David Joel Zippel (born May 17, 1954) is an American musical theatre lyricist, director, and producer.

Early life and education

Zippel was born and raised in

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river that joins the Delaware Ri ...

in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the n ...

region of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

. Falling in love with theater as a child, Zippel first articulated his life's ambition to become a lyricist and director in junior high school. As an undergraduate at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

, he contributed lyrics to an equity production of "a bizarre political musical" called ''Rotunda'', which had a brief run in Washington, D.C. before graduating with a B.A. in 1976. Mindful of the difficulties of achieving success in theater, Zippel first obtained a J.D. degree from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, graduating in the class of 1979. At Harvard, Zippel continued to pursue his ambition of writing several pop songs with singer

Pamala Stanley Pamala Stanley (born July 16, 1952) is an American disco and Hi-NRG singer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. She scored several dance/club hits from the late 1970s to the late 1980s. She is the sister of folk-pop recording artist ...

that appeared on her 1979 debut album, ''This Is Hot'', and collaborating on three songs with Wally Harper, Barbara Cook's musical director, whose performance of the songs at Carnegie Hall in 1980 marked Zippel's own New York theatrical debut.

Career

Theatre

As lyricist/writer *'' City of Angels'' (1989), an original musical with book by Larry Gelbart and music by Cy Coleman.

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book, Best Actor ( James Naughton) Best Featured Actress ( Randy Graff), and Best Set Design ( Robin Wagner); Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics; Olivier Awards for Best New Musical (1994), Best Musical Revival (2015); The Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical (1993) *'' The Goodbye Girl'' (1993), a musical based on Neil Simon's 1977 screenplay, with music by

Marvin Hamlisch Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (June 2, 1944 – August 6, 2012) was an American composer and conductor. Hamlisch was one of only seventeen people to win Emmy, Grammy, Academy Awards, Oscar and Tony Awards, Tony awards. This collection of all fou ...

. Nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical; Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Lyrics. * ''Hercules'' (2019), an adaptation of the Disney animated film of the same name, with music by

Alan Menken Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for '' The Little Mermaid'' (1989), '' Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), ...

. *'' The Woman in White'' (2004), an adaptation of the novel by Wilkie Collins, with music by

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musica ...

, book by Charlotte Jones. The music and lyrics received a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score. The show was nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best Musical. * ''Liza's at the Palace'' (2009), script co-written with Liza Minnelli, special lyrics with music by John Kander and Billy Stritch; Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event (2009) * ''Cinderella'' (2020), a new adaptation of the classic story; with music by

, book by Emerald Fennell As conceiver/director *''Princesses'' (2004), loosely inspired by '' A Little Princess'' by

Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), ''A Little P ...

. Zippel conceived and directed; book by Bill and Cheri Steinkellner, music by

Matthew Wilder Matthew Wilder ( Weiner; January 24, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. In early 1984, his single "Break My Stride" hit No. 2 on the ''Cash Box'' chart and No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. He also wrote th ...

. The musical was produced at the 5th Avenue Theatre,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, Washington, in August 2005, after a "developmental" production at Goodspeed Musicals' Norma Terris Theatre in fall 2004. *''The Best Is Yet To Come: The Music of Cy Coleman'', Indy Award for Best Direction (2010); Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revue (2012) *''They're Playing His Songs: The Music of Marvin Hamlisch'' (2013) *''The Importance of Being Earnest (In New York)'' (2015) As producer *'' Spamilton: An American Parody'' (2016), Gerard Alessandrini's off-Broadway spoof of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway musical '' Hamilton'', Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Unique Theatrical Experience (2017); MAC Award for Show of the Year (2017)

Film and television

As lyricist/writer * Theme song for '' Veronica's Closet'' (1997), a sit-com starring Kirstie Alley Zippel contributed lyrics to '' The Swan Princess'' (1994) and provided the singing voice of Jean-Bob the Frog. He also wrote the lyrics for the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

films ''

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted th ...

'' (1997), with music by

(the song " Go the Distance" received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

nomination for Best Original Song), and ''

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history. According to legend, Mulan took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as ...

'' (1998), with music by

. The music and lyrics received an

nomination for Best Musical or Comedy Score and an

Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally d ...

nomination for Music in an Animated Feature Production. He was in his agent Richard Kraft's film '' Finding Kraftland''. ''Pamela's First Musical'', written with Coleman and Wendy Wasserstein, based on Wasserstein's children's book, received its world premiere in a concert staging at Town Hall in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

on May 18, 2008. In 2011, Zippel wrote the lyrics to the song "The Star-Spangled Man" featured in the film '' Captain America: The First Avenger''.

composed the music for the song, which was an affectionate send-up of 1940s Irving Berlin songs.

References

External links

* *
David Zippel profile
at Filmreference {{DEFAULTSORT:Zippel, David 1954 births Living people American lyricists American musical theatre lyricists Animation composers Annie Award winners Broadway composers and lyricists Easton Area High School alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Harvard Law School alumni Musicians from Easton, Pennsylvania Jewish American composers Jewish American songwriters Songwriters from Pennsylvania Tony Award winners Walt Disney Animation Studios people