William Landry Aronson (born 1981, New Haven, Connecticut) is an American composer and writer for

musical theater 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 ...

, whose work includes the scores for ''Pete the Cat, Mother, Me & the Monsters,'' and ''My Scary Girl.'' He also composed and co-wrote the book for the late 21st-century romance ''Maybe Happy Ending'' (2017), ''The Trouble with The Dog,'' and ''Bungee Jump'', cited by the NY Times in 2013 as Korea’s “most popular original musical,” and winner of Best Score at the Korean Musical Awards. Current projects include ''Hansel & Gretl & Heidi & Günter'' and ''Wind-Up Girl.'' Aronson is the recipient of the Richard Rodgers Award, a Fulbright grant, the ASCAP Frederick Loewe Award, an EST/Sloan grant, and three Korean Musical Awards. In addition to his theatrical work, Aronson has composed and produced over 200 tracks for the ESL children's book/DVD series, ''English Egg''.

Education

Aronson holds a B.A. in music 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 highe ...

. As an undergraduate, Aronson was the composer of

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 ...

' 154th production, ''Snow Place Like Home'', and co-author/lyricist of its 155th production, ''It's a Wonderful Afterlife''. After graduation from Harvard, Aronson studied Music Theory as a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

at Universität der Künste in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. Aronson holds an M.F.A. from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program of the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. While studying at NYU, he received the

ASCAP 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 ...

Frederick Loewe Frederick Loewe (, originally German Friedrich (Fritz) Löwe ; June 10, 1901 – February 14, 1988) was an Austrian-American composer. He collaborated with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner on a series of Broadway musicals, including ''Brigadoon'', '' ...

Scholarship and a 2006 Baryshnikov Fellowship. In 2007 he was named by the Dramatists Guild of America as one of "50 to Watch".

Work

Aronson wrote the score for a musical version of the Korean movie ''

My Scary Girl ''My Scary Girl'' (; lit. "Sweet, Bloodthirsty Lover") is a 2006 South Korean black/ romantic comedy film written and directed by Son Jae-gon. With a relatively low budget and lead actors who were not particularly famous at the time, ''My Scary G ...

'' (book and lyrics by Kyoung-ae Kang), which ran in Seoul, South Korea. The show won Best Original Musical (small theater category) at the 2009 Korea Musical Awards. An English-language version of the show, with book co-written by Mark St. Germain and additional lyrics by William Finn, ran at Barrington Stage Company's Stage II, July 10–26, 2008. The New York Musical Theater Festival (NYMF) presented the Korean version of ''My Scary Girl'' October 1–4, 2009. ''My Scary Girl'' was named the Outstanding New Musical at NYMF for 2009. A reading of Aronson's musical ''The Trouble with Doug'', co-written with Daniel Maté, was directed by

Victoria Clark Victoria Clark (born October 10, 1959) is an American actress, musical theatre singer and director. Clark has performed in numerous Broadway musicals and in other theatre, film and television works. Her soprano voice can also be heard on innu ...

at the NAMT theater festival in 2010. With William Finn as lyricist, Aronson has composed songs for Sybille Pearson’s play ''Next'',

Mary Testa Mary Testa (born June 4, 1955) is an American stage and film actress. She is a three-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's '' On the Town'' (1998), '' 42nd Street'' (2001) and'' Oklahoma'' (2019). Early life ...

’s ''Sleepless Variations'', and Finn’s own ''Songs of Innocence and Experience''. Aronson was the musical arranger for the Finn-Lapine musical ''Little Miss Sunshine'' performed at

La Jolla Playhouse La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. History La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. In 1983, it was revived under ...

in 2011. In 2011 Aronson composed the score for ''Mormons, Mothers and Monsters'' (book and lyrics by Sam Salmond), which ran at Barrington Stage Company's Stage II. In 2012, Aronson wrote the score for the Korean musical ''Bungee Jump'' (lyrics by Hue Park), based on the 2001 film ''

Bungee Jumping of Their Own ''Bungee Jumping of Their Own'' () is a 2001 South Korean film starring Lee Byung-hun and Lee Eun-ju. The film had 947,000 admissions, making it the 10th most attended film of the year.

''. The production was successful and won the award for best score at the 7th Musical Awards and the 18th Korea Musical Awards. Park and Aronson had a try-out production of their new musical, Maybe Happy Ending, at Wooran Foundation in September 2015. The musical was premiered by DaeMyoung Culture Factory in December 2016. Directed by

Kim Dong-yeon Kim Dong-yeon (; born 28 January 1957) is a South Korean politician serving as 36th governor of Gyeonggi Province since 1 July 2022. He previously served as the 4th Ministry of Economy and Finance (South Korea), Minister of Economy and Finance and ...

, The show won six Korean Musical Awards, including Best Director, Best Music, Lyrics and Book. The English-language version of "Maybe Happy Ending" was awarded the 2017 Richard Rodgers Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A new Korean production opened in 2018. In 2020, Maybe Happy Ending will have its American premier at the

Alliance Theatre The Alliance Theatre is a theater company in Atlanta, Georgia, based at the Alliance Theatre, part of the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center, and is the winner of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The company, originally the Atlanta Municipal T ...

in Atlanta from Jan. 18 to Feb. 16.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aronson, Will 1981 births Tisch School of the Arts alumni American musical theatre composers Living people Berlin University of the Arts alumni Hasty Pudding alumni