Brian Yorkey | |
|---|---|
 Yorkey in 2018 | |
| Born | Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Education | Columbia University (BA) |
| Known for | Next to Normal,13 Reasons Why |
| Awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2010) Tony Award for Best Original Score (2009) |
Brian Yorkey is anAmerican playwright and lyricist. His works often explore dark and controversial subject matter such asmental illness,grief, the underbelly of suburbia, and ethics in both psychiatry and public education.
Yorkey was born inOmaha, Nebraska,[1] where he was raised, before his family moved toIssaquah, Washington. He graduated fromColumbia University in 1993,[2] where he served as the Artistic Director of theVarsity Show. He is an alumnus of theBMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.[3][4]
Prior to bringingNext to Normal toBroadway, Yorkey was affiliated withVillage Theatre inIssaquah, where he began as a KIDSTAGE student and eventually progressed to a seven-year tenure as Associate Artistic Director.[5] Four musicals written by Yorkey—Funny Pages (1993),Making Tracks (2002),The Wedding Banquet (2003), andPlay it by Heart (2005)—were staged there.[6][7][8]
While atVillage Theatre, Yorkey founded the KIDSTAGE Company class which teaches teens to write, direct, and perform their own musicals. Yorkey's frequent collaborator,Tom Kitt, joined him in assisting with the score to the 2008 Company Original,In Your Eyes. He worked with composer Tim Symons, on other Company Originals such asLast Exit[9] andA Perfect Fall.[10]
During Yorkey's tenure asVillage Theatre's Associate Artistic Director, he developed a comprehensive new works program, Village Originals.[11] The Village Originals program develops approximately ten new musicals each season, in various stages from reading to full production. Yorkey is credited with the development of over 50 new musicals, including the 2010 Broadway musical,Million Dollar Quartet, which was nominated for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and won Best Performance by a Featured Actor (Levi Kreis) in a Musical at the64th Tony Awards.
Next to Normal began as a ten-minute-long piece calledFeeling Electric, which recent college graduates Yorkey and Kitt wrote as a final project for the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop at the end of the 1990s.[12]
Their inspiration was a segment aboutelectroconvulsive therapy Yorkey saw onDateline NBC.[13]
Next to Normal was nominated for a total of eleven Tony Awards, including theTony Award for Best Book of a Musical. The show won the 2009Tony Award for Best Original Score, andTony Award for Best Orchestrations. In 2010 Yorkey and Kitt were awarded thePulitzer Prize for Drama forNext to Normal, citing "a powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals."[14]
In 2013, Yorkey's musical with Kitt,If/Then, starringIdina Menzel,LaChanze, andAnthony Rapp, had its pre-Broadway try-out at The National Theatre in Washington, D.C. The musical subsequently opened on Broadway on March 30, 2014. The musical garnered a Tony Award nomination and Outer Critics Circle nomination for Best Original Score for Kitt and Yorkey, as well as a nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress for Menzel.[15]
In 2014, Yorkey's collaborative work, withSting and co-librettistJohn Logan,The Last Ship opened on Broadway. The musical is loosely based on Sting's albumThe Soul Cages (1990).[16] It opened on September 29, 2014. Yorkey and Logan were nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for their book.
He co-wrote the book and lyrics, with Melanie Burgess, toJesus in My Bedroom, an original musical, with a score by Tim Symons.Jesus in My Bedroom received a reading at Village Theatre's 13th Annual Festival of New Musicals.[17]
He wrote the music, with Kitt, for a musical version ofFreaky Friday with librettistBridget Carpenter.Freaky Friday is produced byDisney Theatrical Productions, and had its World Premiere at theSignature Theatre (Arlington, Virginia) in October 2016.[18] The musical began performances at theLa Jolla Playhouse, San Diego, on January 31, 2017 running to March 12. The cast features Emma Hunton andHeidi Blickenstaff.[19]
Yorkey adaptedJay Asher's bestselling novel,13 Reasons Why, forNetflix,Paramount Television andAnonymous Content.[20] Spanning four seasons, the series ran from March 2017 to June 2020. While the first season earned positive reviews, the rest were poorly received.
He scriptedSluts forLionsgate Films. His first feature film pitch,Time After Time, sold in a bidding war toUniversal Pictures. It is now fast tracked at Lionsgate/Summit withBradley Buecker directing. Yorkey is adaptingNext to Normal's film adaptation for Anonymous Content and an untitled fashion musical forParamount Pictures,Walter Parkes andLaurie MacDonald.[21] Yorkey and Kitt are also developing Score!, a theatre camp musical forRobert Downey Jr. to star in forWarner Bros.[22][23]
More recently, he signed deals with Netflix to start theEchoes limited series,[24] and adaptNeal Shusterman's book Game Changer into a series.
Yorkey was working withTom Kitt on a musical adaption ofMagic Mike, withRoberto Aguirre-Sacasa writing the book.[25] According to various news sources, on May 2 and 3, 2019, the creative team of Kitt, Yorkey and Aguirre-Sacasa have left the project and a private workshop that had been scheduled for the week of May 3 has been cancelled.[26][27]
