Stephen Clark (2 February 1961 – 15 October 2016) was a British playwright, librettist and lyricist, best known for the musicals ''

Zorro Zorro ( Spanish for 'fox') is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo of Los Angeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilant ...

'' and ''

Love Story Love Story or A Love Story may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres * Romance (love) ** Romance film ** Romance novel Films * ''Love Story'' (1925 film), German silent film * ''Love Story'' (1942 film), Italian drama film * ''Love ...

''.

Early life

Clark was born in Nottingham, the son of playwright and television writer Brian Clark.

Career

Clark attended musical theatre masterclasses led by Stephen Sondheim at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

in 1991. He first received notice with the musical ''Eyam'', with music by Andrew Peggie, concerning the village of the same name during the 17th century bubonic plague. ''Eyam'' was performed in Oxford and at the

Bridewell Theatre Bridewell Theatre is a small theatre based in Blackfriars in London. It is operated as part of the St Bride Foundation Institute, named after nearby St Bride's Church on Fleet Street.Martin Guerre Martin Guerre, a French peasant of the 16th century, was at the centre of a famous case of imposture. Several years after Martin Guerre had left his wife, child and village, a man claiming to be him appeared. He lived with Guerre's wife and s ...

'', which received the 1997 Olivier Award for Best New Musical. For the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in Englis ...

, his English libretto for ''

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'' was produced in 2006. Clark's music theatre adaptation of ''The Mahabharata'', music by

Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney , D.Mus (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian an ...

, opened in 2007 at

Sadler's Wells Theatre Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-se ...

, London. He wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the book for ''

'', produced on the West End in 2008 and nominated for Best New Musical at the 2009 Olivier Awards. In 2010, the Chichester Festival Theare produced ''Love Stor''y, with Clark writing book and co-writing lyrics with composer

Howard Goodall Howard Lindsay Goodall (; born 26 May 1958) is an English composer of musicals, choral music and music for television. He also presents music-based programmes for television and radio, for which he has won many awards. In May 2008, he was n ...

. ''Love Story'' transferred to the West End and was nominated for Best New Musical at the Olivier Awards. He contributed to three Singapore-produced musicals, ''

Sing to the Dawn ''Sing to the Dawn'' is a story by Chinese-American author Minfong Ho, which was originally published as a short story and was awarded first prize by the Council of Interracial Books for Children in New York City in 1975. It was later extended to ...

'' (1996), ''

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrific ...

'' (2002) and ''The LKY Musical'' (2015). His plays include ''Making Waves'' and ''Stripped''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Stephen British librettists English musical theatre lyricists 1961 births 2016 deaths