American playwright and lyricist
Joe DiPietro
Born 1961 (age 62–63) Education
Rutgers University Occupations Years active 1991–present
Joe DiPietro (born 1961
[1] ) is an American
playwright ,
lyricist and
author .
[2] He is best known for the Tony Award-winning musical
Memphis , for which he won the Tony Awards for
Best Book of a Musical and
Best Original Score as well as for writing the book and lyrics for the long-running
off-Broadway show
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change .
[3]
Biography
Born in
Teaneck, New Jersey ,
[4] DiPietro grew up in nearby
Oradell ,
[5]
[6] the son of Lou and Jean DiPietro. He attended Oradell Public School and
River Dell Regional High School ,
[3] before graduating
Phi Beta Kappa from
Rutgers University in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in English.
[7]
DiPietro is openly
gay .
[8]
Work
Following a run of
Love Lemmings at the Top of the Village Gate in 1991, DiPietro's first produced work was
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change , written with composer
Jimmy Roberts , which ran for twelve years (5,003 performances) off-Broadway at the
Westside Theatre .
[9] He followed that up with 1998's comedy
Over the River and Through the Woods , which played the John Houseman Theatre for 800 performances over two years.
[10]
DiPietro's work made its
Broadway debut in 2005 with the
Elvis Presley jukebox musical
All Shook Up .
[11]
The Toxic Avenger , written with
Bon Jovi 's
David Bryan , debuted off-Broadway on April 6, 2009, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical.
[12]
DiPietro and Bryan's
Memphis won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical. It ran at the Shubert Theatre for three years (1,165 performances) and continues in touring production all over the country. DiPietro won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score, and the show also received the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical.
[13]
Nice Work If You Can Get It , a re-imagining of a Gershwin musical, starring
Matthew Broderick and
Kelli O'Hara , opened at Broadway's
Imperial Theatre in 2012. The show, and DiPietro's book, were nominated for Tony Awards in 2012, and DiPietro won the Drama Desk Award for Best Book of a Musical.
[14]
Clever Little Lies ran in late 2013 at
George Street Playhouse and debuted in New York's Westside Theatre in 2015 with
Marlo Thomas and
Greg Mullavey .
[15]
The musical Chasing the Song, which reunited DiPietro with Bryan, was workshopped at
La Jolla Playhouse in the summer of 2014. 2014 also saw DiPietro reworking the
Garson Kanin play Peccadillo into Living on Love, which starred the opera star
Renée Fleming and was a highlight of the 2014
Williamstown Theatre Festival .
[16]
Other recent plays include Creating Claire , which debuted at George Street Playhouse in 2010,
[17] and The Last Romance , which played the Old Globe in 2010
[18] after debuting at Kansas City's New Theatre in 2008.
[19] and Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (with the score written by
Val Vigoda and Brendan Milburn of
GrooveLily fame.)
Shackleton was shown as part of the PBS series Broadway on HD, on November 26, 2018.
Diana , a musical treatment of the life of
Diana, Princess of Wales with lyrics and book by DiPietro, was scheduled to open on Broadway in March 2020, but was postponed due the
COVID-19 pandemic . The production was filmed for
Netflix and opened subsequently on Broadway in November 2021.
[20]
Plays
2021
What's New Pussycat? (book) featuring the songs of
Tom Jones based on
Henry Fielding 's 1749 novel
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
2019
Diana (book and lyrics) with music by
David Bryan
2017
Ernest Shackleton Loves Me with score by
Val Vigoda and Brendan Milburn of
GrooveLily
2014 Chasing The Song (still in workshop) (book and lyrics) with music by
David Bryan of
Bon Jovi
2014 Living On Love (author)
2013 Clever Little Lies (author)
2012
Nice Work If You Can Get It (Broadway) (book)
2010 Creating Claire (author)
2010 Falling For Eve (book)
2008
The Toxic Avenger book and lyrics with music by
David Bryan , based on the movie
2008
Fucking Men , an adaptation of
Schnitzler's
La Ronde (1897)
[21]
2008 The Last Romance (author)
2005
All Shook Up (Broadway) (book)
2004
Allegro (adaptation, writer)
2003
The Thing About Men (Off-Broadway) (book, lyrics) (musical version of the German comedy film by
Doris Dörrie , Männer... (Men... ), from 1985) with music by
Jimmy Roberts
2002
Memphis (book and lyrics) with music by
David Bryan of
Bon Jovi
2002
Babes in Arms (adaptation, writer)
2001 They All Laughed (book) (a very loose adaptation of
Oh, Kay! )
[22]
2000 Art Of Murder (author)
1998
Over the River and Through the Woods (Off-Broadway) (author)
1998 Kiss At City Hall (author)
1996
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (Off-Broadway) (book and lyrics) with music by
Jimmy Roberts
1994 The Virgin Weeps (author)
[23]
[24]
1991 Love Lemmings (author, lyricist)
[25]
Awards and nominations
References
^ Tallmer, Jerry (July 4–10, 1998).
"Eleven years running, just perfect, why change?" .
The Villager . Retrieved February 16, 2008 .
^
"Giving Allegro a heart transplant" , The Washington Times
^
a
b Klein, Alvin (October 11, 1998).
"In Person; Family, Faith, Food and Fun" .
The New York Times . Retrieved February 16, 2008 .
^ Ouzounian, Richard.
"Toxic Avenger found his bard in Bon Jovi: Band's David Bryan just wants people to sing the songs he writes" ,
Toronto Star , December 6, 2009. Accessed December 6, 2009. "He got a crash course in how to do it when he met up with Joe DiPietro, another Jersey boy (this one from Teaneck)."
^
Theater; New Musical Headed For American Stage , The New York Times
^
"Playbill News: A Perfect Love" . Archived from
the original on July 6, 2008. Retrieved February 24, 2017 .
^
Doubling Down With Joe DiPietro; 2 of his shows open in area , Daily News
^
"Memphis belle"
Archived August 10, 2014, at the
Wayback Machine .
Dallas Voice , May 10, 2012.
^ Gans, Andrew (July 27, 2008).
"I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change Ends NYC Run After More Than a Decade" .
Playbill . Archived from
the original on June 14, 2013. Retrieved March 8, 2013 .
^
"Archived copy" . Archived from
the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2017 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link )
^
"All Shook up – Broadway Musical – Original | IBDB" .
^
"Archived copy" . Archived from
the original on May 13, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2013 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link )
^
"Memphis – Broadway Musical – Original | IBDB" .
^
"Nice Work if You Can Get It – Broadway Musical – Original | IBDB" .
^
"Marlo Thomas Stars in Off-Broadway Marriage Comedy Clever Little Lies by Harry Haun,
The New York Observer , October 1, 2015
^ Soloski, Alexis (July 20, 2014).
"Out of Tune, and Seeking New Muses" . The New York Times .
^ Gates, Anita (May 28, 2010).
"Old Battle, New Play: Religion vs. Science" .
New York Times . Retrieved February 16, 2008 .
^ Propst, Andy (August 11, 2010).
"Review Roundup: Joe DiPietro's The Last Romance , With Marion Ross, Paul Michael, Opens at the Old Globe" . TheaterMania . Retrieved February 16, 2008 .
^ Koehler, Marieann (September 23, 2008).
"The New Theatre Restaurant: Last Romance Review" . Entertainment Spectrum . Retrieved February 16, 2008 .
^ Franklin, Marc J. (November 18, 2021).
"A Look Inside Opening Night of Diana: the Musical on Broadway" . Playbill . Retrieved June 13, 2022 .
^
Joe DiPietro To Open Newest Play In UK 5/16 , Broadwayworld, May 15, 2008
^
Theater; A Not-So-New Gershwin Musical , The New York Times
^
doollee.com The Playwrights Database
^
Playbill Biography: JOE DiPIETRO
Archived March 18, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
^
"Lortel Archives, provides a catalogue of shows produced Off-Broadway" . Archived from
the original on September 15, 2007. Retrieved June 22, 2009 .
External links
Awards for Joe DiPietro
1970–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
1980s 1990s
Daniel Waters , James Cappe, and
David Arnott –
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
Steven E. de Souza ,
Daniel Waters ,
Bruce Willis , and
Robert Kraft –
Hudson Hawk (1991)
Blake Snyder ,
William Osborne , and
William Davies –
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)
Amy Holden Jones –
Indecent Proposal (1993)
Tom S. Parker,
Jim Jennewein ,
Steven E. de Souza , and
various others –
The Flintstones (1994)
Joe Eszterhas –
Showgirls (1995)
Andrew Bergman –
Striptease (1996)
Eric Roth and
Brian Helgeland –
The Postman (1997)
Joe Eszterhas –
An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998)
Jim Thomas ,
John Thomas ,
S. S. Wilson ,
Brent Maddock ,
Jeffrey Price, and Peter S. Seaman –
Wild Wild West (1999)
2000s 2010s
M. Night Shyamalan –
The Last Airbender (2010)
Steve Koren ,
Adam Sandler , and Ben Zook –
Jack and Jill (2011)
David Caspe –
That's My Boy (2012)
Steve Baker,
Ricky Blitt , Will Carlough, Tobias Carlson, Jacob Fleisher, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham,
James Gunn , Claes Kjellstrom, Jack Kukoda,
Bob Odenkirk , Bill O'Malley, Matthew Alec Portenoy,
Greg Pritikin , Rocky Russo,
Olle Sarri , Elizabeth Wright Shapiro,
Jeremy Sosenko , Jonathan van Tulleken, and Jonas Wittenmark –
Movie 43 (2013)
Darren Doane and Cheston Hervey –
Saving Christmas (2014)
Kelly Marcel –
Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)
Chris Terrio and
David S. Goyer –
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Tony Leondis , Eric Siegel, and
Mike White –
The Emoji Movie (2017)
Niall Leonard –
Fifty Shades Freed (2018)
Lee Hall and
Tom Hooper –
Cats (2019)
2020s
1950–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
1947–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
International National Artists People Other