Tom Eyen (August 14, 1940 – May 26, 1991) was an American playwright, lyricist, television writer anddirector. He received aTony Award for Best Book of a Musical forDreamgirls in 1981.
Eyen is best known for works at opposite ends of the theatrical spectrum. Mainstream theatergoers became acquainted with him in 1981, when he partnered with composerHenry Krieger and directorMichael Bennett to write the book and lyrics for the hitBroadway musicalDreamgirls, about an African-American female singing trio, which was made intoa 2006 film. Eyen's career started, however, withexperimental theatre that he wrote and directedoff-off Broadway in the 1960s. This led to hisoff-Broadway success withThe Dirtiest Show in Town (1970), a musicalrevue with nudity, andWomen Behind Bars (1975), acamp parody of women's prisonexploitation films.[1][2] Eyen died ofAIDS-related complications inPalm Beach, Florida at the age of 50.
Eyen was born inCambridge, Ohio, the youngest of six children. His father and mother, Julia Eyen, owned and ran a family restaurant.[3] Eyen's interest in musical theatre began by the age of 11.[4] He attendedOhio State University but left before graduating. Eyen moved to New York City in 1960 to study acting at theAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts from 1961 to 1962, again leaving before completing the program, but discovering his interest in writing plays.[5] Later, Eyen would sometimes make outlandish or humorous claims about his background.[6]
Eyen sought acting roles without success, and worked briefly as a press agent, before he began writing for the theatre.[4][7] He found an artistic home in the 1960s off-off-BroadwayExperimental theatre scene, based atCaffe Cino andLa MaMa Experimental Theatre Company.[7] He gaveBette Midler her first professional acting roles inMiss Nefertiti Regrets andCinderella Revisited. Both were produced in 1965, a children's play during the daytime and an adult show by night.[8] With a grant from theRockefeller Foundation, Eyen formed his own theatrical company, the Theatre of the Eye Repertory, in 1964. The company performed for a decade, and took Eyen's play aboutSarah Bernhardt,Sarah B. Divine!, to theSpoleto Festival in Italy in 1967.[3] Eyen's work was central to the 1960sneo-expressionist off-off-Broadway movement.The New York Times wrote in 1984, "His plays are known for emotionally grotesque material combined with sharp satire."[9]
Eyen was prolific, writing, and usually directing, 35 plays at La MaMa alone during the 1960s and 1970s.[3] His early off-off-Broadway plays, other than those noted above, included:
The title character inWhy Hanna's Skirt Won't Stay Down has been described as representative of the crudeness, exuberance, decadence and profundity of the movement and the period.[17]
In 1970, Eyen had his biggest commercial success to date withThe Dirtiest Show in Town, a satirical response to, and example of, the period's plays depicting nudity and sexual situations.The Dirtiest Show in Town initially ran at theAstor Place Theatre for two seasons, with later runs both off-Broadway in New York and in London'sWest End.[17] He also wrote the song "Ode to a Screw" with Peter Cornell for the 1971Miloš Forman filmTaking Off. Eyen's other shows in the early 1970s included:
According toThe New York Times, "Eyen was called theNeil Simon of Off-Off-Broadway at one point when he had four plays running simultaneously."[3] In 1973, Eyen co-wrote the book for and directed one of Broadway's most notorious flops, thePaul Jabaradisco musicalRachael Lily Rosenbloom (And Don't You Ever Forget It), which closed after seven previews. The lead character, a flamboyant entertainer, was inspired by Midler, who was apparently offered and refused the role.[citation needed] Following this setback, Eyen began commuting to Los Angeles to write for television and films. In 1974, he became one of the first well-known writers to write ahardcore pornographic film.[22] He contributed writing to the 1976/1977 satiricalsoap operaMary Hartman, Mary Hartman, produced byNorman Lear.[citation needed] In 1978, Eyen earned anEmmy Award nomination for writing Midler's firsttelevision special,Ol' Red Hair is Back.[citation needed]
Eyen's campy and disturbing parody of 1950s women's prison exploitation films,Women Behind Bars, became a major Off-Broadway hit in 1975.Pat Ast first played the lead role of the sadistic matron indrag, followed byDivine.The New York Times called it "an extraordinarily interesting work from one of America's most innovative and versatile playwrights."[9] Eyen followed this success withThe Neon Woman, another off-Broadway play starring Divine, in 1978.[23] TheNew York Times wrote, "His plays are known for emotionally grotesque material combined with sharp satire."[9] In 1980, Eyen directed a film version ofThe Dirtiest Show In Town forShowtime, making it the first made-for-cabletelevision movie. The film featuredJohn Wesley Shipp.[24]
In 1976, he appeared inRosa von Praunheim's documentary film about New York'sSoHo theatre and arts scene in the 1970s,Underground and Emigrants.[25]
Eyen andHenry Krieger first worked together on the 1975 musical version ofThe Dirtiest Show in Town, calledThe Dirtiest Musical in Town.[26]Nell Carter's performance in that musical inspired Eyen and Krieger to craft a musical about a black singing trio, which they workshopped forJoe Papp with Carter,Sheryl Lee Ralph, andLoretta Devine. The project was shelved in 1978 when Carter took a role in a soap opera.[27] A year later, the project caught the interest of Broadway director-producerMichael Bennett, who asked Eyen to direct a workshop production ofBig Dreams, as the musical was then named, featuring Ralph, Loretta Devine, and gospel singerJennifer Holliday as Carter's replacement. However, Holliday left the project, unhappy that her character died at the conclusion of the first act. After several workshops and numerous rewrites, Bennett decided that the production needed Holliday, and the team rewrote act two to build up Holliday's character.[27][28]
Produced on Broadway in 1981,Dreamgirls was the biggest commercial success of Eyen's career. It was nominated for thirteenTony Awards, including two for Eyen: Best Book and Best Original Score. The show won six Tonys, including Best Book. It also earned Eyen aDrama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Lyrics. Theoriginal cast album won Eyen aGrammy Award as lyricist, and one of the show's songs, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", as sung by Holliday, became a #1 hit on theBillboard R&B chart.[29] In 1984, Eyen sought to duplicate hisDreamgirls success withKicks: The Showgirl Musical, a collaboration with composerAlan Menken aboutthe Rockettes duringWorld War II. The show never made it past the workshop stage, though individual numbers from the show have been performed in concert.[30]
A film adaptation ofDreamgirls, written and directed byBill Condon, was released in 2006 byDreamWorks andParamount Pictures. Two of Eyen's songs from the soundtrack, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", as sung byJennifer Hudson, and "One Night Only", as sung byBeyoncé Knowles, became hits. To promote the film's release, DreamWorks and the licensee of the musical,The Tams-Witmark Music Library, paid the licensing fees for all non-professional stage performances ofDreamgirls in 2006. As a result, more than fifty high schools, colleges, and community theaters staged productions ofDreamgirls that year.[31]
Eyen died of complications fromAIDS in 1991, at the age of fifty, inPalm Beach, Florida. A memorial service was held at theSt. James Theatre inNew York City on September 23, 1991. In 1993, Eyen posthumously received theJerome Lawrence andRobert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute Award fromOhio State University, where his papers are archived.[32]
