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 income ...

for

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

. He has collaborated with

Alan Menken Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for ''The Little Mermaid'' (1989), ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), ''A ...

, Christopher Lennertz,

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

, 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 cer ...

s for Best Original Score for the Broadway version of '' The Little Mermaid'' at the 62nd Tony Awards in 2008, '' Sister Act'' 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 Mu ...

in 2011, and ''

School of Rock ''School of Rock'' (titled onscreen as ''The School of Rock'') is a 2003 comedy film directed by Richard Linklater, produced by Scott Rudin, and written by Mike White. The film stars Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White, and Sarah Silverman. Bl ...

'' at the

70th Tony Awards The 70th Annual Tony Awards were held on June 12, 2016, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2015–16 season. The ceremony temporarily returned to the Beacon Theatre in New York City after three years at Radio City Music ...

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 New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. 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 higher le ...

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 Sta ...

' 141st production, ''Whiskey Business''. He has received the ASCAP Foundation's Richard Rodgers New Horizon Award with composer Stephen Weiner.

Career

Slater wrote the lyrics for the

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 ...

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 gr ...

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 The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Ear ...

. His first work with Alan Menken was writing the lyrics for the film '' Home on the Range'' in 2004 and the stage production '' Sister Act the Musical'' (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 '' The Little Mermaid'' (2008), replacing the animated film's original lyricist Howard Ashman, who died in 1991. He also worked with Menken on the new musical version of '' Leap of Faith''. 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''. He has also composed the lyrics and co-wrote the book for the major

musical '' Love Never Dies'', which is a sequel to Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical '' The Phantom of the Opera''. 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''. In 2015 he worked again with

for the Broadway musical ''School of Rock'' and continued his working relationship with

writing lyrics for the songs of '' Galavant'' 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 The ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award is an annual award presented by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, in recognition of achievement by the best new composers of musical theater. The award was established in 1996, ...

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 theatre, musical or Play (theatre), play in that year. The score consists of music and/or lyrics. To be ...

for ''The Little Mermaid'' and received his second nomination for this award in 2011 for '' Sister Act''. 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 pres ...

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 '' Tangled''. 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 Di ...

''.

Personal life

Slater lives in

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 ...

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 Foo ...

club

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

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 Musicians 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