Cover art of the Musical Theatre Issue: Cartoon arms and legs with tux sleeves, fine shoes, and jewelry; and in the background, piano keys and sheet music wallpaper
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Craft
The Book of Norman, Part 2
Nov 01, 2018
Craft
L to R: David Henry Hwang, Marsha Norman, John Weidman
L to R: David Henry Hwang, Marsha Norman, John Weidman

Marsha Norman: Today we have three extraordinary members of the accomplished, highly-regarded, nothing-to-prove bookwriters of the earth. All three of you know exactly what makes musical books great and what can mess them up. Yesterday I was with producer Jeffrey Richards and he said, “You know, bookwriters are just the most underappreciated people in the entire musical process.” And I said, “Damn straight.” So here is your first question, gentlemen. What is it that bookwriters do that makes musicals possible?

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Photo of Marsha Norman
Marsha Norman

won a Pulitzer Prize for ‘night, Mother and was co-chair of the Playwriting Program at Juilliard for 25 years. She won a Tony for The Secret Garden and wrote two other Broadway musicals: The Color Purple and The Bridges of Madison County. She is a former vice president of the Dramatists Guild and current President of The Lillys.

David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang

’s stage works include the plays M. Butterfly, Yellow Face, Golden Child, Chinglish, and The Dance and the Railroad, as well as the musicals Soft Power, Flower Drum Song, and Disney’s Broadway and international hits Aida and Tarzan. Called America’s most produced living opera librettist by Opera News, Hwang has written thirteen operas. Ainadamar, with music by Osvaldo Golijov, made its Metropolitan Opera debut in Fall 2024 and The Monkey King, with music by Huang Ruo, will premiere at San Francisco Opera in November 2025. He is a Tony Award winner, a Grammy Award winner, a three-time OBIE Award winner, and a three-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. A professor at Columbia University School of the Arts, he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2018 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dramatists Guild in 2025.

John Weidman
John Weidman

has written for the musical theatre for almost 30 years. He has written the hook for a wide variety of musicals, including Contact, Pacific Overtures, and Assassins, and has been nominated for three Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical. A long-time contributor to Sesame Street, he has received eleven Emmy awards for Outstanding Writing for a Children’s Program. Mr. Weidman received his law degree from Yale Law School.

Related Dramatist(s)
Marsha Norman,
David Henry Hwang,
John Weidman
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