Jeff Marx

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Lopez (right) and Jeff Marx (left) receiving their Tony Award

Jeff Marx (born September 10, 1970) is a composer and lyricist of musicals. He is best known for creating the Broadway musical Avenue Q with collaborator Robert Lopez. Together, they wrote all the show's 21 songs. Lopez and Marx both write lyrics and they both write music, and wrote the entire score together, in the same room, at the same time. Avenue Q is currently running on Broadway (now the 25th longest running musical in Broadway history), in London's West End, on a U.S. National Tour, and continues to have various international productions.

Avenue Q won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Musical. Lopez/Marx's musical score earned them a 2004 Tony Award. Another 2004 Tony Award was awarded to Avenue Q bookwriter Jeff Whitty.

The musical's Original Cast Album, on the RCA/Victor label, was nominated for a Grammy Award. To date, it has sold over 150,000 copies.

Marx (and his parents) can be seen in the documentary film "ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway", which followed the trajectories of four Tony-nominated musicals from 2004, Avenue Q, Wicked, Taboo, and Caroline, or Change. Marx, along with filmmaker Dori Berinstein and actor Alan Cumming, provided the audio commentary for the documentary's DVD.

Lopez and Marx wrote (with Deb Fordham) four songs for a musical episode of the NBC sitcom Scrubs which aired on January 18, 2007. Their song "Everything Comes Down to Poo" was nominated for an Emmy Award^[1]. Marx appeared in the episode as a pharmacist, dancing in the background during the song "We're Gonna Miss You Carla".

Marx co-wrote the theme song for the Logo Network's animated series "Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World" and contributed additional songs for the show.

Lopez and Marx have written songs for the Disney Channel TV series "The Book of Pooh" and "Bear in the Big Blue House", as well as touring stage musicals for the children's theater company Theaterworks/USA.

Marx grew up in Hollywood, Florida. He attended Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Following graduation, he attended the University of Michigan, where he was a member of the Men's Glee Club. He also holds a juris doctor degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and is a member of the New York State Bar Association, but he does not practice law or represent himself.

Lopez and Marx met in the famed BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. Their very first project together, a spec Muppet movie, Kermit, Prince of Denmark, which was very loosely based on Hamlet, won them (as part of a tie) part of the $150,000 Kleban Award.

Marx is well known in Broadway circles for his keen judgment, his abrasive sense of humor and his odd habit of heckling shows he dislikes. As a result he is considered a useful (or feared) critic of his colleagues' work. According to Broadway insiders, if you write a show and Marx sits all the way through without muttering snide comments, snorting or loudly farting, your show is in good shape.

Marx has also written the book How To Win A High School Election.

He lives in Los Angeles and is a member of the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA).

[edit] Recent projects

Marx contributed to a musical version of the NBC sitcom Scrubs, an episode that the New York Times reported has "energized a cast and crew that, at a point when most situation comedies are sputtering along or dead, have recently been doing some of their best work."^[2] Marx enjoyed working on the show enough that he attributed it as a reason for his move to Los Angeles. In comparing it to his work on Avenue Q, Marx said: “It took us five years to write Avenue Q .... There were a million readings and previews and staged readings. With this thing, we wrote the songs in a week. They rehearsed for a week. They filmed it in a week, and it was done. It was liberating, and a collaborative effort that created a much more feel-good way of working.”^[2]