Edward "Ed" Kleban (April 30, 1939 – December 28, 1987) was an American musical theatre composer and lyricist. Kleban was born in the Bronx, New York City, in 1939 and graduated from New York's High School of Music & Art and Columbia University, where he attended with future playwright Terrence McNally.
Kleban is best known as lyricist of the Broadway hit A Chorus Line. He and composer Marvin Hamlisch won the 1976 Tony Award for Best Original Score, and he shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1976 with Hamlisch and three other contributors to the musical. The one-woman Phyllis Newman show, The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979), featured a few tunes with his lyrics.
For several years, he worked at Columbia Records, where he produced albums by performers as diverse as Igor Stravinsky and Percy Faith, and the albums for the Off-Broadway musicals Now Is The Time For All Good Men and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.
He was a teacher for many years at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.
Death Kleban died of complications from throat cancer, aged 48, on December 28, 1987 at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York.
Kleban Foundation In his will, Kleban established the Kleban Foundation, which grants the annual Kleban Prize in Musical Theatre. The prize is given in the amount of $100,000, paid over two years, to the most promising librettist and lyricist in American musical theatre. The awards are administered by BMI in association with New Dramatists and ASCAP.
The prize has been given to 63 musical theatre artists over the past 27 years, awarding a total of around $5,000,000. Notable Kleban Prize winners include Jason Robert Brown, Steven Lutvak, John Bucchino, Robert Lopez, Adam Gwon, John Weidman, and Robert L. Friedman.
Kleban Prize Winners: YearLyricistLibrettistJudges2025Benjamin Velez Madeline MeyersRaja Feather Kelly, Clint Ramos, Rachel Sussman2024Rona SiddiquiLisa LoomerMichael R. Jackson, Christine Toy Johnson, Elissa Adams2023Ryan Scott OliverEthan LiptonLeah C. Gardiner, Julia Jordan, Orville Mendoza2022César AlvarezIsabella DawisSarah Hammond, Or Matias, Manu Narayan2021Benjamin ScheuerMelissa Li & Kit YanRaul Esparza, Mike Lew, Seret Scott2020Daniel MesséRehana Lew Mirza & Mike LewGerard Alessandrini, Victoria Clark, Robyn Goodman2019Sarah Hammond / Shaina Taub (TIE)Charlie SohneAlison Fraser, Amanda Green, Eric Schaeffer2018Alan Schmuckler / Amanda Yesnowitz (TIE)Christian DuhamelMarin Mazzie, Dave Malloy, Laurence Maslon2017Daniel ZaitchikLisa KronKristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Mary Testa, Ira Weitzman2016Stacey LuftigDaniel GoldsteinJudith Ivey, Michael Price, Andrew Zerman2015Sam WillmottSam CarnerKerry Butler, Wiley Hausam, David Shire2014Nathan TysenArthur PerlmanJason Danieley, Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, Bill Rosenfield2013Daniel MatéAlan GordonSean Hartley, Henry Krieger, Michele Pawk2012Marcy HeislerAndrew Gerle / Matt Schatz (TIE)Marshall Brickman, Ted Chapin, Debra Monk2011Adam GwonMichelle ElliottStephen Flaherty, Michael Korie, David Zippel2010Peter MillsBarry WynerCraig Carnelia, Susan Drury, Jeffrey Sweet2009Beth FalconeKait KerriganSheldon Harnick, Thomas Z. Shepard, Sherman Yellen2008David Lindsay-AbaireLaura Harrington / Bill Solly and Donald Ward (TIE)Beth Blickers, Linda Kline, Gilbert Parker2007Joe IconisJeremy DesmonRick Elice, Carol Hall, Charles Koppelman2006Alison Louise Hubbard / Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak (TIE)Laurence Holzman and Felicia NeedlemanCheryl L. Davis, Susan Drury, Ken Stone2005David JaverbaumCheryl L. Davis and Ken Stone (TIE)Julia Jordan, Michael John LaChiusa, Jeffrey Sweet2004Laurence O'KeefeJulia JordanSusan DiLallo, Bill Goldstein, Lonny Price2003Nell BenjaminSusan DiLalloArthur Kopit, Charles Leipart, Frank Wildhorn2002Jason Robert BrownLori McKelveyJerome Coopersmith, Marvin Hamlisch, Marsha Norman2001John Bucchino and Patrick CookCharles LeipartNan Knighton, Michael John LaChiusa, Glenn Slater2000Marion Adler, Chad Beguelin, Robert Lopez / Jeff Marx and David Spencer (TIE)Stephen ColeFred Ebb, Henry Krieger, William Russell1999Kirsten ChildsMichael John LaChiusaLynn Ahrens, John Jiler, John Kander1998Sarah SchlesingerLissa Levin / Luis Santiero (TIE)Ellen Fitzhugh, John Morris, John Weidman1997Michael KorieBrian CrawleyMartin Charnin, James Freydberg, David Shire1996Glenn SlaterJohn WeidmanCarol Hall, William Finn, Jonathan Tunick1995Mark WaldropJohn JilerSheldon Harnick, Charles Strouse, Wendy Wasserstein1994Joe Keenan / Jim Morgan (TIE)William StrzempekSusan Birkenhead, Craig Carnelia, Jack Viertel1993Barry KleinbortLanie RobertsonJerry Bock, Betty Comden, Gretchen Cryer1992Craig CarneliaLee Adams, Mary Rodgers, Stephen Schwartz1991Mark CampbellGretchen CryerJerry Herman, Stephen Sondheim, Joseph Stein
A Class Act His will also granted rights to his collection of unpublished songs to friends Avery Corman and Wendy Wasserstein with the request that they incorporate them into a new musical. Their attempts failed and the rights reverted to Kleban's longtime companion, librettist Linda Kline. Kline sought someone who did not know or work with Kleban, but who would learn about him through the material. She admired previous work of Lonny Price and sought him as a collaborator.
After six years of work, with Price and Kline as co-authors, Price directed and played the role of Ed in A Class Act, a musical biography of Kleban with a score consisting of songs he wrote for numerous unproduced musicals. After a two-month run at the Manhattan Theatre Club, it transferred to the Ambassador Theatre on March 10, 2001 and ran for three additional months. Almost 14 years after his death, Kleban earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics.
References
External links EdwardKleban.com
Edward Kleban papers, 1960-1986, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts