Michael Starobin
Michael Starobin (born January 25, 1956) is an orchestrator, conductor, composer, arranger, and musical director, primarily for the stage, film and television. He won Tony Awards for the orchestrations of Assassins (2004) and Next to Normal (2009 with Tom Kitt).
Career[edit]
The first Broadway musical that Starobin provided the orchestrations for was Sunday in the Park with George in 1984, for which he won the 1984 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestration.[1] He has provided the orchestrations for 21 Broadway musicals,[2] 2 special concerts, including the benefit concert of Sunday in the Park with George, and was the musical director for The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1985).[3][4]
He has also provided orchestrations, or been the musical director, for many Off-Broadway musicals. He wrote the orchestrations for several works by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, such as Once on This Island (1990), as well as William Finn, including In Trousers (1985), Falsettoland (1990) (musical director), and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005).[5]
He did the orchestrations for Next to Normal (2009), for which he won the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations (with Tom Kitt).[6]
Starobin provided orchestrations for the television movie musicals Once Upon a Mattress (2005)
[7] and A Christmas Carol (2004), among others.[8]
He has been collaborating with Mary Testa as her musical director, in performances and recordings. He plays piano and a little tuba.[9][10]