Laurence O'Keefe (composer)
Encyclopedia
Laurence O'Keefe also known as Larry, is a composer
and lyricist
for Broadway
musicals
, film
and television
.
O'Keefe is a graduate of Harvard College
, where he studied anthropology
and wrote humor for the Harvard Lampoon
and sang with the Harvard Krokodiloes. He got his start in musical theater through Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals
, performing in the Pudding's drag burlesques, composing two others (notably Suede Expectations, book by Mo Rocca
), and penning one libretto (Romancing the Throne). He later studied composition and film scoring at Berklee College of Music
and the University of Southern California
.
Until recently he was best known for writing the score for Bat Boy: The Musical
, which ran off-Broadway from March 3 to December 2, 2001, followed by over 200 regional and amateur productions all over the USA. Bat Boy received eight Drama Desk Award
nominations, including nods for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics, won two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and won both the Lucille Lortel
Award and the Outer Critics' Circle
Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical.
In 2001, O'Keefe received the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation
Award. In 2004 O'Keefe won the Ed Kleban Award for Outstanding Lyrics, a $100,000 prize. There are two Kleban Awards every year, one given to a lyricist, the other to a book writer (there is no Kleban award for composers).
Bat Boy: The Musical
opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre
on London
's West End
on September 8, 2004, and ran till January 15, 2005. Bat Boy: The Musical
has also been produced to acclaim in Seoul
, South Korea
, and Tokyo
and Osaka
in Japan, and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
In February 2004, he guest conducted the Harvard Pops Orchestra in an evening of his songs, as well as premiered his short opera The Magic Futon.
With his wife and co-writer Nell Benjamin, O'Keefe has also written two musicals for Theatreworks USA
: Cam Jansen, and Sarah, Plain and Tall
. Benjamin and O'Keefe also collaborated on a short musical entitled The Mice, which was produced by Hal Prince
as a part of the three-show evening 3hree in Philadelphia, in 2000. Benjamin is also a Kleban Award winner for her lyrics.
O'Keefe and Benjamin's most recent project, Legally Blonde: The Musical, opened in San Francisco on February 2, 2007, and opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on April 29, 2007 and closed on October 19, 2008. For their work on Legally Blonde, they received Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics, as well as a Tony Award
nomination for Best Score. The first national tour of Blonde opened at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, RI, on September 23, 2008, and was a notably bigger success than the Broadway version. The first national tour ended August 15, 2010, at the Wolf Trap Arts Center in Vienna, VA. Legally Blonde opened January 12, 2010 at the Savoy Theatre
in London's West End
, starring UK television stars Sheridan Smith
, Jill Halfpenny
and Peter Davison
, plus pop star Duncan James
, to rave reviews and sold-out audiences, a reception notably warmer than the show received on Broadway or even on tour.
On March 13, 2011, Legally Blonde won three Laurence Olivier Awards
at the annual presentation at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
in London, including Best New Musical
as well as Best Actress in a Musical
for Sheridan Smith and Best Supporting Performance in a Musical
for Jill Halfpenny.
As of 2008, he was working on music, lyrics, and collaborating on book with David Shiner
for Drop Everything, a new clown show/musical. It was workshopped at ACT Theatre
, but pieces were shown at the Tollwood Arts Festival in Munich
and the Lisbon Comedy Festival.
As of 2010, he was working on Heathers
, a musical of the movie of the same name
. It is written by O'Keefe, Andy Fickman
and Kevin Murphy
.
Larry was an editor of The Harvard Lampoon while at Harvard.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
for Broadway
Broadway 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...
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...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
O'Keefe is a graduate of Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, where he studied anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and wrote humor for the Harvard Lampoon
Harvard Lampoon
The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Overview:Published since 1876, The Harvard Lampoon is the world's longest continually published humor magazine. It is also the second longest-running English-language humor...
and sang with the Harvard Krokodiloes. He got his start in musical theater through Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals
Hasty Pudding Theatricals
The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, known informally simply as The Pudding, is a theatrical student society at Harvard University, known for its burlesque musicals and for its status as the oldest collegiate theatrical organization in the United States...
, performing in the Pudding's drag burlesques, composing two others (notably Suede Expectations, book by Mo Rocca
Mo Rocca
Maurice Alberto "Mo" Rocca is an American writer, comedian and political satirist.-Early life and work:...
), and penning one libretto (Romancing the Throne). He later studied composition and film scoring at Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
and the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
.
Until recently he was best known for writing the score for Bat Boy: The Musical
Bat Boy: The Musical
Bat Boy: The Musical is a musical with a book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming and music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe, based on a June 23, 1992 Weekly World News story about a half-boy, half-bat, dubbed "Bat Boy", found living in a cave....
, which ran off-Broadway from March 3 to December 2, 2001, followed by over 200 regional and amateur productions all over the USA. Bat Boy received eight Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
nominations, including nods for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics, won two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and won both the Lucille Lortel
Lucille Lortel
Lucille Lortel was an American actress and theater producer who is remembered as the namesake of an off-Broadway playhouse and theatrical award....
Award and the Outer Critics' Circle
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical.
In 2001, O'Keefe received the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation
Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation
The Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation was a foundation started in 1997 by the family and friends of Jonathan Larson, composer of the musical Rent. From 1997 to 2008, the foundation awarded grants to musical theatre composers, lyricists and book writers. Following the 2008 grants, the...
Award. In 2004 O'Keefe won the Ed Kleban Award for Outstanding Lyrics, a $100,000 prize. There are two Kleban Awards every year, one given to a lyricist, the other to a book writer (there is no Kleban award for composers).
Bat Boy: The Musical
Bat Boy: The Musical
Bat Boy: The Musical is a musical with a book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming and music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe, based on a June 23, 1992 Weekly World News story about a half-boy, half-bat, dubbed "Bat Boy", found living in a cave....
opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre
Shaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
on London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
on September 8, 2004, and ran till January 15, 2005. Bat Boy: The Musical
Bat Boy: The Musical
Bat Boy: The Musical is a musical with a book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming and music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe, based on a June 23, 1992 Weekly World News story about a half-boy, half-bat, dubbed "Bat Boy", found living in a cave....
has also been produced to acclaim in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, and Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
in Japan, and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
In February 2004, he guest conducted the Harvard Pops Orchestra in an evening of his songs, as well as premiered his short opera The Magic Futon.
With his wife and co-writer Nell Benjamin, O'Keefe has also written two musicals for Theatreworks USA
Theatreworks USA
Theatreworks USA is a professional, not-for-profit theatre for young and family audiences founded in 1961. The company is based out of New York City, but has touring productions that run through forty-nine states as well as parts of Canada...
: Cam Jansen, and Sarah, Plain and Tall
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Sarah, Plain and Tall is a children's book written by Patricia MacLachlan, and the winner of the 1986 Newbery Medal and the 1986 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. It explores themes of loneliness, abandonment, and coping with change....
. Benjamin and O'Keefe also collaborated on a short musical entitled The Mice, which was produced by Hal Prince
Hal Prince
Harold Smith Prince is an American theatrical producer and director associated with many of the best-known Broadway musical productions of the past half-century...
as a part of the three-show evening 3hree in Philadelphia, in 2000. Benjamin is also a Kleban Award winner for her lyrics.
O'Keefe and Benjamin's most recent project, Legally Blonde: The Musical, opened in San Francisco on February 2, 2007, and opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on April 29, 2007 and closed on October 19, 2008. For their work on Legally Blonde, they received Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics, as well as a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination for Best Score. The first national tour of Blonde opened at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, RI, on September 23, 2008, and was a notably bigger success than the Broadway version. The first national tour ended August 15, 2010, at the Wolf Trap Arts Center in Vienna, VA. Legally Blonde opened January 12, 2010 at the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
in London's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, starring UK television stars Sheridan Smith
Sheridan Smith
Sheridan Smith is an English actress and singer who is best known for her contributions to the British sitcoms Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Gavin & Stacey and Benidorm. She has also become a recognised face in West End theatre, where she has appeared in Little Shop of Horrors,...
, Jill Halfpenny
Jill Halfpenny
Jill Halfpenny is an English actress.Halfpenny is best known for her roles as Rebecca Hopkins in the British soap opera Coronation Street from 1999–2000, and as Kate Mitchell in rival soap EastEnders, from 2002-2005...
and Peter Davison
Peter Davison
Peter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
, plus pop star Duncan James
Duncan James
Duncan Matthew James Inglis is an English singer, actor and television presenter. He is best known as a member of the boyband Blue.-Early life:...
, to rave reviews and sold-out audiences, a reception notably warmer than the show received on Broadway or even on tour.
On March 13, 2011, Legally Blonde won three Laurence Olivier Awards
Laurence Olivier Awards
The Laurence Olivier Award is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre. Named after the renowned British actor Laurence Olivier, they are given for West End shows and other productions staged in London...
at the annual presentation at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
in London, including Best New Musical
Laurence Olivier Awards
The Laurence Olivier Award is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre. Named after the renowned British actor Laurence Olivier, they are given for West End shows and other productions staged in London...
as well as Best Actress in a Musical
Laurence Olivier Awards
The Laurence Olivier Award is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre. Named after the renowned British actor Laurence Olivier, they are given for West End shows and other productions staged in London...
for Sheridan Smith and Best Supporting Performance in a Musical
Laurence Olivier Awards
The Laurence Olivier Award is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre. Named after the renowned British actor Laurence Olivier, they are given for West End shows and other productions staged in London...
for Jill Halfpenny.
As of 2008, he was working on music, lyrics, and collaborating on book with David Shiner
David Shiner (clown)
David Shiner is an American actor, clown, playwright and theater director.Shiner was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Francis Shiner, a computer programmer, and a homemaker mother. The lanky Shiner, usually donning a small dunce cap, started as a street mime, first in Colorado, and later...
for Drop Everything, a new clown show/musical. It was workshopped at ACT Theatre
ACT Theatre
ACT Theatre is a regional, non-profit theatre organization in Seattle, Washington, USA. Gregory A. Falls founded ACT in 1965 and served as its first Artistic director; at the time ACT was founded he was also head of the Drama Department at the University of Washington...
, but pieces were shown at the Tollwood Arts Festival in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and the Lisbon Comedy Festival.
As of 2010, he was working on Heathers
Heathers (musical)
Heathers is a musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy. It originally had a readings and eventually a concert on September 13 and 14, 2010 at Joe's Pub.-Background:...
, a musical of the movie of the same name
Heathers
Heathers is a 1989 black comedy film starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater and Shannen Doherty. The film portrays four girls in a trend-setting clique at a fictional Ohio high school...
. It is written by O'Keefe, Andy Fickman
Andy Fickman
Andy Fickman is a film and stage director and screenwriter. His credits as a theater director include the premiere of the Reefer Madness! musical and the first Los Angeles production of the play Jewtopia....
and Kevin Murphy
Kevin Murphy (screenwriter)
Kevin Murphy is an American screenwriter, television producer, lyricist and composer. He wrote the book and lyrics of the musical Reefer Madness, as well as its television adaptation...
.
Larry was an editor of The Harvard Lampoon while at Harvard.
List of shows
- (1995) Florinda, staged in London in 2000 as La CavaLa CavaLa Cava is a musical with a book by Dana Broccoli, lyrics by John Claflin and Laurence O'Keefe, additional lyrics by Shaun McKenna and music by O'Keefe and Stephen Keeling....
- (2000) The Mice
- (2001) Bat Boy: The MusicalBat Boy: The MusicalBat Boy: The Musical is a musical with a book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming and music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe, based on a June 23, 1992 Weekly World News story about a half-boy, half-bat, dubbed "Bat Boy", found living in a cave....
- (2002) Sarah, Plain and TallSarah, Plain and TallSarah, Plain and Tall is a children's book written by Patricia MacLachlan, and the winner of the 1986 Newbery Medal and the 1986 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. It explores themes of loneliness, abandonment, and coping with change....
- (2004) Cam Jansen And The Curse Of The Emerald Elephant
- (2007) Legally Blonde: The Musical
- (2010) "HeathersHeathers (musical)Heathers is a musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy. It originally had a readings and eventually a concert on September 13 and 14, 2010 at Joe's Pub.-Background:...
"