Nell Benjamin

In addition to the 2003 Jonathan Larson grant, Nell Benjamin is the proud recipient of the 2003 Kleban Foundation Award for lyrics. Nell wrote lyrics for the musical Sarah, Plain And Tall (music by Laurence O’Keefe), which began as a children’s musical for Theatreworks/USA, ran Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theater, and was developed into a full-length musical for general audiences at the 2003 Eugene O’Neill Music Theater Conference. The full-length version of Sarah was selected for the National Alliance for Musical Theater’s 2003 conference. Meanwhile the children’s version of Sarah continues to tour the country; a CD of the Lortel production is available from ShowBiz records. Nell also wrote lyrics for The Mice, one of three short musicals produced as 3hree by Harold Prince at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia, where it won the Barrymore Award for outstanding overall musical. 3hree was later produced at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, where it was nominated for an Ovation Award. Nell continues her happy collaboration with award-winning composer Laurence O’Keefe. They are again working with Theatreworks/USA, writing book, music and lyrics for Cam Jansen And The Curse Of The Emerald Elephant, based on the popular series of children’s books., They are also working on their new musical about love, jealousy and violence at a Renaissance Faire, tentatively titled Huzzah! and on several original movie musicals. Nell is writing the libretto to an original opera with composer Michael Roth, and has completed her first play.

Bio as of September, 2008.