Mindi Dickstein is an American

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

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 ...

. Dickstein wrote the lyrics for the 2005 Broadway musical production ''

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 ...

'', based on the 1868 novel of the same name by

Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Good Wives'' (1869), ''Little Men'' (1871), and ''Jo's Boys'' ...

. It began previews at The Virginia Theater (now The

August Wilson August Wilson (né Frederick August Kittel Jr.; April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of 10 plays, collectively called '' ...

Theater) on December 7, 2004, opened on January 23, 2005 and ran for 137 performances, closing on May 22, 2005. The production received Tony and Drama Desk nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for

Sutton Foster Sutton Lenore Foster (born March 18, 1975) is an American actress. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical seven times, winning in 2002 for her role as ...

, who played Jo March. Licensed by Music Theater International, ''

'' has been produced continuously in the U.S. and Canada since its Broadway run, and has had worldwide productions from Australia to London to Tokyo. The Official Broadway Cast Album (recorded by Sh-k-boom/Ghostlight Records) is available on Amazon and other music retailing and streaming sites. Other notable work includes the book for '' Toy Story: The Musical'' for Disney Creative Entertainment, with a score by Groovelily; and lyrics for songs, written with composer Carmel Dean, for the musical ''Witnesses''. Based on the diaries of teens written during the Holocaust, Witnesses is a group show with a book by

Robert L. Freedman Robert L. Freedman (born July 27, 1957) is an American screenwriter and dramatist. He is best known for his teleplays for '' Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella'' (1997) and '' Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows'' (2001), and for his Tony ...

and songs by several songwriters including, in addition to Dickstein and Dean, Anna K. Jacobs, Matthew Gould, and Adam Gwon. ''Witnesses'' had its world premiere at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido in July 2022, and was voted Outstanding New Production of 2022 by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. She also wrote lyrics for ''

Benny & Joon ''Benny & Joon'' is a 1993 American romantic comedy-Drama (film and television), drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about how two eccentric individuals, Sam (Johnny Depp) and Juniper ("Joon") (Mary Stuart Masterson), find each other and f ...

'', a new musical based on the

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

film of the same name with music by

Nolan Gasser Nolan Ira Gasser (born November 10, 1964) is an American composer, pianist, and musicologist. He was the chief musicologist for Pandora Media, Inc. and the architect of the Music Genome Project, the proprietary musical analysis system that und ...

and libretto by Kirsten Guenther. ''

'' had its world premiere in 2017 at The Old Globe in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

-- where it was nominated as Outstanding New Musical by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. It then had its east coast premiere in 2019 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 ...

in Millburn,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. ''

'' was developed at Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Theatreworks Silicon Valley, the 2016 National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) Festival in New York, and the Goodspeed Johnny Mercer Colony, among others. Mindi Dickstein: Full Time Faculty, NYU Tisch School for the Arts official website
/ref> Since 1996, Dickstein has taught at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

in the graduate musical theatre program. In 2001, Dickstein received the Jonathan Larson Grant. Her songs have been performed at Lincoln Center's "Here And Now: Contemporary Lyricists" and at The Dramatist Guild Fund's "Great Writers Thank Their Lucky Stars." She is the recipient of Playwrighting Fellowships from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Mindi Dickstein: Full Time Faculty, NYU Tisch School for the Arts official website
/ref> A graduate of

Brookline High School Brookline High School is a four-year public high school in Brookline, Massachusetts. It is a part of Public Schools of Brookline. As of the 2023–24 school year, 2117 students were enrolled in the high school, served by 191.8 teachers (on an ...

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 ...

, Dickstein received her

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in Musical Theater Writing from

in 1993. She was an Oscar Hammerstein Fellow there.

References

American musical theatre librettists American musical theatre lyricists Tisch School of the Arts alumni New York University faculty Living people Brookline High School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-songwriter-stub