Glenn Slater (born January 28, 1968) is an American

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter 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 incom ...

for musical theatre. He has collaborated with Alan Menken,

Christopher Lennertz Christopher Joseph Lennertz (born January 2, 1972) is an American composer, songwriter, and conductor of film, television, and video game scores. His musical scores appeared in ''Alvin and the Chipmunks'', '' Hop'', '' Think Like a Man'', and '' ...

, Andrew Lloyd Webber, among other composers. He was nominated for three

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 ce ...

s for Best Original Score for the Broadway version of ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...

'' at the

62nd Tony Awards The 62nd Tony Awards ceremony was held on June 15, 2008. The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre. CBS television broadcast the event from Radio ...

in 2008, ''

Sister Act ''Sister Act'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Paul Rudnick (as Joseph Howard). It stars Whoopi Goldberg as a lounge singer forced to join a convent after being placed in a witness protection program. I ...

'' at the

65th Tony Awards The 65th Annual Tony Awards was held on June 12, 2011 to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2010–2011 season. They were held at the Beacon Theatre, ending a fourteen-year tradition of holding the ceremony at Radio City M ...

in 2011, and '' School of Rock'' at the 70th Tony Awards in 2016.

Early life

Slater was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. He is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. Raised in

East Brunswick, New Jersey East Brunswick is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The suburban bedroom community is part of the New York City metropolitan area and is located on the southern shore of the Raritan River, directly adjacent to the city ...

, he graduated from

East Brunswick High School East Brunswick High School is a comprehensive public high school serving students in tenth through twelfth grades in East Brunswick Township, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of East Brunswick Public Schools. ...

as part of the class of 1986; he became interested in drama while at high school after an unsuccessful effort as a songwriter with a band. In 1990, he graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

where he composed

Hasty Pudding Theatricals The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, known informally simply as The Pudding, is a theatrical student society at Harvard University, known for its burlesque crossdressing musicals. The Hasty Pudding is the oldest theatrical organization in the United S ...

' 141st production, ''Whiskey Business''. He has received the

ASCAP Foundation The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

's Richard Rodgers New Horizon Award with composer Stephen Weiner.

Career

Slater wrote the lyrics for the Off-Broadway stage revue ''Newyorkers'' produced by the

Manhattan Theatre Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has g ...

in 2001.Jones, Kennet
"New Revue, Newyorkers, Premieres at MTC Feb. 27; Opens March 20"
, playbill.com, February 27, 2001 He has written lyrics for six editions of Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus. His first work with Alan Menken was writing the lyrics for the film ''

Home on the Range "Home on the Range" is a classic cowboy song, sometimes called the "unofficial anthem" of the American West. Dr. Brewster M. Higley (also spelled Highley) of Smith County, Kansas, wrote the lyrics as the poem "My Western Home" in 1872 or 1873 ...

'' in 2004 and the stage production ''

Sister Act the Musical ''Sister Act'' is a musical based on the hit 1992 film of the same name with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, book by Bill and Cheri Steinkellner, and additional material by Douglas Carter Beane. After having a regional premiere i ...

'' (2006). He wrote the lyrics for the stage adaptation of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's ''

'' (2008), replacing the animated film's original lyricist

Howard Ashman Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

, who died in 1991. He also worked with Menken on the new musical version of ''

Leap of Faith A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something outside the boundaries of reason. Overview The phrase is commonly attributed to Søren Kierkegaard; however, he never used the term, as he ...

''. Slater and his wife, Wendy Leigh Wilf, wrote the book, music and lyrics to a new musical ''Beatsville'' that received a production at the 2008 NAMT Festival of New Musicals, in New York. It is based on the 1959 Roger Corman film ''

A Bucket of Blood ''A Bucket of Blood'' is a 1959 American comedy horror film directed by Roger Corman. It starred Dick Miller and was set in West Coast beatnik culture of the late 1950s. The film, produced on a $50,000 budget, was shot in five days and shares ma ...

''. He has also composed the lyrics and co-wrote the book for the major Andrew Lloyd Webber musical '' Love Never Dies'', which is a sequel to Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical ''

The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...

''. The show premiered in the West End in March 2010. Adding to his career as a lyricist, Slater wrote the lyrics for the songs in Disney's 50th animated feature ''

Tangled ''Tangled'' is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated musical adventure fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairy tale ''Rapunzel'' in the collection of ...

''. In 2015 he worked again with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

musical ''School of Rock'' and continued his working relationship with Alan Menken writing lyrics for the songs of ''

Galavant ''Galavant'' is an American Musical film, musical fantasy comedy television series, created and written by Dan Fogelman, with music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. Fogelman, Menken and Slater also serve as executive producers alongs ...

'' on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. Slater attended the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop and was a resident writer with Musical Theatreworks.

Awards and honors

Slater has received the Kleban Award for Lyrics, the ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award and the Jonathan Larson Award.Slater credits
playbill.com, accessed February 1, 2010 He was nominated for the 2008

Tony Award for Best Original Score The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical or play in that year. The score consists of music and/or lyrics. To be eligible, a score must be written ...

for ''The Little Mermaid'' and received his second nomination for this award in 2011 for ''

''. He won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

at the 2012 Grammy Awards (held on 12 February 2012), in the

Best Song Written for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media (including its previous names) is the Grammy Awards awarded to songs written for films, television, video games or other visual media. Recipients * Each year is linked t ...

category for the song "I See The Light" from the animation movie ''

''. In July 2020, Slater won a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

for Original Song in a Children's, Young Adult or Animated Program for the song "Waiting in the Wings" from ''

Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure ''Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure'' (known as ''Tangled: The Series'' during its first season) is an American animated television series developed by Chris Sonnenburg and Shane Prigmore, and produced by Disney Television Animation. It premiered on D ...

''.

Personal life

Slater lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

with his wife, Wendy Leigh Wilf, and two sons, Benjamin and Daniel. He is a supporter of the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

References

External links

*
Internet Off-Broadway listingBiography at americantheatrewing.orgBiography at sisteractthemusical.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, Glenn 1968 births American musical theatre lyricists Broadway composers and lyricists Jewish American songwriters Living people People from Brooklyn East Brunswick High School alumni People from East Brunswick, New Jersey Walt Disney Animation Studios people Daytime Emmy Award winners Grammy Award winners Songwriters from New Jersey Songwriters from New York (state) Hasty Pudding alumni Animation composers