DavidSpencerWorks.com

The Official Website of DAVID SPENCER

Musical Dramatist (Composer-Lyricist/Lyricist-Librettist),
Musical Theatre Teacher, Book Author, Journalist

DAVID SPENCER is an award-winning musical dramatist, author, critic and musical theatre teacher, whose work has been produced in the US, Canada and England. His most well-known credits as lyricist-librettist are two musicals in collaboration with composer Alan Menken: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, based on the novel by Moredecai Richler (original cast album on Ghostlight Records) and Weird Romance (co-librettist: Alan Brennert; original cast album digital-on-demand from Columbia Masterworks). He made his professional debut writing the acclaimed colloquial English-language adaptation of La Bohème for the Public Theatre; and as composer-lyricist wrote scores and orchestrations for Theatreworks/USA’s young audience versions of The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables (librettist-director for both: Rob Barron). His published books are The Musical Theatre Writer’s Survival Guide (Heinemann), the acting edition of Weird Romance (Samuel French)—and, pulpsmith proud, Passing Fancy, an original novel based on the TV series Alien Nation (Pocket Books).

Which leads to his latest book, The Novelizers: An Affectionate History of Media Adaptations and Originals, Their Astonishing Authors—and the Art of the Craft (Bear Manor Media), which even before publication was heralded as a definitive—and also highly entertaining—work. (For more on The Novelizers, see the resume and book sections of this site—and the dedicated The Novelizers website.)

He has been New York and Environs critic at large and webmaster for the review site Aisle Say since its 1996 inception—and was a regular contributor of theatre-centric feature articles and interviews for Encore Monthly during its brief, recent run.

As theatre essayist, he has contributed articles, essays and chapters to The Little Black Book of Music, 50 Key Stage Musicals, Musical Theater Today and the online vlog Contemporary Musical Theatre.

His essays on media tie-in fiction—which led to his aforementioned book, The Novelizers—have appeared in to the anthology Tied In and the newsletter from its parent body, The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers (IAMTW); again Encore Monthly (an article about novels based on stage musicals)…and, in the form of an afterword, the revised reissue of British Golden Age science fiction author E.C. Tubb’s original Space: 1999 novel, Alien Seed.

David is an ex officio steering committee and faculty member of the BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, where he taught for over 25 years, and has also taught at HB Studio, Workshop Studio Theater in New York; and Goldsmith’s College and BML in London.