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David Yazbek
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David Yazbek
David Norman Yazbek (born 1961) is an American writer, musician, composer, and lyricist. He wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals The Full Monty (2000), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2004), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010), The Band's Visit (2017), Tootsie (2019), and Dead Outlaw (2025). He won a Tony Award and a Grammy Award for The Band's Visit. He also consulted on the musical Buena Vista Social Club, for which he won another Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
David Yazbek was born in New York City. His father is of Lebanese descent, and his mother was of half-Italian and half-Jewish ancestry. He began cello lessons in elementary school and took up the piano as a teenager. He attended Riverdale Country School.
While attending Brown University as an undergraduate, he wrote an original musical with the production group Brownbrokers before graduating in 1982. He also directed a production of Hair with the student theatre group Production Workshop, for which he composed an original song to complement the classic score.
After college Yazbek got a job writing for David Letterman's late-night television show Late Night with David Letterman. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series at the 36th Primetime Emmy Awards as part of Letterman's writing team in 1984, but quit to pursue his love of music. From 1987 to 1989 he was the co-owner of Manhattan Recording Company and wrote many commercial jingles.
Yazbek co-wrote the title theme song to the 1991 Emmy Award winning PBS TV series Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? with songwriter Sean Altman, a high school friend who led the show's featured vocal group, Rockapella. Yazbek and Altman also composed and wrote the theme song to World's `1996 successor, Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? He has written many other songs and background scores for children's television shows, especially those produced for the Disney Channel.
In 2000, director Jack O'Brien approached composer-lyricist Adam Guettel to write the music and lyrics for a musical based on the hit movie The Full Monty. Guettel declined, but recommended Yazbek, whom he had played with in a band. Yazbek took the job, collaborating with librettist Terrence McNally. The show was a success, although it was overshadowed that year by Mel Brooks' musical The Producers. The Full Monty ran for two years before closing, and for his work Yazbek was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Original Score at the 55th Tony Awards and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics, and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music. In 2002 he was a contributing lyricist for the musical Bombay Dreams.
Yazbek wrote the music and lyrics to the musical adaptation of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which opened on Broadway in 2005, featuring John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, Sherie Rene Scott, Joanna Gleason, and Gregory Jbara. Yazbek was again nominated for the Tony Award for Best Original Score at the 59th Tony Awards, and Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics.
Yazbek wrote the music for the musical adaptation of the 1988 Pedro Almodóvar film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. In October 2009, the musical had a closed reading directed by Bartlett Sher and featuring Salma Hayek, Jessica Biel, Matthew Morrison, and Paulo Szot. The musical opened on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre on November 4, 2010, with previews starting October 8. The musical starred Patti LuPone, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Sherie Rene Scott, with direction by Bartlett Sher. The production received mixed to negative reviews, despite praise for the actors and Yazbek's score, and closed on January 2, 2011, after 30 previews and 69 performances. Despite the early closing, the show was nominated for three Tony Awards, for the performances of Patti LuPone and Laura Benanti, and Yazbek's score, at the 65th Tony Awards.
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David Yazbek
David Norman Yazbek (born 1961) is an American writer, musician, composer, and lyricist. He wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals The Full Monty (2000), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2004), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010), The Band's Visit (2017), Tootsie (2019), and Dead Outlaw (2025). He won a Tony Award and a Grammy Award for The Band's Visit. He also consulted on the musical Buena Vista Social Club, for which he won another Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
David Yazbek was born in New York City. His father is of Lebanese descent, and his mother was of half-Italian and half-Jewish ancestry. He began cello lessons in elementary school and took up the piano as a teenager. He attended Riverdale Country School.
While attending Brown University as an undergraduate, he wrote an original musical with the production group Brownbrokers before graduating in 1982. He also directed a production of Hair with the student theatre group Production Workshop, for which he composed an original song to complement the classic score.
After college Yazbek got a job writing for David Letterman's late-night television show Late Night with David Letterman. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series at the 36th Primetime Emmy Awards as part of Letterman's writing team in 1984, but quit to pursue his love of music. From 1987 to 1989 he was the co-owner of Manhattan Recording Company and wrote many commercial jingles.
Yazbek co-wrote the title theme song to the 1991 Emmy Award winning PBS TV series Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? with songwriter Sean Altman, a high school friend who led the show's featured vocal group, Rockapella. Yazbek and Altman also composed and wrote the theme song to World's `1996 successor, Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? He has written many other songs and background scores for children's television shows, especially those produced for the Disney Channel.
In 2000, director Jack O'Brien approached composer-lyricist Adam Guettel to write the music and lyrics for a musical based on the hit movie The Full Monty. Guettel declined, but recommended Yazbek, whom he had played with in a band. Yazbek took the job, collaborating with librettist Terrence McNally. The show was a success, although it was overshadowed that year by Mel Brooks' musical The Producers. The Full Monty ran for two years before closing, and for his work Yazbek was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Original Score at the 55th Tony Awards and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics, and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music. In 2002 he was a contributing lyricist for the musical Bombay Dreams.
Yazbek wrote the music and lyrics to the musical adaptation of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which opened on Broadway in 2005, featuring John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, Sherie Rene Scott, Joanna Gleason, and Gregory Jbara. Yazbek was again nominated for the Tony Award for Best Original Score at the 59th Tony Awards, and Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics.
Yazbek wrote the music for the musical adaptation of the 1988 Pedro Almodóvar film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. In October 2009, the musical had a closed reading directed by Bartlett Sher and featuring Salma Hayek, Jessica Biel, Matthew Morrison, and Paulo Szot. The musical opened on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre on November 4, 2010, with previews starting October 8. The musical starred Patti LuPone, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Sherie Rene Scott, with direction by Bartlett Sher. The production received mixed to negative reviews, despite praise for the actors and Yazbek's score, and closed on January 2, 2011, after 30 previews and 69 performances. Despite the early closing, the show was nominated for three Tony Awards, for the performances of Patti LuPone and Laura Benanti, and Yazbek's score, at the 65th Tony Awards.
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