Brian Yorkey Biography

Brian Yorkey is a playwright, lyricist, and theatre director known best for writing the musical Next to Normal with composer Tom Kitt. The work won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award.

Yorkey was born in Omaha, Nebraska; raised there and in Issaquah, Washington. He graduated from Columbia University where he served as the artistic director of the Varsity Show. He also is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.

Prior to bringing Next to Normal to Broadway, Yorkey was affiliated with Village Theatre, where he began as a KidStage student and eventually progressed to a six-year tenure as associate artistic director. Five musicals written by Yorkey—Funny Pages (1993), Making Tracks (2002), The Wedding Banquet (2003), Play it by Heart (2005), and A Perfect Fall (2007)—were staged there.

Next to Normal won the annual Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2010, citing "a powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals." It also won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Original Score and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.

Yorkey is currently writing the original musical SCORE!, with Robert Downey, Jr. attached to star, which is set up at Warner Bros. with Anonymous Content and Team Downey producing. His screenplay Love Undercover is set up at Overture Films with Pandemonium producing. He also scripted Sluts for Lionsgate Films and co-created the series The Bears Next Door for the Logo network. Brian’s first feature film pitch, Time After Time, sold in a bidding war for high six figures to Universal Pictures. It is now fast tracked at Lionsgate/Summit with Brad Buecker directing. He is also working with the legendary English singer Sting on a musical theatrical work based on The Soul Cages.

Yorkey is again working with Tom Kitt for a musical adaption of Magic Mike, with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa writing the book, as well as a new musical called If/Then, starring Idina Menzel.

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