Martin Charnin

Martin Charnin (November 24, 1934 – July 6, 2019) was a New York-born lyricist, director, writer, and theatrical performer whose career spanned Broadway, television, and regional theatre across more than six decades. The son of Birdie (Blakeman) and William Charnin, an opera singer, he grew up in New York City in a Jewish family and completed his formal education at The High School of Music & Art before earning a BFA from The Cooper Union.

Charnin launched his theatrical life as a performer, originating the role of "Big Deal," one of the Jets, in the Broadway production of West Side Story. He sustained that role for 1,000 performances both on Broadway and on tour. His Broadway performing career continued through 1960, and his early stage work also included appearances in productions such as Fallout and Kaleidoscope. During this period he also wrote music and lyrics for Off-Broadway and cabaret revues, many of them produced by Julius Monk, before moving into directing and writing nightclub acts for performers including Dionne Warwick, Nancy Wilson, Mary Travers, Larry Kert, Jose Ferrer, and Leslie Uggams.

His first Broadway musical as lyricist was Hot Spot in 1963, starring Judy Holliday, with music by Mary Rodgers. That same year he contributed lyrics to Vernon Duke's Zenda, which ran in California but did not reach Broadway. In 1967 he wrote the lyrics for Mata Hari, produced by David Merrick. He supplied additional lyrics for La Strada in 1969. His next major Broadway credit as lyricist was Two by Two in 1970, for which he set words to Richard Rodgers' music alongside Peter Stone's book; the production starred Danny Kaye and ran for ten months. He also wrote lyrics for I Remember Mama in 1979, again with music by Richard Rodgers. Outside the theatre, he wrote the lyrics for "The Best Thing You've Ever Done," performed by Barbra Streisand on her multi-platinum album The Way We Were.

In the early 1970s Charnin moved substantially into television, conceiving, producing, writing, and directing six variety specials. In 1971 he received the Emmy Award for Annie, The Women in the Life of a Man, starring Anne Bancroft. The following year he won two primetime Emmy Awards for S'Wonderful, S'Marvelous, S'Gershwin, a special featuring Jack Lemmon, Fred Astaire, Ethel Merman, Larry Kert, and Robert Guillaume. His other television specials included Get Happy, starring Jack Lemmon, Johnny Mathis, and Cass Elliot; Dames at Sea (1971), with Ann-Margret, Ann Miller, Anne Meara, Dick Shawn, Harvey Evans, and Fred Gwynne; Cole Porter in Paris, featuring Perry Como, Twiggy, Louis Jourdan, and Charles Aznavour; and a second Bancroft special, Annie and the Hoods.

Charnin made his Broadway directing debut in 1973 with Nash at Nine, a revue he conceived and directed based on the works of Ogden Nash, starring E.G. Marshall and running for 21 performances. He followed that with Music! Music! in 1974, a revue with a libretto by Alan Jay Lerner that ran for 37 performances at City Center. In 1975 he directed The National Lampoon Show, whose New York company included John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Bill Murray, among other performers who would become associated with Saturday Night Live.

The defining achievement of Charnin's career was Annie, which he conceived, directed, and wrote the lyrics for in collaboration with composer Charles Strouse and book writer Thomas Meehan. The musical originated at the Goodspeed Opera House before transferring to Broadway, where it ran for 2,327 performances and became one of the 25 longest-running musicals in Broadway history. The production earned Charnin the Tony Award for Best Original Score in 1977. He subsequently directed five U.S. national companies of Annie and three West End productions in London. He returned to the show repeatedly throughout his career, directing the 20th anniversary Broadway production, the 30th anniversary touring production in 2004, and the 35th anniversary revival, which opened at the Palace Theatre in November 2012 and ran until January 2014. In the 1990s he directed dozens of additional Annie companies, including productions in Australia and Amsterdam in 1997, and he also directed Annie Warbucks, the musical's sequel.

While working in London on Annie, Charnin directed Bar Mitzvah Boy in 1978, a musical with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Don Black. Back in New York, he wrote, directed, and co-wrote the book for The First in 1981, a musical centered on Jackie Robinson and the integration of baseball, for which he received two Tony Award nominations. In 1982 he directed A Little Family Business on Broadway, starring Angela Lansbury and John McMartin, and directed Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson in The Flowering Peach for Tony Randall's National Theatre on Broadway. He conceived and directed the Off-Broadway cabaret revue Upstairs at O'Neals, which ran from October 1982 to July 1983. In 1988 he directed Cafe Crown at the Off-Broadway Public Theater, which transferred to Broadway in 1989, the same year he directed Sid Caesar & Company on Broadway.

Charnin also directed the premiere stage adaptation of Jules Feiffer's Carnal Knowledge Off-Broadway at the Kaufman Theatre in 1990. In regional theatre, he directed Robin Hood: The Legend Continues at the Village Theatre in Issaquah, Washington in December 2004, for which he also wrote the lyrics to music by Peter Sipos and a book by Thomas Meehan. He subsequently relocated to Issaquah, where he served as Artistic Director of Showtunes!, a Seattle-area theatre company dedicated to reviving lesser-known musicals and presenting concerts celebrating composers including Richard Rodgers and Irving Berlin at Benaroya Hall. He returned to New York in 2012. In 2014 he directed a revival of Two by Two at the York Theatre, starring Jason Alexander as Noah and Tovah Feldshuh.

Charnin died on July 6, 2019, at the age of 84, following a heart attack on July 3. The marquee lights of Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre were dimmed in his honor on July 13, 2019.