James Lapine Biography

James Elliot Lapine (born January 10, 1949) is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.

Life and career

Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio, the son of Lillian (Feld) and David Sanford Lapine. He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1971. He did graduate study in both photography and graphic design at the California Institute of the Arts. He was a photographer, graphic designer, and architectural preservationist and taught design at the Yale School of Drama. At Yale University he wrote an adaptation and directed the Gertrude Stein play Photograph, which was produced Off-Broadway at the Open Space in SoHo in 1977. He proceeded to write and direct Off-Broadway plays and musicals, working with composer William Finn on March of the Falsettos in 1981 as director; the musical won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Play. Frank Rich, the New York Times theatre critic, noted "Mr. Lapine's wildly resourceful staging."

In 1982 he was introduced to Stephen Sondheim, and they decided to work on a musical together, which became Sunday in the Park With George, with Lapine writing the book and directing with Sondheim's music. It was first produced Off-Broadway in 1983 and then transferred to Broadway in 1984.

The pair's next musical was Into the Woods, which premiered on Broadway in 1987. Lapine won both the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award, Best Book of a Musical. They then collaborated on the musical Passion, for which Lapine wrote the book and directed. The musical ran on Broadway in 1994 and in the West End in 1996, receiving a nomination for the Olivier Award for Best New Musical, and winning the Tony Award for Best Musical and Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, among other awards and nominations. Their latest collaboration is the revue Sondheim on Sondheim, presented on Broadway in 2010 and winning the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical Revue.

In 1992 Lapine returned to working with William Finn, and wrote the book and directed the Broadway musical Falsettos. Lapine wrote the book, with Finn composing the music, for A New Brain, which premiered Off-Broadway in 1998. They later worked together with Lapine directing Finn's musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2005 and then transferred to Broadway. The New York Times reviewer wrote of the Spelling Bee Broadway transfer that "Mr. Lapine has sharpened all the musical's elements without betraying its appealing modesty." The latest Finn-Lapine work is Little Miss Sunshine, which premiered in 2011 at the La Jolla Playhouse (California).

Lapine has also directed dramas, including Dirty Blonde, which ran Off-Broadway and on Broadway in 2000. Conceived by Claudia Shear and Lapine and written by Shear with direction by Lapine, Ben Brantley called Lapine's direction "stylish and compassionate." Lapine was nominated for the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award, for Best Direction of a Play.

Lapine directed the 2012 Broadway revival of Annie.

Film

In 1991 he directed his first film, Impromptu, which has a screenplay by his wife, Sarah Kernochan. The story revolves around the romance of George Sand and Chopin, and starred Judy Davis and Hugh Grant. He followed with Life With Mikey with Michael J. Fox for Disney. In 1993 he directed Passion, starring the original Broadway cast, for television. He directed the film version of Anne Tyler's novel Earthly Possessions, starring Susan Sarandon and Stephen Dorff, for HBO in 1999. He is penning the screenplay for Into the Woods for Disney, to be directed by Rob Marshall.

Personal life

Lapine is married to American screenwriter/director, Sarah Kernochan. The couple's daughter is food writer, Phoebe Lapine,

Theatre

As a director, Lapine has worked on

• Photography of Gertrude Stein (1977)
• March of the Falsettos (1981) - composed by William Finn
• Sunday in the Park with George (1984) - composed by Stephen Sondheim
• Merrily We Roll Along (1985, La Jolla Playhouse)- composed by Stephen Sondheim
• Into the Woods (1987) - composed by Stephen Sondheim
• Falsettos (1992) - composed by William Finn
• Passion (1994) - composed by Stephen Sondheim
• Into the Woods (revival) - 1997
• The Diary of Anne Frank (1997) - written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
• Golden Child (1998) - written by David Henry Hwang
• Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (1999, in Berlin) - composed by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
• Dirty Blonde (2000) - written by Claudia Shear
• Into the Woods (revival) - 2002
• Amour (2002) - composed by Michel Legrand
• The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005) - composed by William Finn
• Sondheim on Sondheim (2010) - musical revue of Stephen Sondheim work
• Little Miss Sunshine (2011, La Jolla Playhouse) - also wrote the book; composed by William Finn
• Annie (revival) - 2012- Music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and book by Thomas Meehan

Writer, musicals

He has written the libretti for the following musicals:

• Sunday in the Park with George - 1984
• Into the Woods - 1987
• Falsettos - 1992
• Passion - 1994
• Luck, Pluck, and Virtue (also director) - 1995, La Jolla Playhouse and Atlantic Theatre Company, both starring Neil Patrick Harris
• Der Glöckner von Notre Dame - 1999 (in Berlin)
• A New Brain (Off-Broadway) - 1999

Writer, plays

• Table Settings (also director) - 1979 and 1980 at Playwrights Horizons
• Twelve Dreams (also director) - 1978; 1981 Public Theater
• The Moment When - 2000 Playwrights Horizons, featuring Mark Ruffalo and Phyllis Newman
• Fran's Bed (also director) - 2003, Long Wharf Theatre, starring Mia Farrow; 2005 Playwrights Horizons

Film

For film, he has directed:

• Earthly Possessions (1999, TV) - starring Susan Sarandon, Stephen Dorff
• Life with Mikey (1993) - starring Michael J. Fox, Cyndi Lauper
• Impromptu (1991) - starring Judy Davis, Hugh Grant, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1984 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Book - Sunday in the Park with George
• 1984 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Musical - Sunday in the Park with George
• 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama - Sunday in the Park with George
• 1988 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Book of a Musical - Into the Woods
• 1988 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical - Into the Woods
• 1992 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical - Falsettos
• 1994 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Book os a Musical - Passion
• 1994 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical - Passion
• 2005 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Musical - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

• 2010 Inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Nominations

• 1984 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical - Sunday in the Park with George
• 1984 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - Sunday in the Park with George
• 1988 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Musical - Into the Woods
• 1988 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - Into the Woods
• 1992 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - Falsettos
• 1994 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Musical - Passion
• 1994 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - Passion
• 1999 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Book of a Musical - A New Brain
• 2000 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Play - Dirty Blonde
• 2000 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play - Dirty Blonde
• 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Musical - Into the Woods
• 2002 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - Into the Woods
• 2003 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director of a Musical - Amour
• 2005 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee