Tonys. He later wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation.
Stein's additional Broadway credits include Alive and Kicking
, Mr. Wonderful
, The Body Beautiful
, Juno
, Take Me Along
, Irene
, Carmelina
, The Baker's Wife
, Rags
, Enter Laughing
and its musical adaptation, So Long, 174th Street
. He also wrote the plays Mrs. Gibbons' Boys
and Before the Dawn. He co-wrote, with Carl Reiner
, the screenplay
for the film adaptation of Enter Laughing. The Baker's Wife, written with Stephen Schwartz
, was directed by Trevor Nunn
in London in 1989 where it was nominated for an Olivier Award for Musical of the Year.
Antonio Banderas
is said to be set to star in an upcoming revival of Zorba scheduled for the 2010–2011 Broadway season.
Stein wrote the book for the musical All About Us
, with a score by Kander and Ebb
, based on The Skin of Our Teeth
by Thornton Wilder
. It premiered at the Westport Country Playhouse
in April 2007.
York Theatre
The York Theatre featured Stein's Take Me Along
, Carmelina
, and Plain and Fancy
as its 2006 "Musicals in Mufti" staged concert series. Stein revised Carmelina reducing it to a cast of seven from its original Broadway version for the York reading. Its 2007 series featured four additional Stein musicals, Zorba, Enter Laughing: The Musical (renamed from So Long, 174th Street
), The Body Beautiful
, and The Baker's Wife
. The readings are presented in concert format in mufti
, in street clothes without scenery or props.
The York Theatre, under Artistic Director James Morgan, went on to produce a critically acclaimed fully staged off-Broadway production of Enter Laughing: The Musical from September 3, 2008 through October 12, starring Jill Eikenberry
and Michael Tucker
. It was nominated for a 2009 Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding revival. A Broadway transfer has been announced.
Encores!
Victoria Clark
starred the City Center Encores!
production of Marc Blitzstein
and Joseph Stein’s Juno. Directed by Garry Hynes
, with guest music direction by Eric Stern
and musical staging by Warren Carlyle
, Juno played for five performances, from March 27 – 30, 2008 at New York City Center
and was the first presentation since the original Broadway staging in 1959 to use the original orchestration by Blitzstein, Hershey Kay and Robert Russell Bennett
.
Juno, with music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein and book by Joseph Stein is based on the 1924 play Juno and the Paycock
by Sean O’Casey. It originally opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater on March 9, 1959, starring Shirley Booth and Melvyn Douglas and played a total of sixteen performances. Songs include "I Wish It So", "We’re Alive", and "One Kind Word".
with his wife Elisa Loti, an Obie (Best New Actress) and Theatre World Award-winning actress who graced the cover of LIFE Magazine and who is now a psychotherapist practicing as Elisa Stein. He was a member of the Dramatists Guild Council from 1975 until his death. Joseph Stein died in 2010, aged 98, from complications of a fall.
His son Harry Stein
, unlike his father, is a political conservative and a writer known for his satirical political commentary. He had two other sons, Daniel and Josh, from his first marriage to Sadie Singer Stein, who died in 1974. He also had a stepdaughter, Jenny Lyn Bader, and a stepson, John M. Bader, from his marriage to Elisa Loti.
for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre in 2007.
Joseph Stein was awarded the prestigious York Theatre Company's Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre in 2007
Other organizations to honor Mr. Stein include Writers and Artists for Peace in the Middle East, which gave him a Distinguished Achievement Award; the Walnut Street Theatre, which gave him the Edwin Forrest Award for outstanding contributions to the theatre in 2001; the Alumni Association of City College, which awarded him the Townshend Harris Medal in 2004; and Encompass New Opera Theatre, which honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
Nominations
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
best known for writing the books for such musicals
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
as Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
and Zorba.
Biography
Born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Jewish parents, Charles and Emma (Rosenblum) Stein, who had emigrated from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Stein grew up in the Bronx. He graduated in 1935 from CCNY
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
, with a B.S. degree, then earned a Master of Social Work degree 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...
in 1937. He began his career as a psychiatric social worker from 1939 until 1945, while writing comedy on the side.
A chance encounter with Zero Mostel
Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
led him to start writing for radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
personalities, including Henry Morgan
Henry Morgan
Admiral Sir Henry Morgan was an Admiral of the Royal Navy, a privateer, and a pirate who made a name for himself during activities in the Caribbean, primarily raiding Spanish settlements...
, Hildegarde, Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
, Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers was an American entertainer and comedy actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah." He is best known for starring in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a U.S...
, and Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
. He later started working in television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
for Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
when he joined the writing team of Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows is a live 90-minute variety show that appeared weekly in the United States on NBC , from February 25, 1950, until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca....
that included Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
, Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
, Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner is an American actor, film director, producer, writer and comedian. He has won nine Emmy Awards and one Grammy Award during this career...
, and Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart
Larry Simon Gelbart was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
.
Theatre
Stein made his BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut contributing sketches written with Will Glickman
Will Glickman
Will Glickman Born: March 07, 1910/March 1983 was an American playwright who frequently collaborated with Joseph Stein.Glickman made his Broadway debut in 1948 with sketches he and Stein wrote for the revue Lend an Ear. The two went on to collaborate on Mrs. Gibbons' Boys, Alive and Kicking, Mr...
to the 1948 revue Lend an Ear
Lend an Ear
Lend an Ear is a musical revue with a book, music, and lyrics by Charles Gaynor and additional sketches by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman.-Background:Lend an Ear was commissioned by Frederick Burleigh, and...
. His first book musical came about when Richard Kollmar, husband of columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Mae Kilgallen was an American journalist and television game show panelist. She started her career early as a reporter for the Hearst Corporation's New York Evening Journal after spending only two semesters at The College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York...
, asked him to write a musical about Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
that would promote the state as Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
's Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
had its namesake. Stein and his writing partner Will Glickman
Will Glickman
Will Glickman Born: March 07, 1910/March 1983 was an American playwright who frequently collaborated with Joseph Stein.Glickman made his Broadway debut in 1948 with sketches he and Stein wrote for the revue Lend an Ear. The two went on to collaborate on Mrs. Gibbons' Boys, Alive and Kicking, Mr...
were drawn to the Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
community of Lancaster County
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County, known as the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county located in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010 the population was 519,445. Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the...
. They purchased a 50-cent tourist book filled with Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
and returned to New York to write Plain and Fancy
Plain and Fancy
Plain and Fancy is a musical comedy with a book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman, lyrics by Arnold Horwitt, and music by Albert Hague. One of the first depictions of an Amish community in American pop culture, it includes a traditional barn-raising and an old-fashioned country...
, which opened on Broadway on January 27, 1955 and ran for 461 performances. It was an "old-fashioned, low-pressure alternative set among the Pennsylvania Dutch. It was pleasant and certainly suitable for the family trade." The musical has been playing at The Round Barn Theatre at Amish Acres
Amish Acres
Amish Acres is a tourist attraction in Nappanee, Indiana created from an Old Order Amish farm. The farm was purchased in October 1968 at auction from the Manasses Kuhns’ estate. The farm was homesteaded by Moses Stahly in 1873...
in Nappanee, Indiana
Nappanee, Indiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 6,710 people, 2,521 households, and 1,792 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,818.9 people per square mile . There were 2,647 housing units at an average density of 717.5 per square mile...
annually since 1986, and surpassed 3,000 performances as of 2010. Richard Pletcher, founder and producer, dedicated The Round Barn Theatre
The Round Barn Theatre
The Round Barn Theatre is a non-Equity regional theatre located in Nappanee, Indiana. It is part of Amish Acres, a historic farm and heritage resort. Amish Acres is owned by founders Richard and Susan Pletcher. Jenifer Wysong serves as president. The Pletchers are the producers of The Round Barn...
stage to Stein in 1997 during its production of The Baker's Wife.
The theatre has produced eight of Stein's musicals since then.
His greatest success came from writing the book for the 1964 musical play Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
, for which he won three major awards, including two Tonys. He later wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation.
Stein's additional Broadway credits include Alive and Kicking
Alive and Kicking (musical)
Alive and Kicking is a musical revue with sketches by Ray Golden, I.A.L. Diamond, Henry Morgan, Jerome Chodorov, Joseph Stein, Will Glickman, John Murray, and Michael Stuart; music by Hal Borne, Irma Jurist, Sammy Fain, Hoagy Carmichael, Harold Rome, Sonny Burke, Leo Schumer, and Ray Golden; and...
, Mr. Wonderful
Mr. Wonderful (musical)
Mr. Wonderful is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman, and music and lyrics by Jerry Bock, Larry Holofcener, and George David Weiss....
, The Body Beautiful
The Body Beautiful
The Body Beautiful is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock.The first collaboration by Harnick and Bock, and the only one to have a contemporary setting, its plot focuses on a wealthy Dartmouth College graduate who aspires to be...
, Juno
Juno (musical)
Juno is a Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein and book by Joseph Stein, based closely on the 1924 play Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey. The original Broadway production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York, on March 9, 1959.Despite light moments, the musical,...
, Take Me Along
Take Me Along
Take Me Along is a musical based on the Eugene O'Neill play Ah, Wilderness, with music and lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell.-Background:...
, Irene
Irene (musical)
Irene is a musical with a book by James Montgomery, lyrics by Joseph McCarthy, and music by Harry Tierney.Based on Montgomery's play Irene O'Dare, it is set in New York City's Upper West Side and focuses on immigrant shop assistant Irene O'Dare, who is introduced to Long Island's high society when...
, Carmelina
Carmelina
Carmelina is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and Alan Jay Lerner, lyrics by Lerner, and music by Burton Lane.Based on the 1968 film Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell , it focuses on an Italian woman who has raised her teenaged daughter Gia to believe her father was an American who died heroically in...
, The Baker's Wife
The Baker's Wife
The Baker's Wife is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and the book by Joseph Stein, based on the French film La Femme du Boulanger by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono...
, Rags
Rags (musical)
Rags is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and music by Charles Strouse.-Production history:The Broadway production opened on August 21, 1986 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre with little advance sale and to mostly indifferent reviews, and it closed after only four...
, Enter Laughing
Enter Laughing
Enter Laughing is a play by Joseph Stein.Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Carl Reiner, it centers on the journey of young aspiring actor David Kolowitz as he tries to extricate himself from overly protective parents and two too many girlfriends, while struggling to meet the challenge of...
and its musical adaptation, So Long, 174th Street
So Long, 174th Street
So Long, 174th Street is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and lyrics and music by Stan Daniels.Based on Stein's play Enter Laughing, which had been adapted from the Carl Reiner book of the same name and served as the basis for a 1967 film, it focuses on the journey of young David Kolowitz from...
. He also wrote the plays Mrs. Gibbons' Boys
Mrs. Gibbons' Boys
Mrs. Gibbons' Boys is a play by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman. The comedy centers on the mother of three delinquent boys.Produced and directed by George Abbott, the Broadway production opened at the Music Box Theatre on May 4, 1949 and closed after five performances...
and Before the Dawn. He co-wrote, with Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner is an American actor, film director, producer, writer and comedian. He has won nine Emmy Awards and one Grammy Award during this career...
, the screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
for the film adaptation of Enter Laughing. The Baker's Wife, written with Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz may refer to:*Stephen Schwartz , American musical theater and film lyricist and composer*Stephen Suleyman Schwartz , journalist, political author, and historian...
, was directed by Trevor Nunn
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
in London in 1989 where it was nominated for an Olivier Award for Musical of the Year.
Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
is said to be set to star in an upcoming revival of Zorba scheduled for the 2010–2011 Broadway season.
Stein wrote the book for the musical All About Us
All About Us (musical)
All About Us is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander. The musical has been produced in regional theatres but not in New York City....
, with a score by Kander and Ebb
Kander and Ebb
Kander and Ebb were a highly successful songwriting team consisting of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb . Known primarily for their stage musicals, Kander and Ebb also scored several movies including their most famous song, the theme song from Martin Scorsese's New York, New York...
, based on The Skin of Our Teeth
The Skin of Our Teeth
The Skin of Our Teeth is a play by Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942 at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, 1942...
by Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
. It premiered at the Westport Country Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit theater in Westport, Connecticut. Under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos the Playhouse produces new and classic plays for the public....
in April 2007.
York Theatre
The York Theatre featured Stein's Take Me Along
Take Me Along
Take Me Along is a musical based on the Eugene O'Neill play Ah, Wilderness, with music and lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell.-Background:...
, Carmelina
Carmelina
Carmelina is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and Alan Jay Lerner, lyrics by Lerner, and music by Burton Lane.Based on the 1968 film Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell , it focuses on an Italian woman who has raised her teenaged daughter Gia to believe her father was an American who died heroically in...
, and Plain and Fancy
Plain and Fancy
Plain and Fancy is a musical comedy with a book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman, lyrics by Arnold Horwitt, and music by Albert Hague. One of the first depictions of an Amish community in American pop culture, it includes a traditional barn-raising and an old-fashioned country...
as its 2006 "Musicals in Mufti" staged concert series. Stein revised Carmelina reducing it to a cast of seven from its original Broadway version for the York reading. Its 2007 series featured four additional Stein musicals, Zorba, Enter Laughing: The Musical (renamed from So Long, 174th Street
So Long, 174th Street
So Long, 174th Street is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and lyrics and music by Stan Daniels.Based on Stein's play Enter Laughing, which had been adapted from the Carl Reiner book of the same name and served as the basis for a 1967 film, it focuses on the journey of young David Kolowitz from...
), The Body Beautiful
The Body Beautiful
The Body Beautiful is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock.The first collaboration by Harnick and Bock, and the only one to have a contemporary setting, its plot focuses on a wealthy Dartmouth College graduate who aspires to be...
, and The Baker's Wife
The Baker's Wife
The Baker's Wife is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and the book by Joseph Stein, based on the French film La Femme du Boulanger by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono...
. The readings are presented in concert format in mufti
Mufti
A mufti is a Sunni Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law . In religious administrative terms, a mufti is roughly equivalent to a deacon to a Sunni population...
, in street clothes without scenery or props.
The York Theatre, under Artistic Director James Morgan, went on to produce a critically acclaimed fully staged off-Broadway production of Enter Laughing: The Musical from September 3, 2008 through October 12, starring Jill Eikenberry
Jill Eikenberry
Jill Eikenberry is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is best known for her role as lawyer Ann Kelsey in L.A. Law...
and Michael Tucker
Michael Tucker (actor)
Michael Tucker is an American actor and author, most widely known for his role in L.A. Law, a portrayal for which he received Emmy nominations three years in a row....
. It was nominated for a 2009 Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding revival. A Broadway transfer has been announced.
Encores!
Victoria Clark
Victoria Clark
Victoria Clark is an American musical theatre singer and actress. Clark has performed in many Broadway musicals and in other theatre, film and television work, and her soprano voice can be heard on numerous cast albums and several animated films...
starred the City Center Encores!
Encores!
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
production of Marc Blitzstein
Marc Blitzstein
Marcus Samuel Blitzstein, better known as Marc Blitzstein , was an American composer. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the Works Progress Administration...
and Joseph Stein’s Juno. Directed by Garry Hynes
Garry Hynes
Garry Hynes is an Irish theatre director. She holds the distinction of being the first female to win the prestigious Tony Award for direction of a play.Hynes was born in Ballaghadereen, Roscommon County and educated at St...
, with guest music direction by Eric Stern
Eric Stern
Eric Stern is the Director of Operations for the Career Development Office at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law . Before re-locating to California, Stern worked at The George Washington School of Law. He is the former Executive Director of the National Stonewall Democrats. Eric...
and musical staging by Warren Carlyle
Warren Carlyle
Warren Carlyle is a director and choreographer who was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England. He received Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Director of a Musical for Finian's Rainbow.-Biography:...
, Juno played for five performances, from March 27 – 30, 2008 at New York City Center
New York City Center
New York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...
and was the first presentation since the original Broadway staging in 1959 to use the original orchestration by Blitzstein, Hershey Kay and Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received Tony Awards...
.
Juno, with music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein and book by Joseph Stein is based on the 1924 play Juno and the Paycock
Juno and the Paycock
Juno and the Paycock is a play by Sean O'Casey, and one of the most highly regarded and oft-performed plays in Ireland. It was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924...
by Sean O’Casey. It originally opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater on March 9, 1959, starring Shirley Booth and Melvyn Douglas and played a total of sixteen performances. Songs include "I Wish It So", "We’re Alive", and "One Kind Word".
Personal life
Stein lived in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
with his wife Elisa Loti, an Obie (Best New Actress) and Theatre World Award-winning actress who graced the cover of LIFE Magazine and who is now a psychotherapist practicing as Elisa Stein. He was a member of the Dramatists Guild Council from 1975 until his death. Joseph Stein died in 2010, aged 98, from complications of a fall.
His son Harry Stein
Harry Stein
Harry Stein is a fictional police officer and secret agent featured in DC Comics. Stein first appeared in Vigilante series 1 #23, , and was created by Paul Kupperberg and Tod Smith.-Vigilante:...
, unlike his father, is a political conservative and a writer known for his satirical political commentary. He had two other sons, Daniel and Josh, from his first marriage to Sadie Singer Stein, who died in 1974. He also had a stepdaughter, Jenny Lyn Bader, and a stepson, John M. Bader, from his marriage to Elisa Loti.
Honors
In January 2008, Joseph Stein was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. He was honored by The Dramatists Guild of America with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 and by the York Theatre with the Oscar Hammerstein AwardOscar Hammerstein Award
The Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre was created in 1988 by Janet Hayes Walker, founding artistic director of the York Theatre, with the endorsement of the Hammerstein family and the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization...
for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre in 2007.
Joseph Stein was awarded the prestigious York Theatre Company's Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre in 2007
Other organizations to honor Mr. Stein include Writers and Artists for Peace in the Middle East, which gave him a Distinguished Achievement Award; the Walnut Street Theatre, which gave him the Edwin Forrest Award for outstanding contributions to the theatre in 2001; the Alumni Association of City College, which awarded him the Townshend Harris Medal in 2004; and Encompass New Opera Theatre, which honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
Awards and nominations
Awards- 1965 Tony Award for Best Musical – Fiddler on the Roof
- 1965 Tony Award for Best Author of a Musical – Fiddler on the Roof
- 1965 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical – Fiddler on the Roof
- 1965 Newspaper Guild of New York Page One Award – "Fiddler on the Roof"
Nominations
- 1960 Tony Award for Best Musical – Take Me Along
- 1969 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical – Zorba
- 1969 Tony Award for Best Musical – Zorba
- 1971 Writers Guild of AmericaWriters Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
Screen Writers' Annual Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium – Fiddler on the Roof - 1987 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical – Rags