John Weidman (born September 25, 1946) is an American librettist and television writer for Sesame Street. He has worked on stage musicals with Stephen Sondheim and Susan Stroman.
Career Weidman was born in New York City and grew up in Westport, Connecticut, the son of Peggy Wright and librettist and novelist Jerome Weidman."Storytelling with Sondheim" harvardmagazine.com, January–February 2011 He received a B.A. from Harvard University with a major in East Asian history and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
Theatre Weidman collaborated on three stage musicals with Stephen Sondheim, all of which are politically themed to some degree. The first was Pacific Overtures, about the Westernization of Japan in the 19th century; it premiered on Broadway in 1976 and was revived in 2004 at Studio 54. Assassins, a musical about the men and women who attempted (with or without success) to murder the President of the United States, first opened Off-Broadway in December 1990 at Playwrights Horizons, and later opened in the West End in October 1992 at the Donmar Warehouse. The musical was revived on Broadway in 2004 in a Roundabout Theater Company production. Road Show, a musical based on the lives of Wilson and Addison Mizner, opened Off-Broadway at the Public Theatre in 2008. The musical had productions at the Goodman Theatre and Kennedy Center in 2003 prior to the Off-Broadway production.
Weidman has worked with choreographer/director Susan Stroman three times. He wrote the book for the musical Big, the Musical, with Stroman as choreographer. The musical opened on Broadway in April 1996 at the Shubert Theatre. He and Stroman co-created the Tony Award-winning musical Contact, which opened Off-Broadway in October 1999 at the Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center and on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in March 2000.Contact Broadway ibdb.com, accessed August 19, 2015 He wrote the book for the new musical Happiness, which ran at Lincoln Center in February 2009. Directed and choreographed by Stroman, the composer was Scott Frankel with lyrics by Michael Korie.Brantley, Ben. "Accidental Tourists, on a Train to Eternity", The New York Times, March 31, 2009Hetrick, Adam. "Arcelus, Foster, Gleason and More Find Happiness at Lincoln Center Starting Feb. 27" Playbill, February 27, 2009
He has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Book for a Musical three times and has been inducted into The Theater Hall of Fame.
Other work In the 1970s, Weidman wrote for National Lampoon. Weidman has also written for Sesame Street, for which he and the writing team have won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing For A Children's Series more than a dozen times.Internet Movie Database listing"PBS, ABC top Emmy nods" Variety, May 12, 2002
From 1999 to 2009 he was president of the Dramatists Guild of America.brooklaw listing
Stage work (libretti) Pacific Overtures - 1976 (Tony Award nominee, Best Book of a Musical) Anything Goes - 1987 (revised original book with Timothy Crouse; Tony Award, Best Musical Revival) Assassins - 1990 (revived on Broadway in 2004) (Drama Desk Award nominee, Outstanding Book of a Musical; Tony Award, Best Musical Revival) Big - 1996 (Tony Award nominee, Best Book of a Musical) Contact - 1999 - Off-Broadway; 2000 - Broadway (Tony Award nominee, Best Book of a Musical; Tony Award, Best Musical) Take Flight - 2007 Road Show - 2008 Happiness - 2009 I Can Get It for You Wholesale - 2023 (revised the show's book, originally written by his father Jerome Weidman)
Awards and nominations YearAwardCategoryWorkResultRef.1976Tony AwardsBest Book of a MusicalPacific OverturesDrama Desk AwardsDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical1988Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Writing for a Children's SeriesSesame Street198919901991Drama Desk AwardsDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a MusicalAssassins1992Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Writing for a Children's SeriesSesame Street1993199419951996Drama Desk AwardsDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a MusicalBigTony AwardsBest Book of a Musical1997Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Writing for a Children's SeriesSesame Street199819992000Tony AwardsBest Book of a MusicalContact2001Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Writing for a Children's SeriesSesame Street2002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017
References
External links
MTI shows biography