MICHAEL KORIE received The Marc Blitzstein Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his work in both musical theater and opera. He wrote the lyrics to composer Scott Frankel’s music for the Broadway productions of War Paint and Grey Gardens, both with books by playwright Doug Wright and direction by Michael Greif, and the Off-Broadway productions of Far From Heaven with book by Richard Greenberg, and Happiness with book by John Weidman, directed by Susan Stroman. Korie and Frankel’s scores have been nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards, received The Outer Critics Circle Award, and have been produced on Broadway, at Playwrights Horizons, and at Lincoln Center Theater as well as throughout the USA and abroad. The London premiere of Grey Gardens was awarded the Offie Award for Best Musical of the year. Korie and Frankel’s collaboration was showcased at Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series in 2018. Flying Over Sunset is his newest musical collaboration; with music by Tom Kitt and book and direction by James Lapine, it opens in Autumn 2021 at Lincoln Center Theater.
For opera, Korie adapted Steinbeck’s novel for the libretto to The Grapes of Wrath composed by Ricky Ian Gordon. His original librettos to operas composed by Stewart Wallace include Harvey Milk, Where’s Dick?, Kabbalah, Hopper’s Wife, and SuperMax with co-librettist Mark Campbell set to premiere at Opera Saratoga in 2023. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis with composer Gordon premieres in Autumn 2021 at New York City Opera and National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. His operas have been produced at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera, BAM Next Wave Festival, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Michigan Opera, and abroad in Germany and Australia. Korie’s lyrics have received the Edward Kleban Prize, Jonathan Larson Award, and the ASCAP Richard Rodgers Award. He serves on the council of The Dramatists Guild where he also co-chairs the Opera Committee, mentors the musical theater division of the Dramatist Guild Fund Fellows Program, and teaches theater writing at Yale and Columbia. He is a Fellow of MacDowell and Yaddo.
