Fred Alley (1962–2001) was an American musical theatre lyricist and librettist who died unexpectedly just as his work gained national recognition. His collaboration on the musical ''

The Spitfire Grill ''The Spitfire Grill'' (also known as ''Care of the Spitfire Grill'') is a 1996 American film written and directed by Lee David Zlotoff and starring Alison Elliott, Ellen Burstyn, Marcia Gay Harden, Will Patton, Kieran Mulroney and Gailard Sa ...

'' with composer

James Valcq James Valcq (born 1963 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American musical theatre composer, lyricist, and librettist, as well as an actor and arts administrator. He contributed to various theatrical works. Education Valcq holds a BFA from the Un ...

won the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

' prestigious Richard Rodgers Production Award for 2001. Premiered at the

George Street Playhouse George Street Playhouse is a theater company in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in the city's Civic Square government and theater district. It's one of the state's preeminent professional theaters committed to the production of new and established ...

in New Jersey and produced

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 ...

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 ...

, it received Best Musical nominations from the

Outer Critics Circle The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...

and Drama League, as well as two

Drama Desk 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 ...

nominations. The cast album was released on Triangle Road Records. ''

'' has become one of the most frequently performed recent musicals with more than 600 productions to date, not only in every major American city but in

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, and

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as well. In 2008 the show had its UK premiere at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. Alley was the co-founder and artist-in-Residence at American Folklore Theatre (AFT) in Door County,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, a populist theatre with a seasonal audience of 50,000 performing original musicals that further the knowledge and appreciation of the heritage of the United States with local and regional settings and themes. It was at AFT that Alley first collaborated with Valcq on a musical called ''The Passage''. Also at AFT, Alley collaborated on more than 20 original shows with composer James Kaplan, director Jeffrey Herbst, co-founder Doc Heide, and frequent guest artists

Paul Sills Paul Sills (born Paul Silverberg; November 18, 1927 – June 2, 2008) was an American director and improvisation teacher, and the original director of Chicago's The Second City. Life and career Sills was born Paul Silverberg in Chicago, Illinois ...

and James Maronek. Alley was the librettist and lyricist of ''Guys on Ice'', ''Lumberjacks in Love'', and ''The Bachelors'', all of which began at AFT and set box office records in frequent productions at the

Milwaukee Repertory Theater Milwaukee Repertory Theater ("Milwaukee Rep") is a theater company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded as the Fred Miller Theatre Company, the group is housed in the Patty & Jay Baker Theater Complex, which includes the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater, ...

. He was honored posthumously with the 2002 Mark R. Sumner Award for distinguished achievement in the U.S. outdoor drama movement. Alley was also an actor and singer who performed on the AFT stage for 20 consecutive seasons. His tenor voice can be heard on his recordings ''The Lake'', ''Door Christmas'', and the posthumously released collection ''It Would Be Enough For Me''. Alley died on May 1, 2001, of a previously undiagnosed heart condition while jogging near his Wisconsin home.

External links

Guys on Ice

References

# The New York Times, July 28, 2002 # The Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2001 # The Chicago Tribune, November 22, 2002 # Playbill September, 2001, Volume 117, Number 9 # Playwrights Horizons Mainstage Bulletin, Fall, 2001 # The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, September 14, 2002 {{DEFAULTSORT:Alley, Fred 1962 births 2001 deaths American male musical theatre actors American musical theatre lyricists American musical theatre librettists 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American male writers