Tom Kitt

Tom Kitt is an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, and musician whose Broadway credits include Next to Normal, High Fidelity, Bring It On the Musical, If/Then, and Almost Famous. He has received two Tony Awards, a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, two Grammy Awards, and an Outer Critics Circle Award, among other honors.

Kitt grew up in Port Washington, New York, on Long Island, and relocated with his family to Bedford, New York, in Westchester County at age 13. He attended Byram Hills High School in Armonk, New York, where he took part in theatrical productions, graduating in 1992. As a youth he also attended Interlochen Arts Camp. He went on to Columbia College in New York City, where he was a member of the Columbia Kingsmen and earned a degree in economics in 1996. It was during his time at Columbia that he met lyricist Brian Yorkey; the two later attended the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop together as a team.

Kitt entered the professional theater world in 2002, serving as music director and conductor for the Off-Broadway production Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical. In 2006 he composed the music for High Fidelity, a Broadway musical based on Nick Hornby's novel of the same name, and that same year contributed to Julia Murney's debut album I'm Not Waiting, co-writing the song Perfect. In 2008 he composed the score for the play From Up Here, produced at Manhattan Theatre Club, which received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Best Play and an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination.

That same year, Kitt and Yorkey completed Next to Normal, a rock musical examining mental illness, suicide, drug abuse, and psychiatric ethics within a suburban American family. The show earned Kitt the 2008 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Score, a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Music, and, in 2009, Tony Awards for both Best Original Score Written for the Theatre and Best Orchestrations. Kitt also received the 2009 Frederick Loewe Award for Dramatic Composition from the Dramatists Guild of America for the work. In 2010 the Pulitzer Board awarded Kitt and Yorkey the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, describing Next to Normal as a powerful rock musical that expands the scope of subject matter for musicals.

Kitt served as music supervisor for Sherie Rene Scott's Everyday Rapture at Second Stage Theatre in 2009, and in 2010 took on the roles of music supervisor, orchestrator, and music arranger for American Idiot on Broadway. Also in 2010 he composed incidental music for The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of The Winter's Tale. Kitt and Yorkey workshopped their musical In Your Eyes at the Village Theatre's Festival of New Musicals in Issaquah, Washington, in August 2010.

Bring It On the Musical, an adaptation of the film, was developed in collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Amanda Green, and playwright Jeff Whitty. The production premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, running from January 15 to February 20, 2011, before transferring to Broadway. In 2012, Kitt arranged string sections for Green Day's album trilogy Uno, Dos, and Tre.

Kitt and Yorkey's next Broadway collaboration, If/Then, starred Idina Menzel, LaChanze, and Anthony Rapp and was directed by Michael Greif. Following a workshop in New York City and an out-of-town tryout at Washington D.C.'s National Theatre in late 2013, the show opened officially on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on March 30, 2014. The production earned Kitt Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations.

Kitt and Yorkey, with a book by Bridget Carpenter, wrote Freaky Friday for Disney Theatrical. The musical began performances at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, in October 2016, directed by Christopher Ashley with choreography by Sergio Trujillo, before moving to the La Jolla Playhouse in early 2017. Kitt also composed the opening title music for the season three finale of the television series Penny Dreadful in 2016, and wrote two new songs with Yorkey for the Fox broadcast Grease: Live that same year.

Dave, a musical based on the 1993 film, featured music by Kitt with lyrics by Nell Benjamin and a book by Benjamin and Thomas Meehan. Directed by Tina Landau, it premiered at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in July 2018. The following year, Superhero, a new musical by Kitt and John Logan, opened Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre with an official opening on February 28, 2019. Also in 2019, Kitt composed the score for Almost Famous, the world-premiere stage adaptation of Cameron Crowe's 2000 film, which opened at The Old Globe in San Diego on September 27, 2019, before its Broadway run.

Kitt and Yorkey collaborated with Kwame Kwei-Armah on The Visitor, which premiered Off-Broadway at the Public Theater on October 16, 2021, directed by Daniel J. Sullivan and starring David Hyde Pierce and Ahmad Maksoud. Flying Over Sunset, with a book and direction by James Lapine and lyrics by Michael Korie, was originally scheduled to open on Broadway in March 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic; it ultimately opened at Lincoln Center Theater on December 6, 2021. Kitt has also signed on to compose the animated film Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical, with lyrics and screenplay by Ariel Dumas.

Kitt won two Grammy Awards for Best Musical Theater Album, for Jagged Little Pill in 2021 and Hell's Kitchen in 2025. He has received eight Drama Desk Award nominations, winning one, along with Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations for SpongeBob SquarePants. Beyond his theater work, Kitt performs his own material in a one-man show at venues including the Bitter End in New York and leads The Tom Kitt Band, in which he plays piano; the band's debut album is titled Find Me. Kitt married Rita Pietropinto in 2000, and they have three children.