Warren Casey (April 20, 1935 – November 8, 1988) was an American

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

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 ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. He was the writer and composer, with

Jim Jacobs Jim Jacobs (born October 7, 1942) is an American actor, composer, lyricist, and writer for the theatre, long associated with the Chicago theater scene. Jacobs is best known for creating the book, storyline, characters, and lyrics for the 1971 m ...

, of the stage musical '' Grease''.

Career

Warren Casey was born on April 20, 1935, in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

to Peter L. Casey, a steamfitter, and Signe (née Ginman) Casey, a nurse. He graduated from Gorton High School in 1952. Casey received his Fine Arts Degree from the

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

School of Visual and Performing Arts in 1957.Warren Casey biography, The Estate Project
web.archive.org, retrieved January 26, 2010

''Grease''

In the mid-1960s, Casey met

while acting with the Chicago Stage Guild. In the late 1960s, Jacobs was at a party dismayed at the rock music he was listening to and began reminiscing about 1950s rock and roll. He eventually inquired about writing a rock and roll musical with Casey, who (unlike Jacobs) had not been a greaser in high school but shared a love of the music of the era, particularly

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

. The two began collaborating on a play with music about high-school life during the golden age of

rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

in the 1950s. Entitled ''Grease'', it premiered in 1971 at the Kingston Mines Theater, one of the pioneering companies of Chicago's off-Loop theater movement, in the Lincoln Park section of Chicago. Producers Ken Waissman and

Maxine Fox Maxine or Maxene may refer to: People * Maxene Andrews (1916–1995), member of The Andrews Sisters singing trio * Maxine Audley (1923–1992), English actress * Maxine Brown (country singer) (1932–2019), American country music singer * Maxi ...

saw the show and suggested to the playwrights that it might work better as a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

, and told them if the creative partners were willing to rework it and they liked the result, they would produce it

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 ...

. Casey quit his day job as a department store lingerie buyer and the team headed to New York City to collaborate on what would become '' Grease'', which opened at the Eden Theatre in downtown

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, moved to Broadway, and earned him a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a 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 ...

nomination for Best Book of a Musical. The show went on to become a West End hit, a hugely successful film, and a staple of regional theatre,

summer stock In American theater, summer stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock ...

community theatre Community theatre refers to any Theatre, theatrical performance made in relation to particular Community, communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community. It may refer to a production that is made entirely by a communit ...

, and high school drama groups.

Later career

Casey's acting credits include the original production of

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, author, and filmmaker. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony Award, Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and ''Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first ...

's '' Sexual Perversity in Chicago'' in 1974 at the Organic Theater Company. Under Stuart Gordon's direction, Casey created the role of foul-mouthed self-styled makeout artist Bernie Litko, delivering a comically outrageous performance tinged with pathos. In the same year he fronted $1,000 to help start

Victory Gardens Theater Victory Gardens Theater is a theater company in Chicago, Illinois dedicated to the development and production of new plays and playwrights. The theater company was founded in 1974 when eight Chicago artists, Cecil O'Neal, Warren Casey, Stuart Go ...

in Chicago. In 1976, he wrote ''Mudgett''. He wrote (with

) ''Island of Lost Coeds'', a two-act musical, produced at

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1890, it has 6,493 students (as of fall 2021) pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It i ...

under the direction of Sheldon Patinkin. He also contributed

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as th ...

to ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'' in 1976 and new lyrics to '' June Moon'' in 1977. In addition, Casey worked in the musical ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

''.

Personal life

Casey died of

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

-related complications in Chicago at the age of 53.Williams, Albert (January 9, 2009)
The Jim and Warren Show
Chicago Reader. Retrieved on March 16, 2009. At the time of his death he was writing a musical with the

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian performer Valucha deCastro.

References

External links

*
A Remembrance at greasethemusical.co.ukBiography and Papers at Chicago Public Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casey, Warren American male composers American male stage actors American LGBTQ composers American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights American LGBTQ songwriters American gay actors American gay writers American gay musicians Gay composers Gay dramatists and playwrights Gay songwriters American musical theatre lyricists AIDS-related deaths in Illinois Musicians from Yonkers, New York 1935 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American LGBTQ people