Biography
Born on 30 May 1912 in New York City, New York, USA, Joseph Stein launched his writing career as part of the creative team responsible for the television programs Your Show Of Shows and The Sid Caesar Show. Beginning in the 1950s he turned to crafting librettos for stage musicals, several of which achieved limited runs. Among these were Plain And Fancy (1955), Mr. Wonderful (1956, featuring Sammy Davis Jnr.), The Body Beautiful (1958, featuring music by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick), Juno (1959, featuring a score by Marc Blitzstein), and Take Me Along (1959).
Stein attained the pinnacle of his professional achievement during the 1960s when he supplied the book for Fiddler On The Roof (1964), an endeavor that earned him both a Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle award. Further recognition arrived in the late 1960s and early 1970s with Zorba (1968, featuring a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb) and a revised production of Irene (1973).
From the middle of the 1970s through the middle of the 1980s, Stein’s subsequent projects encountered repeated commercial setbacks. These comprised So Long, 174th Street (1976), The Baker’s Wife (1976, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz), King Of Hearts (1978), Carmelina (1979), and Rags (1986). Although The Baker’s Wife endured prolonged difficulties during its pre-Broadway tryouts, select elements of the score and story continued to resonate with audiences and performers, prompting multiple later productions. Trevor Nunn directed one such mounting in London’s West End in 1989, while regional companies across the United States presented additional stagings in the early 2000s. Numbers retained from the score include “Meadowlark,” “Proud Lady,” and “If I Have To Live Alone.”
Rags likewise maintained a modest performance history after its initial run, its music supplied by Charles Strouse and its lyrics again written by Stephen Schwartz on such numbers as “Rags,” “Children Of The Wind,” and “What’s Wrong With That?” In September 2000 the work received a production at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theater, with both Strouse and Stein present on opening night.
Stein attained the pinnacle of his professional achievement during the 1960s when he supplied the book for Fiddler On The Roof (1964), an endeavor that earned him both a Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle award. Further recognition arrived in the late 1960s and early 1970s with Zorba (1968, featuring a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb) and a revised production of Irene (1973).
From the middle of the 1970s through the middle of the 1980s, Stein’s subsequent projects encountered repeated commercial setbacks. These comprised So Long, 174th Street (1976), The Baker’s Wife (1976, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz), King Of Hearts (1978), Carmelina (1979), and Rags (1986). Although The Baker’s Wife endured prolonged difficulties during its pre-Broadway tryouts, select elements of the score and story continued to resonate with audiences and performers, prompting multiple later productions. Trevor Nunn directed one such mounting in London’s West End in 1989, while regional companies across the United States presented additional stagings in the early 2000s. Numbers retained from the score include “Meadowlark,” “Proud Lady,” and “If I Have To Live Alone.”
Rags likewise maintained a modest performance history after its initial run, its music supplied by Charles Strouse and its lyrics again written by Stephen Schwartz on such numbers as “Rags,” “Children Of The Wind,” and “What’s Wrong With That?” In September 2000 the work received a production at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theater, with both Strouse and Stein present on opening night.
Singles