Stewart, Michael, 1929-1987

Michael Stewart, librettist, lyricist, playwright, and novelist was born Myron Rubin on August 1, 1924 in New York City. He attended Queens College and received a Master of Fine Arts in drama from Yale in 1953. During the 1950's he contributed sketches and lyrics to revues, among them: Razzle Dazzle (at the Edison Theater), The Shoestring Revue (1955), The Littlest Revue (1956) and Shoestring '57 . He also wrote for television, most notably for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, where he collaborated with Mel Brooks, Neil and Danny Simon and Carl Reiner. In 1954 Stewart met Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, and embarked on a career in musical theater, to which he contributed some of the major Broadway successes of the sixties, seventies and eighties. With Strouse and Adams, Stewart eventually began work on the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie (1960), which ran for 607 performances and won Stewart his first Tony as the author. It was also the start of Stewart's relationship with Gower Champion, who directed and choreographed. Later the two would work together on Carnival! (1961), Hello, Dolly! (1964) and 42nd Street (1980). Stewart's second Tony was for Hello, Dolly!, directed and choreographed by Gower Champion, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Jerry Herman also worked with Stewart on Mack & Mabel (1974) and The Grand Tour (1979). Another frequent collaborator was Mark Bramble. Together they wrote the librettos for Elizabeth and Essex, 42nd Street, The Grand Tour and Pieces of Eight . Bramble wrote the book for Barnum, and Stewart the lyrics. Among Stewart's other collaborators were Cy Coleman, with whom Stewart worked as lyricist on I Love My Wife (1977) and Barnum (1980), Bob Merrill ( Carnival! ) and Jule Styne ( Pieces of Eight ). In addition to writing for the musical theater Stewart wrote plays ( D. and Those That Play the Clowns ). He also wrote for television, worked at times on movie projects and published one novel, Belle (1977).

From the guide to the Michael Stewart scores, 1870-1984, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)

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