"An emerging master of musical theater"
-Metroland
Adam Gwon is a musical theater writer named one of "50 to Watch" by The Dramatist magazine and hailed "a promising newcomer to our talent-hungry musical theater" whose songs are “funny, urbane, with a sweetness that doesn’t cloy” by The New York Times.
His musicals have been produced on six continents, in ten languages. Off-Broadway: All the World’s a Stage (Keen Company, Drama Desk nomination, Off-Broadway Alliance Award winner, Best Musical), Scotland, PA (Roundabout Theatre, Drama Desk Award nomination, NYT Critic’s Pick), Ordinary Days (Roundabout Theatre; Keen Company, Drama League Award nomination, Best Revival), Old Jews Telling Jokes (Westside Theatre, NYT Critic’s Pick); Regional: Witnesses (California Center for the Arts, Craig Noel Award winner, Outstanding New Musical), String (Village Theatre), Cake Off (Signature Theatre, Helen Hayes Award nomination; Bucks County Playhouse), Cloudlands (South Coast Repertory, LA Times Critic’s Pick), The Boy Detective Fails (Signature Theatre), Bernice Bobs Her Hair (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma); West End: Ordinary Days (Trafalgar Studios).
Other projects include The Waves in Quarantine (a film collaboration with Lisa Peterson and Raúl Esparza), songs as a staff writer on the hit webseries Submissions Only, and for Stephen Schwartz and John Tartaglia’s The Secret Silk on Princess Cruise Lines.
Adam is the proud recipient of the Kleban Award, the Fred Ebb Award, the Richard Rodgers Award, the Frederick Loewe Award, the Second Stage Theatre Donna Perret Rosen Award, the Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, the ASCAP Harold Adamson Award, and the MAC John Wallowitch Award, as well as commissions from Roundabout Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, Keen Company, Signature Theatre, South Coast Repertory, the Kimmel Center, and Broadway Across America. His songs have been heard at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and more, performed by such luminaries as Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, and Brian d'Arcy James.
Recordings of Adam's work include the cast albums of Ordinary Days (Ghostlight Records) and String (Brainstorm Records), Audra McDonald's Go Back Home (Nonesuch), Artists in Residence (Broadway Records), The Essential Liz Callaway (Working Girl Records), Tracy Lynn Olivera's Because, and Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project (Entertainment One).
Adam has been a fellow at MacDowell, Hermitage Artist Retreat, the O'Neill Music Theater Conference, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, and the Dramatists Guild, is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild. He served on the Tony Awards Nominating Committee from 2015-2018, and currently sits on the Dramatists Guild Council and the Boards at Roundabout Theatre Company and Primary Stages.
Music Sampler
by Adam Gwon
For more music, check out my discography, and visit my YouTube channel and Soundcloud page!
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Audra McDonald
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Hunter Foster, Lisa Brescia
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Hunter Foster
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Ciara Renée
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Jay Armstrong Johnson, Jimmy Brewer, Diana Huey, Raymond J. Lee, Katie Thompson
Ordinary Days is “a heartfelt and clever look at life” (Time Out New York) that “introduces a promising newcomer to our talent-hungry musical theater” — composer and lyricist Adam Gwon, who captures “the racing minds of four New Yorkers…with stinging clarity” (The New York Times).
When Deb loses her most precious possession — the notes to her graduate thesis — she unwittingly starts a chain of events that turns the ordinary days of four people into something extraordinary. Told through a series of intricately connected songs and vignettes, Ordinary Days is a “sensational new musical” (Chicago Theatre Review) about growing up and enjoying the view.
Hailed a Critic’s Pick and an “arrestingly poetic…pleasure” (Los Angeles Times), Ordinary Days marked the debut of composer and lyricist Adam Gwon with “without a doubt one of the best musicals I’ve seen” (Splash Magazine).
Adam Gwon’s new musical All the World’s a Stage is a “disarmingly powerful” “100-minute marvel” (The New York Times), a ★★★★★ “rare kind of show” (Metro Weekly) with “one of the best new scores of recent memory” (Gay City News).
As a gay teacher at small-town Valley High, Ricky Alleman knows what part he has to play. That is, until Sam, an offbeat student, enlists his help to win the 1996 State Thespian Competition — her ticket out of their provincial town. When Sam’s monologue puts them in the crosshairs of a local church, Ricky finds his job and his carefully constructed life under threat. But the only way to save Sam may be to risk it all to show her she’s not alone.
Named “Best Musical” by the Off-Broadway Alliance Awards, All the World’s a Stage is the “unmissable” (New York Stage Review) new show from “one of the most emotionally honest voices in contemporary musical theater (Times Square Chronicles).
String is “a captivating musical where myth and modernity intertwine” (Broadway World) from bookwriter Sarah Hammond and composer/lyricist Adam Gwon, full of “show tunes [that] are fun, catchy, and tantalizing — very simply unique and engaging” (Seattle Pockets).
After angering Zeus, the Fates — three sisters who spin, measure and snip the strings of life for every human on Earth — are banished to a modern office building in the mortal world, forced to continue their work hidden among those whose destinies they weave. When eldest sister Atropos meets a security guard in the building and falls in love, she bends the rules of fate to keep him at her side. But can the fabric of the universe stand a flaw?
Winner of the prestigious Richard Rodgers Award, String is an original, uplifting, and belty musical about fate, love, and the imperfections that make us human.
A New York Times Critic’s Pick! Scotland, PA is a “laugh-out-loud funny” “kick-ass party” with “a classic-rock heart” (The New York Times) that “courses with electricity…courtesy [Adam] Gwon’s supple score” (Minnesota Star Tribune).
Based on the cult film — and the bard’s Macbeth — Scotland, PA is a deliciously dark musical comedy from bookwriter Michael Mitnick and composer/lyricist Adam Gwon. The residents of a sleepy Pennsylvania town get bitten by ambition when a burger-joint manager and his girlfriend cook up a plan to super-size their lives. But how far will they go for a taste of that oh-so-tempting American Dream?
Hailed as “electric” with “some of the greatest original rock music to be heard on a stage” (Broadway World), this “meaty new musical” (The New York Times) is “a tuneful examination of things like greed, capitalism and hamburgers” (Minnesota Star Tribune).
PROJECTS
ORDINARY DAYS
book, music, and lyrics by Adam Gwon
When Deb loses her most precious possession--the notes to her graduate thesis--she unwittingly starts a chain of events that turns the ordinary days of four New Yorkers into something extraordinary. Told through a series of intricately connected songs and vignettes, Ordinary Days is an original musical about growing up and enjoying the view. [2M, 2F; no intermission]
SCOTLAND, PA
book by Michael Mitnick, music and lyrics by Adam Gwon / based on the film by Billy Morrissette
The residents of a sleepy Pennsylvania town get bitten by ambition and revenge when a burger-joint manager and his wife cook up a plan to super-size their lives. How far will they go for a taste of that oh-so-tempting American Dream? A deliciously dark new musical comedy, based on the cult film (and the bard’s Macbeth). [6M, 5F; one intermission]
all the world’s a stage
book, music, and lyrics by Adam Gwon
As a gay teacher at small-town Valley High, Ricky Alleman knows what part he has to play. That is, until Sam, an offbeat student asks for his help - to win the 1996 State Thespian Competition. The prize? A scholarship, and Sam's ticket to a life beyond her provincial town. But when Ricky and Sam's efforts tangle with a local church, Ricky discovers Sam needs him for far more than acting lessons. Will Ricky's next role decide Sam's precarious future? All the World's a Stage is a new musical about being true to ourselves in a polarized world. [2M, 2F; no intermission]
STRING
book by Sarah Hammond, music and lyrics by Adam Gwon
On a starry mountaintop, three sisters -- goddesses known as the Fates -- spin, measure, and snip the strings of life for every human on earth. After angering Zeus, they find themselves banished to a modern office building in the mortal world, where they continue their work hidden among the mortals whose destinies they weave. When the eldest sister meets a security guard in the building and falls in love, she bends the rules of Fate to keep him at her side -- but can the fabric of the Universe stand a flaw? An original musical about fate, love, and the imperfections that make us human. [4M, 6F (flex); one intermission]
WITNESSES
book by Robert L. Freedman, music and lyrics by Jordan Beck & Gerald Sternback, Carmel Dean & Mindi Dickstein, Matt Gould, Adam Gwon, and Anna K. Jacobs
Inspired by the diaries of five teenagers who lived during the Holocaust, this stirring and powerful musical is a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit and the stories we leave behind. Each of these teenagers’ lives is Intricately weaved together by Tony Award winner Robert L. Freedman, and given voice through original songs by five different songwriting teams. [4M, 4F (flex); no intermission]
CAKE OFF
book by Julia Jordan and Sheri Wilner, lyrics by Julia Jordan and Adam Gwon, music by Adam Gwon / based on the play "Bake Off" by Sheri Wilner
It‘s the 50th Annual Millberry Cake Off. The legendary jackpot: one million dollars for the best homemade sugary delight. After a chilly pre-heating, hardy contestants Paul and Rita don their aprons, strap on their oven mitts and square off. Armed with whisks, bowls, knives and eggs, the two engage in an increasingly ludicrous all-out brawl… and only one can remain standing when the timer dings. [3M, 1F; no intermission]
THE BOY DETECTIVE FAILS
book by Joe Meno, music and lyrics by Adam Gwon / based on the novel by Joe Meno
After a childhood full of wonder, Billy Argo, boy detective, faces a mystery he can't comprehend: the shocking death of his younger sister and crime-solving partner, Caroline. Ten years later, 30-year-old Billy returns to his hometown determined to solve the mystery and right old wrongs--but what he discovers instead is a world full of unimaginable strangeness, beauty, and love. [6M, 4F; one intermission]
CLOUDLANDS
book and lyrics by Octavio Solis, music and lyrics by Adam Gwon
Monica's head is in the clouds most of the time--she takes photos of them and pastes them in a book, trying to capture them before they're gone. But when she discovers her mother in a tryst with a stranger, her entire life begins to feel as ephemeral and unreliable as a cloud. She decides to investigate the mystery of her mother's secret life and the man at its center--but the deeper she goes, the more lost Monica becomes in the labyrinth of her own heart. A new musical drama about desire and its transgressions. [3M, 2F; one intermission]
BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR
book and lyrics by Julia Jordan, music and lyrics by Adam Gwon / based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald
It’s the summer of 1912, and the teenagers of St. Paul, MN are abuzz with the arrival of Bernice Harvey – the cousin of Marjorie, the most popular girl in town. When Bernice turns out to be a dud, Marjorie makes it her mission to transform Bernice into a modern woman worthy of the Harvey name. But when Bernice’s newfound popularity begins to rival Marjorie’s – and wins the attention of St. Paul’s #1 bachelor, Warren McIntyre – jazz and jealousy turn the world upside-down as Marjorie vows delicious revenge. [6M, 7F; no intermission]
ALBUMS, SHEET MUSIC & LICENSING
ALBUMS
SHEET MUSIC
Sheet music, including Ordinary Days vocal selections, is available at Gwon Songs: Sheet Music Store.
NewMusicalTheatre anthology collections "Girl Songs," "Guy Songs," and "Comedy Songs" are available at Concord Theatricals.
LICENSING
Ordinary Days is licensed by Concord Theatricals
String is licensed by Concord Theatricals
Old Jews Telling Jokes is licensed by Playscripts
For all other shows, please contact Seth Glewen at The Gersh Agency, (212) 634-8124 / sglewen@gersh.com
CONTACT
For professional inquiries, please contact
Seth Glewen at The Gersh Agency, (212) 634-8124 / sglewen@gersh.com
For master class and concert bookings, please contact
Rachel Zeidman at The Gersh Agency, (212) 634-8115 / rzeidman@gersh.com
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