John Bucchino

John Bucchino is an American songwriter, accompanist, cabaret performer, and teacher, born in 1952 in South Philadelphia. His family relocated to Palm Springs, California when he was twelve. Bucchino began writing songs during high school and later moved to Los Angeles after college. He never received formal music instruction of any kind, does not read music, and learned to play piano entirely by ear.

Rather than pursuing a career in musical theater, Bucchino initially aspired to work as a singer, songwriter, and pianist in the manner of Billy Joel, Elton John, or Joni Mitchell. He built an informal reputation through cassette tapes of his compositions, which he distributed to friends and which circulated widely among music industry insiders. Those recordings eventually reached both Stephen Sondheim and Stephen Schwartz. In 1987, Schwartz contacted Bucchino and encouraged him to write for the theater. Bucchino moved to New York in 1992. During a period of financial difficulty around 2000, he was reported to be performing piano in office-building lobbies at lunchtime. He has served as accompanist for Holly Near beginning in the mid-1980s and for Australian singer David Campbell.

Bucchino's earliest documented theatrical work is Urban Myths, a 1998 musical with book by James Waedekin consisting of seven short pieces based on unusual urban legends. The show received a production at the Century II theater in Wichita, Kansas, and was also presented before an industry audience at the 10th Annual Festival of New Musicals in New York in 1998. Among its songs is "Grateful," which became Bucchino's most widely recognized composition. The song was later adapted into a children's book titled Grateful, A Song of Giving Thanks, created with Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton and published by HarperCollins, with a recording by Art Garfunkel included in the volume. Three songs from Urban Myths appeared in the 2000 publication The Songs of John Bucchino.

One section of Urban Myths, titled "Lavender Girl," was developed into a standalone one-act musical of the same name in 2000. Set in 1927 Alabama during the jazz era, the piece follows a Princeton student who falls in love with a mysterious woman after nearly striking her with his car. Bucchino chose the period in part to write a Charleston number and songs in the style of Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern. Lavender Girl was produced by Hal Prince at the Prince Music Theater as one of three one-act works presented under the collective title 3hree. That same year, Bucchino contributed songs to the DreamWorks animated film Joseph: King of Dreams, released on DVD; the song "Better Than I" was included in The Songs of John Bucchino.

Bucchino made his Broadway debut as composer and lyricist with A Catered Affair, which opened on April 17, 2008, and closed July 27, 2008, after 116 regular performances and 27 previews. The musical features a book by Harvey Fierstein, a four-time Tony Award winner who also co-starred in the production. Fierstein sought out Bucchino after his songs had gained prominence in New York's cabaret scene. The show is set in the Bronx in 1953 and centers on a working-class family's conflict over the expense of an elaborate wedding banquet for their eldest daughter. Following a tryout in San Diego, the production won the Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Musical. Subsequent productions were mounted by Chicago's Porchlight Music Theatre, the Aurora Theatre in the Atlanta area, the Hattiesburg Civic Light Opera, a community theater in Helena, Montana, and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Bucchino received both a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Lyrics and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Music in 2008 for the show.

In 2013, Bucchino wrote the music and lyrics for Esaura, a musical produced in Denmark. Based on a Danish novel by Carl E. Simonsen titled Abraham Fournais, the show is set during the siege of the town of Fredericia in 1849 and follows two young lovers separated by war, religion, and their parents' histories. Written in English, it was described as the first Danish musical. Bucchino was recommended to the producers by Stephen Schwartz.

Beyond his work in musical theater, Bucchino has appeared in Broadway revues and concerts, including Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, and has performed at venues including Birdland, The Duplex, and the Hollywood Bowl. A revue of his songs titled It's Only Life was presented at Lincoln Center on January 27, 2006, directed by Daisy Prince. His recorded output includes the original cast recording of A Catered Affair, the It's Only Life album from 2006, and the Esaura cast recording from 2013. David Campbell Sings John Bucchino, released in 2014, reached number one on the Australian jazz chart.