David Spencer

THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ

Book and Lyrics by David Spencer, Music by Alan Menken. Based on the novel by Mordecai Richler (all-new adaptation, not to be conflated with any pre-2015 version).

Directed by Austin Pendleton.

Debuted at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montreal.

Subsequently produced in England at the Guildford School of Acting, under the direction of Shaun Kerrison; and as a series of concert staged readings at the York Theatre in New York City, under the direction of Evan Pappas.

Original cast album via Ghostlight Label (CD and digital on demand).

For professional inquiry, the following can be made available:

• Streaming video of the full Montreal production
• MP3 archive of the cast album
• Info pack (including a comprehensive roster of the reviews, feature media stories, and an enhanced version of the Segal Centre program)

THE FABULIST: An Epic Fable of Aesop

Music and Lyrics by David Spencer, book by Stephen Witkin. Based on the novel by John Vornholt.

• Winner: 2002 Richard Rodgers Development Award
• Winner: Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Theatre Foundation Commendation Grant for Outstanding Score, plus subsequent G-York Theatre (NYC) developmental readings (2004)
• Village Theatre (WA) Festival of New Works (2005)

For professional inquiry, the following can be made available: Full script (PDF) and full demo (MP3 archive).

THE GOLDEN CALF

Book, Music and Lyrics by David Spencer. Based on the classic 20th-century Russian novel by Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov.

WEIRD ROMANCE

Lyrics and Additional Book by David Spencer, book by Alan Brennert, music by Alan Menken. Two one-act musicals of speculative fiction (SF):

• The Girl Who Was Plugged In (Act One), adapted by Brennert and Spencer from a story by James Tiptree, Jr. (pseudonym of Alice B. Sheldon)
• Her Pilgrim Soul (Act Two), adapted by Alan Brennert from his own story

Original production: WPA Theatre (NYC), 1992.

Revised and revived as part of the York Theatre “Musicals in Mufti” series (2004).

Licensing and script published by Samuel French.

Original cast album via Columbia Masterworks digital on demand.

For professional inquiry, the following can be made available: Revised script (PDF), plus Original 1992 Cast Album and live recording of the 2004 concert (MP3 archives).

LA BOHÈME

Acclaimed English adaptation and new lyrics by David Spencer, music by Giacomo Puccini, directed by Wilford Leach, orchestrated by Michael Starobin, produced by Joseph Papp for the New York Shakespeare Festival.

For professional inquiry, the following can be made available: Libretto and full live recording (MP3 archive).

LES MISÉRABLES – An All-New Version for Young Audiences

Music, Lyrics and Symphonic MIDI orchestrations by David Spencer, book and direction by Rob Barron. Commissioned by TheatreWorks/USA.

2000 Kleban Award for Outstanding Theatre Lyrics (among submitted materials).

For professional inquiry, the following can be made available: Full script (PDF), vocal score, complete demo/cast album featuring original mini-tour (tryout) cast.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA – An All-New Version for Young Audiences

Music, Lyrics and Symphonic MIDI orchestrations by David Spencer, book and direction by Rob Barron. Commissioned by TheatreWorks/USA.

Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Theatre Foundation Commendation Grant for Outstanding Score (1996).

For professional inquiry, the following can be made available: Full script (PDF), vocal score, complete demo/cast album featuring original mini-tour (tryout) cast [preferred recording].

THE NOVELIZERS: An Affectionate History of Media Adaptations and Originals, Their Astonishing Authors — and the Art of the Craft

(Bear Manor Media, First Edition: 2023; Revised and Expanded Edition: 2025) In casebound color, trade paperback grayscale and ebook editions. Designed by the author.

The comprehensive, rave-reviewed and “above all, entertaining” book about tie-in fiction. Book website (about, Q&A interviews, excerpts): https://thenovelizers.net.

THE MUSICAL THEATRE WRITERS SURVIVAL GUIDE

(Heinemann, 2005; entered Print on Demand status after 6th printing.) On productive longevity in the craft, with chapters on art, business, presentation and politics. Industry standard since its publication.

Cover endorsements by Richard Maltby, Jr., Larry Gelbart, Alan Menken.

ALIEN NATION #6: PASSING FANCY

(Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, 1994) An original novel based on the 20th Century Fox TV series (developed by Kenneth Johnson from the screenplay of the film by Rockne S. O’Bannon).

WEIRD ROMANCE

(Samuel French, 1993) As collaborative author. See full credits under “Mainstream Musical Theatre” heading above.

EVERY DAY A LITTLE DEATH: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim

(Level Best, 2025) Author of the acclaimed short story The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea (ed. Josh Pachter).

FIFTY KEY STAGE MUSICALS

(Routledge, 2022) Author of essay #22, Promises, Promises, examining the watershed, next-generation influence of Jonathan Tunick’s groundbreaking orchestrations for the Bacharach-David musical. (ed. Robert W. Schneider and Shannon Agnew)

MUSICAL THEATRE TODAY, Volume 2

(Yonkers International Press, 2018) Anthology of essays on musical theatre. Author of Cherck Your Ego, Guard Your Soul, or: Work for Hire.

THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF MUSIC

(Cassell, Octopus Imprint, 2007) Principal contributor of historical entries. (ed. Sean Egan)

TIED IN: The Business, History and Craft of Media Tie-In Writing

(IAMTW, 2010) Anthology of essays on the craft and business of tie-in writing. Author of the acclaimed chapter: TV Tie-Ins of the 1950s through the Early 70s.

This essay became the first building block of The Novelizers (see above); an expanded, revised version appears there as Chapter 7, with permission of editor Lee Goldberg.

52 WEEKS, 52 SHERLOCK HOLMES NOVELS

(Genius Book Publishing, 2025) Author of essays on They Might Be Giants (the published screenplay by James Goldman), Holmes Coming (the novelization of Baker Street 1994 — The Return of Sherlock Holmes by screenwriter Kenneth Johnson), and — a bonus entry in the hardcover edition only — the novelization of Spectre by Robert Weverka (pilot teleplay by Gene Roddenberry and Samuel L. Peeples).

These essays also appear collectively as Chapter 17 — about Holmes-Watson pastiches and paraphrases — in the second edition of The Novelizers (see above), with permission of editor Paul Bishop.

SPACE 1999: ALIEN SEED

(Powys Media, 2020, revised reissue of British science fiction novelist E.C. Tubb’s 1976 TV tie-in original). Author of afterword: MAIN MISSION: TV Tie-Ins, Powys Media, and the Creation of the Space: 1999 Powysverse.

A revised and updated version of this essay appears as Chapter 9 in The Novelizers (see above), with permission of editor Mateo Latosa.

THE STUART JAMES READER

(Cutting Edge, 2021) Author of the afterword, Judge Not His Genre, a career profile and oeuvre overview in this omnibus of three novels by the early-60s noir novelist (not to be confused with the current thriller novelist of the same name).

A revised and much expanded version of this profile, with emphasis on James’ screenplay novelization work, appears as Chapter 4 in The Novelizers (see above).

THE DANCE MERCHANTS and THE BIG QUESTION

(Cutting Edge, 2024) Author of the afterword, Hidden Man, Public Passions, which appears in each book: a profile of author Walter J. Klein, Jr. and an examination of the structure, style and technique he employed in his only two novels (1958, 1960, each published under a different pseudonym).

THE SCARLET VENUS

(Cutting Edge, 2020) Author of the foreword, That Pulpsmith Energy, about this extraordinary, existential 1952 noir novel by the very likely pseudonymous author bylined Chalmers Green.

BMI–LEHMAN ENGEL MUSICAL THEATRE WORKSHOP

Workshop member from 1978, Steering Committee member from 1987.

• Co-moderator: Second Year Songwriter’s Workshop
• Rotation and Summer moderator: Advanced Songwriter’s Workshop
• Moderator & Producer: Master Class Program in which authors of selected projects present longer excerpts of work in development for an invited panel of theatre notables.

Guests included:

Stephen Sondheim, Harold Prince, David Yazbeck, Thomas Meehan, Sheldon Harnick, John Kander, Richard Maltby Jr. & David Shire, Tom Jones, Joe Mantello, Jonathan Tunick, Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, Stephen Schwartz and Austin Pendleton.

Curricula includes prepared symposia on:

• Writing the Musical Theatre Libretto
• Adaptation
• Structure & Deconstruction
• Song set-ups
• and more

HB STUDIO (2006–2009) and WORKSHOP STUDIO THEATRE (2009–2010)

Course: Writing the Musical Theatre Libretto

A course dedicated to the particular structural principles and aesthetic considerations that distinguish the book for a musical from all other dramatic forms.

Following a series of two introductory lectures, the curriculum examines three properties that might have been hit musicals, but notoriously flopped. Students ignore the musicals themselves and go back to the source material of each with a fresh eye (as if creating new musicals) and try to recognize the challenges and solve the problems that the original creative teams didn’t.

GOLDSMITH’S COLLEGE, SOUTH LONDON

BOOK MUSIC & LYRICS (BML)

An accredited London-based writer-development training course, modeled on the BMI–Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Periodic Guest Teacher from 2012.