Jason Howland is a musical theatre composer, playwright, conductor, music director, and producer. In 2015, he won the

Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album The Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album has been awarded since 1959. The award is generally given to the album's producers, principal vocalist(s), and the composer and lyricist if they have written a new score which comprises 51% or more ...

for his work producing the cast recording of '' Beautiful: The Carole King Musical''. He also wrote the music for the Broadway musical ''

Little Women ''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters— Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details th ...

''. He was a producer on the 2023 musical ''

Shucked ''Shucked'' is a 2022 musical with music and lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, and a book by Robert Horn (writer), Robert Horn. The Broadway theatre, Broadway production began previews at the Nederlander Theatre on March 8, 2023, before ...

'', for which he earned nominations for the

Tony Award for Best Orchestrations The Tony Award for Best Orchestrations is awarded to acknowledge the contributions of musical orchestrators in both musicals and plays. The award has been given since 1997. Winners and nominees 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Multiple wins ;3 ...

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations is an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in musical theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. This catego ...

, and the

Biography

Howland was born June 16, 1971, in

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other words Arts and media * ''Concord'' (video game), a defunct 2024 first-person sh ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, and grew up in Williamstown, Massachusetts. As a teenager, he attended Berkshire Ensemble for the Theatre Arts (a camp for aspiring musical-theatre composers and librettists). While at

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

, he was called to be an intern on the 1992 Vivian Matalon workshop of '' Jekyll & Hyde'' and worked his way up, becoming friendly with both composer

Frank Wildhorn Frank Wildhorn (born November 29, 1958) is an American composer of both musicals and popular songs. His musical ''Jekyll & Hyde (musical), Jekyll & Hyde'' ran for four years on Broadway. He also wrote the hit song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" for ...

and arranger James Raitt, and eventually became the music director and conductor of the 1997 Broadway production. In 2002, Howland wrote a play with Larry Pellegrini called ''Blessing in Disguise'' which premiered Off-Broadway. His assorted credits include musical director for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, music supervisor for ''

The Scarlet Pimpernel ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title (co-authored with her husband Montague Barstow) enjoyed a long run in Lo ...

'' and '' The Civil War'', music director of ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'', music director of ''

Taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

'', and supervising music director/incidental & dance music arrangements/vocal music arrangements of '' Wonderland''. He also produced ''

The Lonesome West ''The Lonesome West'' is a play by British-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, part of his Connemara trilogy, which includes ''The Beauty Queen of Leenane'' and ''A Skull in Connemara''. All three plays depict the murderous occurrences in the we ...

'' with Davis. In 2005, he was the producer of ''

'' with Dani Davis. The original songwriters were released, and Howland stepped down from producing to write the music with lyrics by

Mindi Dickstein Mindi Dickstein is an American lyricist and librettist. Dickstein wrote the lyrics for the 2005 Broadway musical production ''Little Women'', based on the 1868 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott. It began previews at The Virginia Theater ...

with a book by Allan Knee. , he was working on two new musicals, ''Mariel'' and ''Quickstepf''. He has also appeared as a guest conductor with the

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is an American orchestra based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The ASO's main concert venue is Atlanta Symphony Hall in the Woodruff Arts Center. History Though earlier organizations bearing the sam ...

The Florida Orchestra The Florida Orchestra is an American orchestra based in the tri-city area of Tampa, Clearwater, Florida, Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida. It was founded as the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony upon the 1968 merger of th ...

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra The New Jersey Symphony, formerly the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), is an American symphony orchestra based in the state of New Jersey. The New Jersey Symphony is the state orchestra of New Jersey, performing classical subscription concer ...

, Maine State Symphony, and

Memphis Symphony Orchestra The Memphis Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Memphis, Tennessee. The orchestra's primary performing venue is the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. History Prior to the formation of the orchestra, classical orchestras had ...

. He also has conducted for

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

Natalie Cole Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, with the release of her debut ...

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...

, BeBe and CeCe Winans, Carl Anderson,

Linda Eder Linda Eder (; born February 3, 1961) is an American singer and actress. She originated the role of Lucy Harris in the Broadway musical '' Jekyll & Hyde'', for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award. Biography Eder was born in Tucso ...

Sebastian Bach Sebastian Philip Bierk (born April 3, 1968), known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian-American singer who achieved mainstream success as the frontman of the hard rock band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He has acted on Broadway and h ...

David Hasselhoff David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on the soap ...

Rob Evan Robert Buchen known professionally as Robert "Rob" Evan is an American actor and singer, best known as the lead performer in numerous Broadway musicals, a performer in national and international tours of musical productions, and a featured vocal ...

Kate Shindle Katherine Renee Shindle (born January 31, 1977) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and AIDS activist. From 2015 to 2024 she served as the President of the Actors' Equity Association. She was Miss America 1998 in 1998 and Miss Illinois in 199 ...

Lauren Kennedy Lauren Kennedy (born September 3, 1973) is an American actress and singer who has performed numerous times on Broadway. She is now the producing artistic director of Theatre Raleigh in her home state of North Carolina. Education Kennedy was born ...

Davis Gaines Davis Gaines (born January 21, 1954, Orlando, Florida) is an American stage actor and baritone. He has performed as The Phantom in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical ''The Phantom of the Opera'' over 2,000 times, on Broadway, on tour, in Los Angele ...

the Kingston Trio The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...

, and

Lizz Wright Elizabeth LaCharla Wright (born January 22, 1980) professionally known as Lizz Wright, is an American jazz and gospel singer. Early life and education Wright was born in the small town of Hahira, which is northwest of Valdosta, Georgia, one ...

. His other works include writing scores for ''Handel’s Messiah Rocks: A Joyful Noise'' and the webisode series ''The Broadroom'', and music arrangement for ''

Macy's 4th of July Fireworks The Macy's 4th of July Fireworks is an annual Independence Day (United States), Independence Day fireworks display held in New York City. The fireworks show, usually held over the East River or Hudson River, has been sponsored by Macy's, Inc. ea ...

'' in 2024. In July 2023, it was announced that Howland and

Nathan Tysen Nathan Tysen (born January 15, 1977) is a Grammy-nominated American songwriter whose musicals have appeared on Broadway and the West End. Musicals with composer Chris Miller include Tuck Everlasting (musical), ''Tuck Everlasting'', ''The Burnt Part ...

would premiere their score for a new musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's ''

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' () is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with Jay Gatsby, a mysterious mi ...

'' in October of that same year at the

Paper Mill Playhouse Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theater containing approximately 1,200 seats located in Millburn, within Essex County, New Jersey, United States, on the banks of the Rahway River. Due to its relative proximity to Manhattan, the theater draw ...

. The musical will feature a book by Kait Kerrigan and direction by Marc Bruni.

Works

*''

'', 2004 *''Blessing in Disguise'', 2002 *'' Wonderland'''', 2011'' *'' A Killer Party'', 2020 *''

Ikiru is a 1952 Japanese tragedy film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. The film examines the struggles of a terminally ill Tokyo bureaucrat (played by Takashi Shimura) and his final quest ...

'', 2020 *'' Paradise Square'', 2022 *'' Christmas in Connecticut'', 2022 *''

'', 2023 *''

A Man ''A Man'' (1979) () (, transliteration: ''Enas Andras'') is a biographical novel written by Oriana Fallaci chronicling her romantic relationship with the resistance fighter Alexandros Panagoulis, who attempted to assassinate the Greek dictator ...

'', 2025

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Howland, Jason American musical theatre composers American male musical theatre composers Broadway composers and lyricists Living people People from Williamstown, Massachusetts Williams College alumni Grammy Award winners Year of birth missing (living people)