Zina Goldrich (born 1964) is an American composer known for her work in musical theatre in collaboration with the lyricist Marcy Heisler. Her best-known works as composer include " Ever After The Musical", " Taylor The Latte Boy" and "Alto's Lament".

Background

Zina Goldrich was born in New York in 1964, at the age of 13 she moved to Los Angeles with her family. Her father was a trumpet player and he used to play with The

Mel Lewis Melvin Sokoloff (May 10, 1929 – February 2, 1990), known professionally as Mel Lewis, was an American jazz drummer, session musician, professor, and author. He received fourteen Grammy Award nominations. Biography Early years Lewis was ...

Thad Jones Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 20, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who has been called "one of the all-time greatest jazz trumpet soloists". Biography Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan, U ...

Jazz Orchestra, one of the most important jazz Big Bands in New York and probably in the world, in the Seventies.

Education

Zina Goldrich studied privately for most of her life. She started studying music at the age of three and piano at five. In fifth grade (age 10/11) she started writing songs for her school band. She studied at the

Beverly Hills High School Beverly Hills High School (usually abbreviated as Beverly or as BHHS) is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. The other public high school in Beverly Hills, Moreno High School, is a small alternative school located on B ...

, which had a very good Drama department. After high school, she studied at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(UCLA). She then studied musical theatre in New York at the "

BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BMI's repertoire of over 20.6 mill ...

" taught by composers like

Maury Yeston Maury Yeston (born October 23, 1945) is an American composer, lyricist and music theorist. He is known as the initiator of new Broadway musicals and writing their music and lyrics, as well as a classical orchestral and ballet composer, Yale Uni ...

. Later on, she attended the "Scoring for Motion, Picture and Television" program at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

Career

Early career

When she moved to New York, she got her first job in the orchestra of the world tour of "

A Chorus Line ''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante. Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is centered on seventeen Broadway dancers ...

". She played keyboards on Broadway for " Avenue Q", "

Bombay Dreams ''Bombay Dreams'' is a Bollywood-themed musical, with music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and the book by Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan, originally produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The London production opened in 2002 and ran for tw ...

" and "

Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tell ...

". She assisted Maury Yeston in "In The Beginning", " Grand Hotel" and "

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

Goldrich and Heisler

Zina Goldrich has been collaborating with the lyricist Marcy Heisler since 1992. The duo is working on " Ever After The Musical", which is an adaptation of '' Ever After'', the

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...

1998 Cinderella movie produced by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. The musical had its world premiere at the

Paper Mill Playhouse Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theater with approximately 1200 seats, located in Millburn, New Jersey on the Rahway River. Due to its relatively close location to Manhattan, it draws from the pool of actors (and audience members) who live i ...

on May 21, 2015 (in previews) for a limited run to June 21, 2015. Directed by

Kathleen Marshall Kathleen Marshall (born September 28, 1962) is an American director, choreographer, and creative consultant. Life and career Born in Madison, Wisconsin, she graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1980 and ...

, the cast featured

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- ...

, Tony Sheldon,

Charles Shaughnessy Charles George Patrick Shaughnessy, 5th Baron Shaughnessy (born 9 February 1955) is a French actor. He is known for his roles on American television, including Shane Donovan on the soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'', and Maxwell Sheffield on th ...

, James Snyder and Margo Seibert. Goldrich and Heisler wrote the Off-Broadway show "Junie B.Jones" a musical version of the popular character created by author

Barbara Park Barbara Lynne Park (formerly Tidswell; April 21, 1947 – November 15, 2013) was an American author of children's books. Life and career Barbara Park was the daughter of a merchant and a secretary, Doris and Brooke Tidswell. She and her older br ...

, produced by

Theatreworks USA TheatreWorksUSA is a professional, not-for-profit theatre for young and family audiences founded in 1961. The company is based out of New York City, but has touring productions that run through forty-nine states as well as parts of Canada. Pl ...

, which received a 2005

Lucille Lortel Award The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...

nomination for Outstanding Musical. An expanded version of the musical was staged in late 2005 at the Lucille Lortel theater; both the original and expanded productions received reviews in

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

. They also wrote " Dear Edwina" (Drama Desk Nomination-Best Music) as well as "Goodspeed's The Great American Mousical", directed by Julie Andrews. Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler collaborated with some of the biggest stars of Broadway, such as

Kristin Chenoweth Kristin Dawn Chenoweth (; born Kristi Dawn Chenoweth; July 24, 1968)Kristin Cheno ...

, who sang " Taylor The Latte Boy" on ''

The Rosie O'Donnell Show ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show'' is an American daytime variety television talk show created, hosted, and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It premiered on June 10, 1996, and concluded after six seasons on May 22, 2002. This talk sh ...

'' and '' The Late Late Show'' as well as at the Metropolitan Opera House. The song has been performed by other singers including

Susan Egan Susan Farrell Egan (born February 18, 1970) is an American actress, singer and dancer, known for her work on the Broadway stage. She is best known for originating the role of Belle in the Broadway musical adaptation of ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1 ...

and

John Tartaglia John Nicholas Tartaglia (; born February 16, 1978) is an American actor, singer, and puppeteer. Early life Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade Township, New Jersey, and graduated from Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, in 19 ...

. "Alto's Lament", the Goldrich and Heisler song associated with

Megan Hilty Megan Kathleen Hilty (born March 29, 1981) is an American actress and singer. She rose to prominence for her roles in Broadway musicals, including her performance as Glinda the Good Witch in '' Wicked'', Doralee Rhodes in '' 9 to 5: The Musical' ...

is about an alto who longs to sing melody for a change from harmony. They also wrote "Baltimore" for

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 ...

and "Gone" for Taylor Louderman. The duo has performed at Carnegie Hall, Birdland, and other venues including the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

in Washington D.C. with The Marcy and Zina Show.

Other collaborations

Zina Goldrich was a staff songwriter for

Walt Disney Feature Animation Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fr ...

and on television, she composed for ABC's " The Middle", " Wonderpets", "

Johnny and the Sprites ''Johnny and the Sprites'' is an American children's musical television show that aired every weekend on the "Playhouse Disney" block on Disney Channel. The show was created by, produced by, and starred John Tartaglia (most famous for his work o ...

", "

Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character was the book ''Winn ...

's Learning Adventures" and "

Peg + Cat ''Peg + Cat'' is an animated children's television series based on the children's picture book "The Chicken Problem", which was published in 2012. The series, which featured the voice acting of Hayley Faith Negrin and Dwayne Hill, was created b ...

", on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. Zina is currently working on new shows: "Yay, People Yay!" with multi- Emmy Award winning writer,

David Javerbaum David Adam Javerbaum (born August 5, 1971) is an American comedy writer and lyricist. Javerbaum has won 13 Emmy Awards in his career, 11 of them for his work on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. He runs the popular Twitter account @TheTweet ...

and "Hollywood Romance" with Emmy Award-winning bookwriters Gabrielle Allan and Jen Crittenden.

Awards

Marcy and Zina have been the recipients of the

Fred Ebb Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Riv ...

Award, the ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, Jamie De Roy and Friends Award, a

Jonathan Larson Jonathan David Larson (February 4, 1960 – January 25, 1996) was an American composer, lyricist and playwright most famous for writing the musicals ''Rent'' and '' Tick, Tick... Boom!'', which explored the social issues of multiculturalism, ...

Award, and the Kanin/Seldes Award - Marcy Heisler won the Kleban Award.

Musical style

When it comes to composing a new song, she prefers having the lyrics first in order to follow or go against the meaning of what the character is saying. Zina describes her style as "''Melodic, chromatic, jazzy, warm and surprising''". She wants to satisfy the audience in an unexpected and unpredictable way.

Influences

Zina Goldrich's music is influenced by

Frank Loesser Frank Henry Loesser (; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', among others. He won a Tony ...

, Richard Rodgers,

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

, Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein. Outside musical theatre, Ms. Goldrich was influenced by Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder as well as jazz music in general, because of the environment she grew up in.

References

*Gans, Andrew. "Journey Begins Tonight for Paper Mill Premiere of 'Ever After', New Musical Take on Cinderella Tale" playbill.com, May 21, 2015 *"Heisler & Goldrich's Junie B. Jones Returns to NY, Nov. 9-Dec. 3". Broadway World, October 4, 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-20. *"Lawrence Van Gelder. Theater in Review: Adventures of a First Grader With Music as Sassy as She (review)". The New York Times, July 27, 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-20. *Van Gelder, Lawrence. "Irrepressible, Bespectacled Girl Tackles First Grade (review)", The New York Times, November 12, 2005 *"Alto's Lament lyrics" lyrics.com, accessed August 30, 2011

External links

* https://www.zinagoldrich.com *https://goldrichandheisler.com
Goldrich and Heisler's Ascap Directory

Sources

*https://goldrichandheisler.com/about-zina-goldrich/ *https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Zina-Goldrich/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldrich, Zina Living people American musical theatre composers 1964 births