Carol Hall

Carol Hall (April 3, 1936 – October 11, 2018) was an American composer, lyricist, and singer-songwriter whose Broadway career spanned five decades. Born in Abilene, Texas, she earned a Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College in 1960 and joined ASCAP in 1970. Her stage work ranged from performing in the 1944 Broadway production Sing Out, Sweet Land to writing music and lyrics for some of the most recognized musicals of the late twentieth century.

Hall is best known as the composer and lyricist behind The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which opened on Broadway in 1978 and was later adapted into a film in 1982. She returned to the same material with the Broadway sequel The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public in 1994. For a national tour of the original production starring Ann-Margret, Hall wrote an additional song, "A Friend to Me," which was recorded as a final track on the 2001 cast album. Her Off-Broadway credits include the musical To Whom It May Concern, produced around 1986.

As a recording artist, Hall signed with Elektra Records in 1970 and released two albums on the label: If I Be Your Lady in 1971 and Beads and Feathers in 1972. A later collection, Hallways: The Songs of Carol Hall, appeared in 2009 on the LML Music label. Her performing career also included work in clubs and similar venues.

In 1972, Marlo Thomas invited Hall to contribute to the album Free to Be... You and Me, for which she wrote three songs: "Parents Are People," "It's All Right to Cry," and "Glad to Have a Friend Like You." Those songs were also featured in the 1974 television special derived from the album. Hall additionally wrote lyrics for two compositions by pianist Bill Evans: "The Two Lonely People," recorded by Tony Bennett on Together Again, and "Very Early," recorded by Mark Murphy. "The Two Lonely People" was subsequently covered by Roberta Gambarini, Jane Monheit, Mark Murphy, Donna Byrne, and Laurel Massé. She also wrote "Jenny Rebecca," which appeared on Barbra Streisand's 1965 album My Name Is Barbra.

Hall contributed to Sesame Street over many years, co-writing "A Very Simple Dance" with Sam Pottle in 1974. Her other compositions for the program include "Women Can Be," "The Plant in the Window," "Big Bird's Beautiful Birthday Bash," "Ichi Ni San" from Big Bird Goes to Japan, and "True Blue Miracle" from Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, which earned a Grammy Award. She composed music and lyrics for Theatreworks/USA's production of Max & Ruby, with a libretto by Glen Berger, and contributed lyrics to a musical adaptation of Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory," with a book by Duane Poole and music by Larry Grossman, which premiered at Theatreworks in Palo Alto, California in 2010.

Hall also authored eight one-act plays collectively titled The Days Are As Grass, which were acquired by Samuel French for publication and theatrical licensing. A production was mounted at Theater of the Spirit in Newcastle, Maine in 2012. She served as a Lifetime Member of the Dramatists Guild Council and as Vice-President of the Dramatists Guild Fund. Hall died on October 11, 2018, at the age of 82.