Stephen Cole is an award-winning musical theatre writer whose shows have been recorded, published, and produced from New York City to London to the Middle East and Australia and Edinburgh, Scotland.
His off-Broadway musical AFTER THE FAIR (music by Matthew Ward; winner of 5 Dallas Theatre Awards for its world premiere including Best New Play or Musical) was nominated for the Outer Critic’s Circle Award for Best Musical and was subsequently produced in London to great acclaim. The original cast CD featuring Tony winner Michele Pawk won several awards. The 20th Anniversary concert version was a sell out success on December 21, 2017 at Urban Stages.
SATURDAY NIGHT AT GROSSINGER’S (music by Claibe Richardson) has had successful runs in Dallas (Starring Gavin MacLeod and Ruta Lee), LA and Florida (starring Barbara Minkus and Barry Pearl). Broadway legend Chita Rivera toured in his show CASPER (music by Matthew Ward…this also played Australia and had a new world premiere at the Cincinnati Children’s Theatre in October 2019 to rapturous reviews) and Hal Linden and Dee Hoty starred in the world premiere of his musical adaptation of DODSWORTH (music by Jeffrey Saver). DODSWORTH has subsequently been workshopped with John Cullum and Christine Ebersole. Stephen has been represented off Broadway with the hilarious PIANO BAR at the Triad.
In 2005 Stephen and composer David Krane were commissioned to write the first American musical to premiere in the Middle East and the result was ASPIRE, which was produced in Qatar. Their amazing and hilarious cross-cultural experiences resulted in yet another musical about the creation of the show entitled THE ROAD TO QATAR! which was produced to rave reviews at the Lyric Stage winning Best New Play or Musical from the Dallas-Ft. Worth Drama Critics Forum. THE ROAD TO QATAR! had a successful Off-Broadway run at the York Theatre Company and was recorded by Jay Records. In 2012, Qatar! was presented as part of London’s Landor Theatre Page to Stage Festival and in August of 2013 played at the Edinburgh International Festival garnering 5 and 4 star reviews and nominations as Best Music, Lyrics, Book and Best Musical of the Festival. The show is published and licensed by Josef Weinberger Ltd. in London. Krane and Cole also wrote a short movie musical entitled THE WHEEL GOES ROUND that was accepted and shown at five International Film Festivals including The Big Apple Film Festival in NYC.
Saver and Cole’s musical TIME AFTER TIME had its world premiere in Feb. 2010 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse under the direction of Gabriel Barre and was subsequently produced in Connecticut under the direction of the late Kevin Gray. Other produced shows include two family musicals commissioned by Walden Media: MERLIN’S APPRENTICE (Music by Matthew Ward) and ROCK ODYSSEY (Music and Lyrics by Billy Straus). ROCK ODYSSEY has just completed an unprecedented ten year run at the Adrienne Arscht Center in Miami . Stephen is also a published author with four books to his credit including THAT BOOK ABOUT THAT GIRL and I COULD HAVE SUNG ALL NIGHT, the Marni Nixon story, NOEL COWARD and Charles Strouse’s memoir PUT ON A HAPPY FACE.
MUSICALS AUTHORED:
- AFTER THE FAIR (Original York Theatre Company CD available)
- THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Original Cast CD available)
- SATURDAY NIGHT AT GROSSINGER’S
- CASPER — THE MUSICAL
- DODSWORTH
- PIANO BAR
- ASPIRE
- THE ROAD TO QATAR (Original Cast CD available on from Jay Records)
- THE WHEEL GOES ROUND
- TIME AFTER TIME
- MERLIN’S APPRENTICE (Coming to Leicester Bay Theatricals)
- ROCK ODYSSEY (Coming to Leicester Bay Theatricals)
- INVENTING MARY MARTIN
- MERMAN’S APPRENTICE (Original’s Cast CD available)
IN PROGRESS:
- THE BLACK AND WHITE BALL
- GOIN HOLLYWOOD
- AIN’T IT THE TRUTH
BOOKS:
- I COULD HAVE SUNG ALL NIGHT: My Story (a Marni Nixon memoir) PURCHASE LINK AT AMAZON
- THAT BOOK ABOUT THAT GIRL: The Unofficial Companion (Marlo Thomas) PURCHASE LINK AT AMAZON
- FREAK SHOW (novel)
- LOOKING AT THE SKY (novel)
- NOEL COWARD – A Bio-Bibliography PURCHASE LINK AT AMAZON
- PUT ON A HAPPY FACE: A Brodway Memoir — about Charles Strouse PURCHASE LINK AT AMAZON