Jeanine Tesori | |
|---|---|
 Tesori at the76th Tony Awards in 2023 | |
| Born | (1961-11-10)November 10, 1961 (age 63) Port Washington, New York, United States |
| Education | Columbia University (BA) |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Musical Theatre |
| Occupation(s) | Composer,Musical Arranger |
| Years active | 1995–present |
Musical artist | |
Jeanine Tesori, known earlier in her career asJeanine Levenson,[1] (born November 10, 1961)[1] is an Americancomposer andmusical arranger best known for her work in the theater. She is the most prolific and honored female theatrical composer in history, with five Broadway musicals and sixTony Award nominations.[2] She won the 1999Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play forNicholas Hytner's production ofTwelfth Night atLincoln Center, the 2004Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music forCaroline, or Change, the 2015Tony Award for Best Original Score forFun Home (shared withLisa Kron), making them the first female writing team to win that award, and the 2023Tony Award for Best Original Score forKimberly Akimbo (shared withDavid Lindsay-Abaire).[3] She was named aPulitzer Prize for Drama finalist twice forFun Home andSoft Power.
Her major works includeKimberly Akimbo;Fun Home;Caroline, or Change;Shrek The Musical;Thoroughly Modern Millie; andViolet.
Tesori saw her first Off-Broadway production,Godspell at the Promenade, when she was fourteen. She said of the experience that she felt the sense of "I'm someplace where there's something happening, and I don't want to be anywhere else."[4] She worked atStagedoor Manor, a performing arts summer camp.[5]
She attendedPaul D. Schreiber High School inPort Washington, New York. She is a graduate ofBarnard College ofColumbia University,[6][7] where she initially waspre-med but changed her major to music.[8]
Tesori began her career as the substitute assistant conductor for the 1989 production of Gypsy. Tesori made her creditedBroadway debut as the dance arranger, associate conductor and keyboard player forThe Secret Garden in 1991. Soon after, she was the associate conductor and played keyboard for the original production ofThe Who's Tommy, working with frequent collaborator,Des McAnuff. Tesori eventually music directed the German production of the musical, which she says gave her the courage to continue music directing. Tesori says she drew from her experience working onTommy while writingFun Home, and that it gave her the idea for how to bring her protagonist into her own story.[9] She arranged the dance music for the 1995 revival ofHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Tesori worked as an arranger on the musical revueDream when she became pregnant with her first child. While pregnant, Tesori also did the incidental music arrangements and dance arrangements for the 1998 production ofThe Sound of Music. Tesori struggled with the fact that she "worked so hard to hide the fact that (she) had a uterus", and was then arriving to rehearsals pregnant.
In 1997 she composed the score for theOff-Broadway musicalViolet, for which she won anObie Award, theNew York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, and theLucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical.
Tesori was asked to write the score for the 1998 production ofTwelfth Night after being introduced toNicholas Hytner byIra Weitzman. Hytner heard her score forViolet and she asked her to write 60 minutes of music for the production, with 3 months to complete the score. Despite scores for plays not typically being nominated forbest score at the Tony Awards, Thomas Cott ensured that people considered it, and Tesori was nominated in 1999. Next, Tesori wrote the arrangements forSwing![9]
[10] In 2000, Tesori joined forces with lyricistDick Scanlan to write eleven new songs for a stage adaptation ofThoroughly Modern Millie. A successful run at theLa Jolla Playhouse inSan Diego resulted in a transfer to Broadway in 2002, and Tesori was nominated for theTony Award for Best Original Score and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music.
Tesori has collaborated withTony Kushner four times. In 2004 she supplied music for the sung-through musicalCaroline, or Change, which garnered her a third Tony nomination for Best Original Score. In 2006 she wrote incidental music for Kushner's new translation ofBertolt Brecht'sMother Courage and Her Children, which was produced as part of the 2006Shakespeare in the Park season staged at theDelacorte Theater byThe Public Theater.[11] In the summer of 2011, their operaA Blizzard on Marblehead Neck premiered atGlimmerglass. In 2019, Tesori was credited as voice coach on the new Steven Spielberg film ofWest Side Story for which Kushner wrote the screenplay based largely on the original stage musical. Filmed over two months in and around New York City, the film saw its 2020 release rescheduled to December 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tesori has composed music for the filmsNights in Rodanthe,The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond,The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning,Shrek the Third,Mulan II, andThe Emperor's New Groove 2: Kronk's New Groove.
Tesori wrote the music forShrek The Musical, which opened on Broadway in 2008 and for which she earned both Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for her music.[12]
In 2011, she wrote the music toFun Home with a book and lyrics byLisa Kron, a musical based onthe memoir byAlison Bechdel. The show was overseen by Philip Himberg while being workshopped at theSundance Institute's 2011 Theatre Lab at White Oaks Lab inYulee, Florida. It was previously developed during the 2009Ojai Playwrights Conference.[13]Fun Home opened Off-Broadway atThe Public Theater on October 17, 2013, and sold out through November 4, 2013, with numerous extensions until it closed there on January 12, 2014.[14] Here, it also won the 2014Obie Award for Musical Theatre.[15] Following the successful Off-Broadway run, the show transferred to Broadway atCircle in the Square Theatre, with previews beginning on March 27, 2015, and an official opening on April 19, 2015. Tesori and Kron won Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score forFun Home, marking the first time an all-female composing team won either category. The musical was named a 2014Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist.[16]
Tesori was the artistic director of a concert series of Off-Broadway musicals, "Encores! Off-Center". The July 2013 season includedThe Cradle Will Rock,I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road,[17] andViolet.[4][18] It was also in this role that Tesori recruitedJake Gyllenhaal to play Seymour in the 2015 Encores! production ofLittle Shop of Horrors.[19]
Tesori's operaThe Lion, The Unicorn, and Me premiered with theWashington National Opera at theKennedy Center in December 2013. The libretto is byJ. D. McClatchy, based on the children's book byJeanette Winterson and was directed byFrancesca Zambello.[20]
The English version of three songs in the 2016Tokyo DisneySea stage showOut of Shadowland were written by Tesori. They were sung in Japanese by pop singerAngela Aki.[21]
With book and lyrics byDavid Henry Hwang, Tesori's new musicalSoft Power began performances at theAhmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in May 2018 and at San Francisco'sCurran Theatre in June.[22] The musical opened Off-Broadway at the Public Theater on September 14, 2019, directed by Leigh Silverman.[23] The musical was named a 2020Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist.[24]
In July 2019, she premiered her operaBlue, with libretto byTazewell Thompson, at theGlimmerglass Festival inCooperstown, New York. The opera concerns the issue of African American boys having become a prime target ofpolice brutality in the United States.[25]
In December 2021, her new musical,Kimberly Akimbo, with book and lyrics byDavid Lindsay-Abaire opened at theLinda Gross Theater in Manhattan. It won Best Musical at theDrama Desk Awards,Lucille Lortel Awards, andOuter Critics Circle Awards. It transferred to Broadway in fall 2022, with previews beginning on October 12, and an official opening on November 10. She and Lindsay-Abaire won theTony Award for Best Original Score (making Tesori the first female composer to win that award twice)[26] and the show itself won Best Musical.[27]
In October 2023, Tesori's new operaGrounded opened at theKennedy Center inWashington DC.[28][29] The Kennedy Center's publicity summarizes the opera as "Jess is a hot shot F-16 fighter pilot, an elite warrior trained for the sky. When an unexpected pregnancy grounds her, she’s reassigned to the “chair force” to control drones in Afghanistan from the comfort of a trailer in Las Vegas. Mezzo-sopranoEmily D'Angelo stars as a pilot and mother shaken into a downward spiral as her separation between career and home crumbles. What price is inflicted upon the operator of a lone drone in a blue sky?" The libretto is byGeorge Brant, based on his play. The premier is a co-production with theMetropolitan Opera who originally commissioned the piece, and it will start their 2024–2025 season.
She lives with her child, Siena, in Manhattan. Tesori is divorced from Siena’s father,Michael Rafter, an arranger and conductor.[6]
| Year | Award | Show | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Best Original Score | Twelfth Night | Nominated |
| 2002 | Best Original Score(withDick Scanlan) | Thoroughly Modern Millie | Nominated |
| 2004 | Best Original Score(withTony Kushner) | Caroline, or Change | Nominated |
| 2009 | Best Original Score(withDavid Lindsay-Abaire) | Shrek the Musical | Nominated |
| 2015 | Best Original Score(withLisa Kron) | Fun Home | Won |
| 2023 | Best Original Score(withDavid Lindsay-Abaire) | Kimberly Akimbo | Won |
| Year | Award | Show | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Outstanding Music | Violet | Nominated |
| 1999 | Outstanding Music In A Play | Twelfth Night | Won |
| 2002 | Outstanding Music | Thoroughly Modern Millie | Nominated |
| 2004 | Caroline, or Change | Won | |
| 2009 | Shrek the Musical | Nominated | |
| 2014 | Fun Home | Nominated | |
| 2020 | Soft Power | Nominated | |
| 2022 | Kimberly Akimbo | Nominated |
| Year | Show | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Fun Home(withLisa Kron) | Finalist |
| 2020 | Soft Power(withDavid Henry Hwang) | Finalist |
| Year | Award | Show | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Best Musical Theater Album | Thoroughly Modern Millie(Original Broadway Cast) | Nominated |
| 2021 | Best Musical Theater Album | Soft Power(Original Cast) | Nominated |
| 2023 | Best Musical Theater Album | Caroline, or Change(New Broadway Cast) | Nominated |
| 2024 | Best Musical Theater Album | Kimberly Akimbo(Original Broadway Cast) | Nominated |
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