Bruce Coughlin ( ) is an American
orchestrator
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...
and
musical arranger
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...
. He has won a
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
(out of 3 total nominations), a
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...
(out of 11 total nominations), and an
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
.
Personal life
He currently lives in the
East Village,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Career
After graduating from
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
Coughlin moved to New York City and worked as a composer for several years, primarily writing incidental music for plays and dance. Theaters he composed scores for include The Hartford Stage (''Antony and Cleopatra''), BAM Theater Company (''A Midsummer Night’s Dream'' and ''The Winter’s Tale''), Denver Center Theater and many others.
He has said that composing did not suit his personality as well as orchestrating
and with the 1981 musical ''Is There Life After High School?'' (by
Craig Carnelia
Craig Carnelia (born 1949) is an American musical theater composer and singer, known for his collaboration on the musicals ''Working'' and ''Sweet Smell of Success''.
Biography
Carnelia grew up in Floral Park, New York. He was exposed to Broadwa ...
and Jeffrey Kindley) he got the opportunity to move into writing orchestrations for the theater. He had been hired as musical director of the show, but was asked to also do orchestrations on the side. The show had a regional run at Hartford Stage in CT and a year later arrived on Broadway. It had a lengthy preview period at the
Ethyl Barrymore Theatre but a short run of only 12 performances. Despite what must have been a disappointing start to orchestrating for the theater the "side job" eventually became his primary focus.
Since that time he has orchestrated over 100 works for Broadway and other theater, opera, recordings and concert hall.
After a period of working in the commercial world as a composer and arranger (for
jingle
A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...
s and industrials), Coughlin came back to orchestrating for the theater with
William Finn
William Alan Finn (born February 28, 1952) is an American composer and lyricist. He is best known for his musicals, which include ''Falsettos'', for which he won the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical, ''A New Br ...
’s
''Romance In Hard Times'' at the
Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...
in 1989. He continued to orchestrate various shows off-Broadway and in regional theaters (including
William Bolcom
William Elden Bolcom (born May 26, 1938) is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Award, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. He ...
’s ''Casino Paradise'').
His first big theater success was as orchestrator for
Adam Guettel
Adam Guettel (; born December 16, 1964) is an American composer-lyricist of musical theater and opera. The grandson of musical theatre composer Richard Rodgers, he is best known for his musical '' The Light in the Piazza'', for which he won the To ...
’s
''Floyd Collins'' in 1994, directed by
Tina Landau
Tina Landau (born May 21, 1962) is an American playwright and theatre director. Known for her large-scale, musical, and ensemble-driven work, Landau's productions have appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally, most extensively at the ...
. The show later played at
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work.
Under the ...
in New York (where he won an Obie award for his work on that show). It had a short run but made a big impact on contemporary musical theater.
Broadway and West End
Coughlin’s first Broadway orchestrations were for revivals of classic Broadway shows including the 1996 revival of ''The King and I'', ''The Sound of Music'' (1998), and ''Once Upon A Mattress'' starring
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress and television producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 1 ...
. Later he also orchestrated revivals of
''On the Town'' and
''Annie Get Your Gun'' (starring
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters ( ''née'' Lazzara; born February 28, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and children's book author. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo co ...
).
Original Broadway musicals he has orchestrated include
''Triumph of Love'' (starring
Betty Buckley
Betty Lynn Buckley (born July 3, 1947) is an American actress and singer. Buckley is the winner of a Tony Award, and was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Olivier Award. In 2012, she was inducted into the American T ...
),
''The Wild Party'' (Michael John LaChiusa), ''
Urinetown
''Urinetown: The Musical'' is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, burea ...
'' (for which he received a Tony Award nomination), Dolly Parton's
''9 to 5'',
''Amélie'' and
''War Paint'' (starring
Patti LuPone
Patti Ann LuPone (born April 21, 1949) is an American actress and singer best known for her work in musical theater. She has won three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, two Grammy Awards, and was a 2006 inductee to the American Theater Hall of Fa ...
and
Christine Ebersole
Christine Ebersole (born February 21, 1953) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in film, television, and on stage. She starred in the Broadway musicals '' 42nd Street'' and ''Grey Gardens'', winning two Tony Awards. She has co-s ...
).
In 2005, he collaborated with
Ted Sperling
Ted Sperling is a musical director, conductor, orchestrator, arranger, stage director and musician, primarily for the stage and concerts. He won the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations and the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations, for his ...
and Adam Guettel on orchestrations for Guettel’s
''The Light in the Piazza'' which became “a surprise popular hit”. The show garnered all three a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for best orchestrations that year.
Coughlin has also provided additional orchestrations for the Broadway musicals
''Big Fish'', ''
On the Twentieth Century
''On the Twentieth Century'' is a musical with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman. Based partly on the 1932 play ''Twentieth Century'' and its 1934 film adaptation, the musical is part operetta, part farce an ...
'' (2015 revival) and ''
Something Rotten!
''Something Rotten!'' is a musical comedy with a book by John O'Farrell and Karey Kirkpatrick and music and lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick. Set in 1595, the story follows the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel, who struggle to find success ...
'', among others.
In 2014, he orchestrated another revival (of sorts) when he expanded his original 5-piece orchestration of ''Urinetown'' for the London premiere of the show thirteen years later. The expanded orchestration only added one additional player (a trumpet) but required rewriting of all the wind instruments in the show. He has written that this 6-piece expanded version is what he had always wanted for the original Broadway version, but the budget didn't allow for the extra player. The London production had a successful run at the St James Theatre (now
The Other Palace
The Other Palace is a theatre in London's Off West End which opened on 18 September 2012 as the St. James Theatre. It features a 312-seat main theatre and a 120-seat studio theatre. It was built on the site of the former Westminster Theatre, w ...
) and then moved to the West End.
Long-time collaborations
Coughlin has had long-running collaborations with three prominent composers:
Michael John LaChiusa
Michael John LaChiusa (born July 24, 1962) is an American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for musically esoteric shows such as '' Hello Again'', ''Marie Christine'', '' The Wild Party'', and ''See Wha ...
, the songwriting team of
Scott Frankel
Scott David Frankel (born May 6, 1963) is an American composer.
Career Early life
Frankel began his music education taking piano lessons with Betty Belkin in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended Interlochen Arts Camp, Hawken School (‘81) and graduated f ...
(music) and
Michael Korie
Michael Korie (born April 1, 1955) is an American librettist and lyricist whose writing for musical theater and opera includes the musicals ''Grey Gardens'' and '' Far From Heaven'', and the operas ''Harvey Milk'' and ''The Grapes of Wrath''. His ...
(lyrics), and with opera and theater composer
Ricky Ian Gordon
Ricky Ian Gordon (born May 15, 1956) is an American composer of art song, opera and musical theatre.
Life
Gordon was born in Oceanside, New York. He was raised by his mother, Eve, and father, Sam, and he grew up on Long Island with his three sist ...
. For LaChiusa he orchestrated 6 shows and one opera including ''Giant'' (
Larry Hochman
Larry Hochman (; born November 21, 1953) is an American orchestrator and composer. He has won four Emmy Awards for his original music on the TV series ''Wonder Pets!'' and a Tony Award for his orchestrations for ''The Book of Mormon''.
Early li ...
provided additional orchestrations), ''The Wild Party'', ''
See What I Wanna See
''See What I Wanna See'' is a musical by Michael John LaChiusa based on three short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa: "Kesa and Morito", "In a Grove" (1922, the inspiration for Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film ''Rashomon'') and
'' Dragon: the Old Pott ...
'', and ''
First Daughter Suite'' (a co-orchestration with
Michael Starobin
Michael Starobin (born January 25, 1956) is an orchestrator, conductor, composer, arranger, and musical director, primarily for the stage, film and television. He won Tony Awards for the orchestrations of '' Assassins'' (2004) and ''Next to No ...
).
For Frankel and Korie, he orchestrated
''Grey Gardens'' (for which he received a Tony Award nomination),
''Far From Heaven'', ''Happiness'' (directed by
Susan Stroman
Susan P. Stroman (born October 17, 1954) is an American theatre director, choreographer, film director and performer. Her notable theater productions include '' The Producers'', '' Crazy for You'', ''Contact'', and '' The Scottsboro Boys''. She i ...
),
''Finding Neverland'' (UK version) and ''War Paint''.
He co-orchestrated (with the composer) three major Gordon operas (
''The Grapes of Wrath'',
''27'' and
''Morning Star'') and (as sole orchestrator) three musicals.
International
Coughlin has also worked extensively overseas, providing orchestrations for five new musicals at Søren Møller's Fredericia Teater in Denmark; for revivals of ''Candide'' (in a chamber music orchestration for the
National Theatre), ''Assassins'' and the aforementioned ''Urinetown'' in London; and for 3 musicals (co-orchestrations with Larry Hochman) by María Isabel Murillo MISI in Bogotá, Colombia.
Recordings and classical work
In the non-theater realm, he has written orchestrations for many singers (for both concert and recording) including
Audra McDonald
Audra Ann McDonald (born July 3, 1970) is an American actress and singer. Primarily known for her work on the Broadway stage, she has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor, and is the only person to win in all four act ...
,
Kristen Chenoweth, Julian Fleisher,
Nadine Sierra
Nadine Sierra (born May 14, 1988) is an American soprano. She is most well known for her interpretation of Gilda in Verdi's ''Rigoletto,'' and Lucia in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor.'' Currently performing in leading roles in the top opera hou ...
, and
Darius de Haas
Darius may refer to:
Persian royalty
;Kings of the Achaemenid Empire
* Darius I (the Great, 550 to 487 BC)
* Darius II (423 to 404 BC)
* Darius III (Codomannus, 380 to 330 BC)
;Crown princes
* Darius (son of Xerxes I), crown prince of Persia, m ...
.
In the classical world, Coughlin has often worked with conductor
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...
, notably as orchestrator for
Bernstein
Bernstein is a common surname in the German language, meaning "amber" (literally "burn stone"). The name is used by both Germans and Jews, although it is most common among people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. The German pronunciation is , but in E ...
’s ''Arias and Barcarolles'', ''The Thomashevsky Project'' (with co-orchestrator
Peter Gordon) and on the 1992 recording of Bernstein's ''On the Town'', where he orchestrated two songs cut from the original 1944 production. Those songs ("Gabey's Comin’" and "The Intermission's Great") had never been orchestrated but were added back for this new recording. "Gabey’s Comin’" is now a part of the currently available live-performance version of the show. In 2016 they collaborated once again on one of Tilson Thomas's own compositions (''Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind)'' with Coughlin supplying orchestration assistance as the score was finalized.
It was Tilson Thomas who suggested Coughlin to Bruce Hornsby who was assembling a concert suite of four songs to be premiered at the New World Symphony in 2015. In his writing Hornsby had become interested in the techniques of modern classical music (Ligeti, Carter, Schoenberg, etc.) and was experimenting with ways to meld those compositional techniques with his own signature pop music style. The concert was a success and the collaboration continued. The suite now consists of eleven songs.
Metallica and S&M2
In 2019 he joined forces with
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
and Michael Tilson Thomas and the
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Fr ...
to create arrangements and orchestrations for S&M2, marking the 20th anniversary of the legendary
S&M concert of 1999. Many of the original
Michael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, and session musician.
Biography Early life
Michael Arnold Kamen was born in ...
orchestrations were used, and the concert updated with Metallica material from the last 20 years. Coughlin arranged and orchestrated "Moth Into Flame", "Halo On Fire", "Confusion", "The Day That Never Comes", "Unforgiven III", and "All Within My Hands". He also wrote a new orchestration for
Master of Puppets
''Master of Puppets'' is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on March 3, 1986, by Elektra Records. Recorded in Denmark at Sweet Silence Studios with producer Flemming Rasmussen, it was the band's last album ...
from the original S&M concert and adapted and reworked Geoff Alexander and Michael Kamen's
Enter Sandman
"Enter Sandman" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It is the opening track and lead single from their self-titled fifth album, released in 1991. The music was written by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Vocalist a ...
chart. S&M2 was the inaugural concert in the new
Chase Center
Chase Center is an indoor arena in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The building is the home venue for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and occasionally for the University of San ...
arena in San Francisco.
Performances took place September 6 and 8 with a world-wide one-night-only movie screening planned for the following month.
Awards and nominations
Wins
*1995 Obie Award, Orchestrations Floyd Collins
*2005 Tony Award, Best Orchestrations The Light in the Piazza
*2005 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations The Light in the Piazza
Nominations
*1996 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations Floyd Collins
*1998 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations The Sound of Music
*2001 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations Urinetown
*2002 Tony Award, Best Orchestrations Urinetown
*2006 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations Grey Gardens
*2006 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations See What I Wanna See
*2007 Tony Award, Best Orchestrations Grey Gardens
*2009 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations 9 to 5
*2011 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations The Burnt Part Boys
*2013 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations Giant
*2016 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations First Daughter Suite
*2017 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Orchestrations War Paint
References
External links
*Official website:
Bruce Coughlinat the Internet Broadway Database
Bruce Coughlinon the BroadwayWorld Theatre Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coughlin, Bruce
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American music arrangers
Musicians from New York City
Dartmouth College alumni
People from the East Village, Manhattan
Tony Award winners