John Michael Friedman (September 24, 1975 – September 9, 2017) was an American composer and lyricist. He was a Founding Associate Artist of theater company The Civilians.
Michael Friedman | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Michael Friedman |
| Born | September 24, 1975 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | September 9, 2017 (aged 41) New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Musical theatre |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2002–2017 |
His musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson opened on Broadway in October 2010.
Friedman won a 2007 Obie Award for sustained excellence.[1] Additionally, he received a MacDowell Fellowship, a Princeton Hodder Fellowship, a Meet The Composer Fellowship, and was a Barron Visiting Professor at The Princeton Environmental Institute in 2009. At the time of his death, he was the Artist in Residence and Director of the Public Forum at the Public Theater and was also the Artistic Director of City Center Encores! Off-Center.
Background
editBorn in Boston, Friedman grew up in Philadelphia. He attended Germantown Friends School, after which he studied history and literature at Harvard College.[2] While at Harvard, he studied under Bernard Rands, Mario Davidovsky, and Elizabeth Swados.[3]
Career
editFriedman was most well known as the co-creator of the critically acclaimed musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson which premiered in New York at the Public Theater and subsequently transferred to Broadway. Other credits include the musical Unknown Soldier, which premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and had a critically acclaimed run at Playwright Horizons, Love’s Labour’s Lost, which premiered at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Musical, Saved, In the Bubble, The Brand New Kid, God's Ear, The Blue Demon and This Beautiful City.
He worked with Itamar Moses on The Fortress of Solitude, an adaption based on the Jonathan Lethem book of the same name. It opened September 30, 2014 at The Public Theater.[4]
In the months leading up to the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, Michael traveled the country creating a series of songs based on interviews he conducted. Those songs became his “State of the Union Songbook,” which was presented by The New Yorker Radio Hour.[5]
Michael was a founding Associate Artist of The Civilians, the acclaimed investigative theater company. His work with The Civilians included Gone Missing, In the Footprint, The Great Immensity, Paris Commune (co-written with Steve Cosson), (I Am) Nobody's Lunch, and This Beautiful City; as well as the score for Anne Washburn’s critically acclaimed Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play. His last collaboration with Civilians’ Artistic Director Cosson, The Abominables, opened at Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis in September 2017.
His music has also been heard at the New York Shakespeare Festival, New York Theatre Workshop, Roundabout Theatre Company, Second Stage, Soho Repertory Theater, Signature Theatre, Theater for a New Audience, and The Acting Company. Regionally, his work has been featured at Hartford Stage, The Humana Festival of New American Plays, ART, Berkeley Rep, Dallas Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Portland Center Stage, and internationally at London's Soho and Gate Theatres and the Edinburgh Festival.
He was the dramaturg for the 2004 Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Kenny Leon.[6]
At the time of his death, he was writing a commissioned work on American history for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a musical about the adult film industry with Bess Wohl and The Civilians titled Pretty Filthy.[7]
The Civilians
editWith The Civilians, Friedman was the composer and lyricist for Canard, Canard, Goose?, Gone Missing, [I Am] Nobody's Lunch, This Beautiful City, The Great Immensity, and In the Footprint, and co-author of Paris Commune.[8] His work on Pretty Filthy can be seen in the theater company's premiere production of the new musical.[9]
In partnership with Ghostlight Records, the Civilians will be releasing cast recordings of nine shows that Friedman wrote or co-wrote. The first three, The Great Immensity, This Beautiful City, and The Abominables were released on October 18, 2019.[10] Recordings of Paris Commune and (I Am) Nobody's Lunch were released on August 14, 2020.[11][12]
Death and legacy
editIn July 2017, Friedman was diagnosed as HIV-positive, with the disease already advanced to a significant degree.[13] He began taking medication and continued to work as he was able, but his health declined quickly, and in August, he developed acute respiratory distress syndrome, as a complication of HIV/AIDS; he was admitted to NYU Langone Health in Manhattan, where he died on September 9, 2017, aged 41.[13][14]
In 2018, he received a star on the Playwrights’ Sidewalk at the Lucille Lortel Theater.[15]
Notable works
edit- Canard, Canard, Goose? (2002)
- Paris Commune (2004)
- (I Am) Nobody's Lunch (2006)
- Gone Missing (2007)
- This Beautiful City (2008)
- Saved (2008)
- Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (2008)
- In the Footprint (2010)
- Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play (2012) (Incidental music)
- The Fortress of Solitude (2012)
- Love’s Labour’s Lost (2013)
- Pretty Filthy (2015)
- Rimbauld in New York (2016) (with many others)
- The Abominables (2017)
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Lucille Lortel Award | Outstanding Musical | Saved | Nominated |
| 2010 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Music | Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson | Nominated |
| Drama League Awards | Distinguished Production of a Musical | Nominated | ||
| Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical | Won | ||
| Outstanding New Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Nominated | |||
| 2014 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Musical | Love Labour's Lost | Nominated |
| Outstanding Lyrics | Nominated | |||
| Drama League Award | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play | Nominated | |
| 2015 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Musical | Pretty Filthy | Nominated |
| Outstanding Music | The Fortress of Solitude | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Lyrics | Nominated | |||
| Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical | Nominated |
References
edit- ^ "2006–2007 Obie Award Winners - Page 1 - Theater - New York". Village Voice. May 15, 2007. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
- ^ Grathwohl, Casper (March 11, 2007). "Composing for Shakespeare While Listening to Timberlake". The New York Times.
- ^ "Songs with "Open Eyes"". Harvardmagazine.com. October 15, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
- ^ "2014–2015 Season". Publictheater.org. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
- ^ michaelfriedmanmusic.com
- ^ The Broadway League. "A Raisin in the Sun | IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information". IBDB. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
- ^ "Harvard Square - Composer/Lyricist MICHAEL FRIEDMAN at Farkas Hall". Archived from the original on February 8, 2013. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
- ^ "The Civilians / Artist: Michael Friedman". Thecivilians-artist.blogspot.com. December 29, 2009. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
- ^ "The Civilians / Pretty Filthy". Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
- ^ Paulson, Michael (October 16, 2019). "Michael Friedman Died in 2017. Now 9 Albums of His Work Are Coming". New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
- ^ "Paris Commune (The Michael Friedman Collection) [World Premiere Recording]". Amazon. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
- ^ "(I Am) Nobody's Lunch [The Michael Friedman Collection] [World Premiere Recording]". Amazon. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
- ^ a b Paulson, Michael (October 15, 2017). "'Brilliant,' 41, And Lost to AIDS: The Theater World Asks Why". The New York Times. p. AR1. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
- ^ Paulson, Michael (September 10, 2017). "Michael Friedman, Co-Creator of 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,' Dies at 41". The New York Times. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
- ^ michaelfriedmanmusic.com
