Edward Kleban
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Edward Kleban (1939-1987) was an American musical theatre composer and lyricist.
A graduate of Columbia University, Kleban wrote the lyrics for the smash Broadway hit A Chorus Line. He and composer Marvin Hamlisch won the 1976 Tony Award for Best Original Score.
The one-woman Phyllis Newman show, The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979), featured a few tunes with his lyrics.
In 2000, Lonny Price co-wrote (with Linda Kline), directed, and starred in A Class Act, a musical biography of Kleban with a score comprised of songs he had written for numerous unproduced musicals. After a fourteen-month run at the Manhattan Theatre Club, it transferred to the Ambassador Theatre, where it fared less successfully and closed after three months. Fourteen years after his death from throat cancer, Kleban earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics.
