Bruce Howard Sussman (born July 12, 1949) is an American lyricist and
librettist
A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...
. Though he has collaborated with numerous composers, he is probably best known for his work with his long-time collaborator,
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...
. Together, they have written over two hundred songs for numerous recording artists, films,
stage musical
Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...
s and television programs.
Life and career
Sussman was born in
Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the borough of Queens in New York City. Jackson Heights is neighbored by North Corona to the east, Elmhurst to the south, Woodside to the west, and today northern Astoria ( Ditm ...
, New York and was raised on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
, where he graduated from
Sanford H. Calhoun High School
Sanford H. Calhoun High School is a public high school located in Merrick, New York. Established in 1958, Calhoun is one of three high schools in the Bellmore–Merrick Central High School District, and acts as a magnet school for several prog ...
in
Merrick, New York
Merrick is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. , the population was 20,130.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bu ...
. He then graduated from
Franklin and Marshall College
Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1787 as Franklin College and later merged with Marshall College in 1853, it is one of the oldest colleges in the United St ...
in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster ( ) is a city in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 58,039 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, eighth-most populous ci ...
.
Upon his return to New York, he was accepted into the
BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. During this period, he met Barry Manilow, and they began writing
jingles
A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...
and songs together. Among their first successes was "
Copacabana (At the Copa)
"Copacabana", also known as "Copacabana (At the Copa)", is a song recorded by Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixt ...
" which became Sussman's first
gold record
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
as well as a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
-winning, international hit.
It would later become the source material for a made-for-television film musical of the same title, a one-act casino show, and then a two-act stage musical for which he co-authored the book and lyrics with Manilow and
Jack Feldman. The show ran for two years at the
Prince of Wales Theatre
The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...
on London's West End before extensive tours of Britain and the United States.
Also for the stage, he co-authored with Feldman the song scores for
Ted Tally
Ted Tally (born April 9, 1952) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He adapted the Thomas Harris novel '' The Silence of the Lambs'' into the film of the same name, for which he received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the ...
’s ''Coming Attractions''—which starred
Christine Baranski
Christine Jane Baranski (born May 2, 1952) is an American actress. She received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Maryann Thorpe in the sitcom ''Cybill'' (1995–1998). Baranski is als ...
,
Jonathan Hadary
Jonathan Hadary (born October 11, 1948) is an American actor.
Early life and education
Born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Bethesda, Maryland, Hadary arrived at Tufts University already an accomplished actor. He was cast in many shows at ...
and
Griffin Dunne
Thomas Griffin Dunne (; born June 8, 1955) is an American actor, director and producer. He is known for portraying Jack Goodman in ''An American Werewolf in London'' (1981) and Paul Hackett in '' After Hours'' (1985), for which he was nominat ...
—and
Wendy Wasserstein
Wendy Wasserstein (October 18, 1950 – January 30, 2006) was an American playwright. She was an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 ...
’s first musical, ''Miami''—which starred
Phyllis Newman
Phyllis Newman (March 19, 1933 – September 15, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She won the 1962 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Martha Vail in the musical '' Subways Are for Sleeping'' on Broadway ...
,
Marcia Lewis,
Fisher Stevens
Stephen Fisher (born November 27, 1963), known professionally as Fisher Stevens, is an American actor, director, producer and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Ben Jahveri in ''Short Circuit'' (1986) and ''Short Circu ...
, and
Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski (; ; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress and singer. She starred as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series ''30 Rock'' (2006–2013, 2020), for which she received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Out ...
. Both shows were produced by
André Bishop at
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit American Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work.
...
off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
. He also contributed a song to Howard Crabtree's off-Broadway and London productions of ''
Whoop-Dee-Doo!'' Most recently, he is the author of the book and lyrics for ''
Harmony: A New Musical'' about the
Comedian Harmonists. The show had developmental productions at the
La Jolla Playhouse
La Jolla Playhouse is a nonprofit professional theater on the campus of the University of California, San Diego.
History
La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. In 1983, it was revived under the ...
, the
Alliance Theatre
The Alliance Theatre is a theater company in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center. The company, originally the Atlanta Municipal Theatre, staged its first production (''King Arthur'') at the Alliance in 1968. The ...
, and the
Ahmanson Theatre
The Ahmanson Theatre is one of the four main venues that compose the Los Angeles Music Center. Shows at this theater are produced by Center Theatre Group.
History
The theatre was built as a result of a donation from Howard F. Ahmanson Sr, the ...
. It made its New York debut, in a production directed by
Warren Carlyle
Warren Carlyle is a British director and choreographer who was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England. He received Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Director of a Musical for the 2009 revival of '' Finian's Rain ...
, at the National Yiddish Theatre
Folksbiene
The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, commonly known as NYTF, is a professional theater company in New York City which produces both Yiddish theater, Yiddish plays and plays translated into Yiddish, in a theater equipped with simultaneous sup ...
in March 2022. It opened on Broadway on November 13, 2023. Sussman is the 2022 recipient of the
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...
for Outstanding Book of a Musical for ''Harmony''.
With Manilow, he also wrote song scores for the animated films ''
Thumbelina
Thumbelina (; ) is a literary fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published by C. A. Reitzel on 16 December 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with "The Naughty Boy" and "The Travelling Companion" in the se ...
'' and ''
The Pebble and the Penguin'', as well as a song for
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
's ''
Oliver and Company
Oliver may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and literature
Books
* ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry
* ''Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens
Fictional characters
* Ariadne Oliver ...
''.
Personal life
In 1994, Sussman met entertainment columnist,
Rob Shuter, in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, Scotland. They were married on October 29, 2011.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sussman, Bruce
American lyricists
Living people
American LGBTQ songwriters
1949 births
American musical theatre librettists
American musical theatre lyricists
21st-century American LGBTQ people
Broadway composers and lyricists
Songwriters from New York (state)