Article by Julia Williams on March 2nd, 2018

Before leaving for spring break, students of the Musical Theatre program had the opportunity to attend a lecture with Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Jeff Marx.

Pictured left to right: Julia Williams, Dorothea Seibert von Fock, Elizabeth Ludlam, Christopher Gleason, and Jeff Marx with puppet Nicky

Jeff Marx co-created and co-wrote all of the songs for the Broadway musical Avenue Q, with partner Robert Lopez, which won three Tony Awards in 2004, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book. Avenue Q has become the 20th longest running Broadway musical, with productions still being performed in New York and around the world. The musical is coming up on its fifteenth year of being in performances. Marx also co-wrote some songs for the musical The Book of Mormon.

For television, Marx co-wrote songs for the Emmy-nominated musical episode of Scrubs, the theme song for Rick & Steve, and his song "You Have More Friends Than You Know" (co-written with Mervyn Warren) was featured on Glee.

He is currently working on a new punk-rock musical with Fat Mike, from the punk band NOFX, about crusty teenagers living on the streets entitled Home Street Home.

In this lecture, Marx talked about how theatre has affected his life, his process through developing Avenue Q and his other projects, and the importance of self-confidence for anyone involved in any aspect of theatre. The students were then able to ask him other questions about his career.

Marx visited on Friday, March 2nd in the Ward Recital Hall.