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{{other people||Charles Hart (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
{{BLP sources|date = January 2011}}
[[File:Charles Hart.jpg|alt=Charles Hart|thumb|Charles Hart]]
| name = Charles Hart
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1961
| birth_place = [[London]], [[England]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| occupation = Lyricist, librettist, songwriter
| alma_mater =
| years_active =
| notableworks =
| genre =
| subjects =
| spouse =
| children =
| parents = George Wilson Hart; Juliet Lavinia (née Byam Shaw)
| signature_alt =
| nationality = [[English people|English]]
}}
'''Charles Hart''' is an English [[lyricist]], librettist and [[songwriter]] arguably best known for his work on ''[[The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)|The Phantom of the Opera]]'' as well as a number of other musicals and operas for both stage and television.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hart |first1=Charles |title=Biography |url=https://www.berlinassociates.com/clients/charles-hart/|website=Berlin Associates |access-date=5 February 2021}}</ref>


== Life and works ==
'''Charles Hart''' (born 3 June 1961) is a British [[lyricist]], songwriter and musician. He is best known for writing the lyrics to, and contributing to the book of, [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]'s stage musical ''[[The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)|The Phantom of the Opera]]'' and for writing the lyrics to ''[[Bend It Like Beckham the Musical]]''. He also co-wrote (with [[Don Black (lyricist)|Don Black]]) the lyrics to Lloyd Webber's 1989 musical ''[[Aspects of Love]]''. Hart also re-wrote [[Glenn Slater]]'s lyrics for ''[[Love Never Dies (musical)|Love Never Dies]]'', the sequel to ''Phantom''.
Hart was born in [[London]] in 1961, the son of George Wilson Hart, an antiquarian book dealer, and Juliet Lavinia Hart (née Byam Shaw), actress.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hart |first1=Charles |title=Biography |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp63125/juliet-lavinia-hart-nee-byam-shaw |website=Search Collection |publisher=National Portrait Gallery |access-date=5 March 2021}}</ref> His parents had met as actors through theatre but his maternal grand-parents, [[Glen Byam Shaw]] and [[Angela Baddeley]], continued actively working in theatre and music throughout his childhood.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Anon |title=Weddings of the week |journal=The Stratford-Upon-Avon Herlad |date=17 August 1956 |page=10}}</ref> Hart began writing lyrics as a child, some of which were "dark and contemplative – precociously murderous and quite, quite feisty".<ref name="ReferenceA">Morley, Sheridan, Interview with Charles Hart, ''The Times'', 8 October 1986</ref> He went to school in [[Desborough School|Maidenhead]] over the same period when his grandmother was starring in a London stage production of [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s ''[[A Little Night Music]]''. Hart went on to study music at [[Robinson College, Cambridge]], followed by postgraduate studies at the [[Guildhall School of Music and Drama]] in music composition in 1984.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Playward |title=Memories from the Vivian Ellis section of our British collection|url=https://overtures.org.uk/?p=13852|website=The Bunnett-Muir Musical Theatre Archive Trust, Overtures |date= 12 September 2017|publisher=he Bunnet-Muir Musical Theatre Archive Trust is a UK registered charity no: 1141958|access-date=5 February 2021}}</ref> Soon after leaving Guildhall, Hart came to the attention of [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]] and [[Cameron Mackintosh]], while they were judging the Vivian Ellis awards. Webber hired him as a lyricist for ''The Phantom of the Opera'' a year later, which opened in 1986.<ref name="auto">{{cite web| title = Biography Charles Hart (VII) | publisher = [[IMDb]] | date = 2020 | url = https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1378865/ | access-date = 2021-02-08}}</ref> In an interview published the day before the opening of ''Phantom'', Hart said, "my ambition was to be an English Sondheim. Being a lyricist is the ideal job for a university-educated dilettante, because it uses up all the rubbish in your education."<ref name="Times 1986">{{cite news |last1=Morley |first1=Sheridan |title=Exactly the type |issue=62583 |page=11 |url=https://archive.org/stream/NewsUK1986UKEnglish/Oct%2008%201986%2C%20The%20Times%2C%20%2362583%2C%20UK%20%28en%29_djvu.txt |access-date=16 February 2024 |work=The Times |date=8 October 1986}}</ref>


In 1990, during [[Stephen Sondheim]]’s tenure as “Professor of Musical Theatre” at [[Oxford University|Oxford]], Hart linked up with like-minded writers [[George Stiles (composer)|George Stiles]], [[Anthony Drewe]] and [[Howard Goodall]], and in 1992, they founded the '''Mercury Workshop'''. The collaborative merged with the '''New Musical Alliance''' to become '''Mercury Musical Developments''' in 1999 and is today a registered charity whose patron was Stephen Sondheim.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mercury Musical Developments |title=About Us |url=https://www.mercurymusicals.com/about-us/|website= Mercury Musical Developments |access-date=12 February 2021}}</ref> Hart went on to collaborate with Howard Goodall on a number of successful musicals.
==Biography==


===Education===
==Selected works==
===Musical theatre===
Born in London, Hart was educated at [[Desborough School]], Maidenhead, [[Robinson College, Cambridge]] and the [[Guildhall School of Music and Drama]].
*1984 – Book and music for ''Moll Flanders''– competition entry to Vivian Ellis Award
*1986 – Lyrics for ''Phantom of the Opera'' with music by Lloyd Webber
*1989 – Lyrics for ''[[Aspects of Love]]'' (co-written with Don Black) with music by Lloyd Webber
*1998 – Book and lyrics for ''The Kissing Dance'' with music by Howard Goodall<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/mar/28/kissing-dance-review|title=The Kissing Dance – review |last=Billington |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Billington (critic)|date=28 March 2011 |work=The Guardian |location =London |access-date=17 April 2011}}</ref>
*2001 – Book and lyrics for '' [[The Dreaming (musical)|The Dreaming]] '' with music by Howard Goddall
*2015 – Book and lyrics for '' [[Bend It Like Beckham: The Musical|Bend It Like Beckham]]'' with music by Howard Goodall<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hart |first1=Charles |title=Biography |url= https://stageagent.com/writers/332/charles-hart
|publisher=StageAgent |access-date=5 February 2021}}</ref>


===Career as lyricist===
===Operas===
*1992 – Libretto for ''[[The Vampyr: A Soap Opera|The Vampyr]]'', music by [[Heinrich Marschner]], directed by [[Nigel Finch]] for the [[BBC]]<ref>{{IMDb name|id=1378865 |name=Charles Hart }}</ref>
In an interview with ''[[The Times]]'', Hart stated that he began writing lyrics as a child, some of which were "dark and contemplative – precociously murderous and quite, quite feisty";<ref name="ReferenceA">Morley, Sheridan, Interview with Charles Hart, ''The Times'', 8 October 1986</ref> he was motivated to do so professionally in the 1970s when his grandmother, actress [[Angela Baddeley]], starred in a London stage production of [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s ''[[A Little Night Music]]'':<ref name="ReferenceA" />
*2014 – Libretto for ''[[Benvenuto Cellini]]'', music by [[Hector Berlioz]], performed by [[English National Opera|ENO]], directed by [[Terry Gilliam]]
*2018 – Libretto for ''Marx in London'', music by Jonathan Dove, performed at [[Theater Bonn|Stadttheater Bonn]]<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kettle|first1=Martin|title=Marx in London review – Dove's opera spins comic capital from revolutionary icon: Theatre Bonn|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/dec/10/marx-in-london-opera-review-jonathan-dove-theater-bonn|access-date=8 February 2021|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=10 December 2018}}</ref>


⚫
===Songs===
<blockquote>When I was at the Guildhall I sent a tape to Sondheim, fully expecting a reply hailing the next true genius of the West End... All I got was a note saying that I had 'rhyming poison' which got in the way of my characters and plot, and of course he was entirely right. But my ambition was to be an English Sondheim. Being a lyricist is the ideal job for a university-educated dilettante, because it uses up all the rubbish in your education.<ref name="ReferenceA" /></blockquote>
*1998 – Lyrics and music for '''Love Songs''', a song-cycle performed by Marie-Louise Clarke for [[BBC Radio]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hart |first1=Charles |title=Masterclass |url=https://www.mercurymusicals.com/events/charles-hart-masterclass/|publisher=Berlin Associates |access-date=5 February 2021}}</ref>
*1999 – Lyrics for ‘’’The Years Rolled By’’’, music by [[Jake Heggie]], sung by [[Kiri Te Kanawa]] and [[Frederica von Stade]]
*2007 – Lyrics for '''Goodbye For Now''' music by [[Richard Rodney Bennett]], sung by [[Claire Martin (singer)|Claire Martin]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Harle |first1=John |title=A Diva is Born (1999) |url=https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/13346/A-Diva-is-Born--John-Harle/ |access-date=10 February 2021}}</ref>
*2013 – Lyrics for '''Seventeen''' music by [[Claude-Michel Schönberg]], sung by [[Russell Watson]]<ref>[https://www.virtualsheetmusic.com/score/HL-366412.html Seventeen sheet music for voice and piano, By Russell Watson, Charles Hart, Claude-Michel Schonberg, Virtual Sheet Music]</ref>
*2017 – Lyrics for ‘’’This Life’’’ original German version [[Michael Kunze]] and [[Sylvester Levay]], performed by [[Pia Douwes]]


===Film and Broadcast ===
Hart attracted the attention of Andrew Lloyd Webber and [[Cameron Mackintosh]], who were judges of the Vivian Ellis Awards for music theatre writers in which Hart was a finalist with an entry based on ''[[Moll Flanders]]''. Webber hired him as a lyricist for ''The Phantom of the Opera'' a year later.
*1987 – Lyrics and music for '' [[Watching (TV series)|Watching]] '' for Granada TV, sung by [[Emma Wray]]<ref>Berlin Associates, “Op. Cit.”</ref>
*1989 – Lyrics and music for '' [[Split Ends (British TV series)|Split Ends]] '' for Granada TV, sung by [[Anita Dobson]]<ref>IMDb, “Op. Cit.”</ref>
*1992 – Libretto for ''[[The Vampyr: A Soap Opera]]'', a miniseries for BBC
<ref name="auto"/>


==Awards==
He also wrote lyrics for ''The Kissing-Dance'' and ''[[The Dreaming (musical)|The Dreaming]]'' (both with music by [[Howard Goodall]]), also for ''[[The Vampyr: A Soap Opera]]'' (BBC TV). In 2015 he collaborated with [[Howard Goodall]] again on ''[[Bend It Like Beckham the Musical]]'', a new musical production of the film ''[[Bend It Like Beckham]]''. He has written miscellaneous songs, as well as both words and music for television, (''Watching'', ''Split Ends'' for Granada TV) and ''Love Songs'' (BBC Radio). His ''Two Studies for String Quartet'' premiered in February 2005 at London’s Purcell Room, performed by the [[Sacconi Quartet]]. His English lyrics for the opera ''[[Benvenuto Cellini (opera)|Benvenuto Cellini]]'' were part of a new production directed by [[Terry Gilliam]] at the [[English National Opera]] on 5 June 2014.
⚫
Hart has received two [[Ivor Novello Award]]s. He was nominated twice for the [[Tony Award]], Best Original Score, for ''Aspects of Love'' (1990) and ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1988).<ref>[http://www.playbill.com/person/charles-hart-vault-0000005882# "Charles Hart Broadway"] Playbill, accessed 4 February 2020</ref> He was also nominated for an [[Academy Award]] for writing the lyrics to a new song "[[Learn to Be Lonely|Learn to be Lonely]]" which was sung by [[Minnie Driver]] over the final credits to the film version of ''The Phantom of the Opera''.<ref>{{cite web| title = Nominees & Winners for the 77th Academy Awards | publisher = [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] | date = 2005 | url = http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2005 | access-date = 2018-04-18}}</ref>

⚫
He has received two [[Ivor Novello Award]]s. He was nominated twice for the [[Tony Award]], Best Original Score, for ''Aspects of Love'' (1990) and ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1988).<ref>[http://www.playbill.com/person/charles-hart-vault-0000005882# "Charles Hart Broadway"] Playbill, accessed 4 February 2020</ref> He was also nominated for an [[Academy Award]] for writing the lyrics to a new song "[[Learn to Be Lonely|Learn to be Lonely]]" which was sung by [[Minnie Driver]] over the final credits to the film version of ''The Phantom of the Opera''.<ref>{{cite web
| title = Nominees & Winners for the 77th Academy Awards
| publisher = [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]
| date = 2005
| url = http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2005
| accessdate = 2018-04-18}}</ref>

===Photography===
Hart's photography has appeared on posters and in playbills, as well as publications ranging from ''Attitude'' to ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''. In 2003, he was one of three photographers to feature in an exhibition organized by UNICEF to celebrate the [[Convention on the Rights of the Child|UN Convention on the Rights of the Child]].

⚫
===Other===
Hart was a long-standing trustee and supporter of the UK charity ratings agency, [[Intelligent Giving]]. He is represented by [http://www.berlinassociates.com/ Berlin Associates].


== References ==
== References ==
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==External links==
==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*{{IBDB name|12947}}
*{{IBDB name|12947}}


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[[Category:1961 births]]
[[Category:1961 births]]
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[[Category:Living people]]
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[[Category:English musical theatre lyricists]]
[[Category:Alumni of Robinson College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of Robinson College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama]]
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[[Category:English musical theatre lyricists]]
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[[Category:Living people]]

Latest revision as of 07:36, 30 November 2024

Charles Hart
Born1961
London, England
OccupationLyricist, librettist, songwriter
NationalityEnglish
ParentsGeorge Wilson Hart; Juliet Lavinia (née Byam Shaw)

Charles Hart is an English lyricist, librettist and songwriter arguably best known for his work on The Phantom of the Opera as well as a number of other musicals and operas for both stage and television.[1]

Life and works

[edit]

Hart was born in London in 1961, the son of George Wilson Hart, an antiquarian book dealer, and Juliet Lavinia Hart (née Byam Shaw), actress.[2] His parents had met as actors through theatre but his maternal grand-parents, Glen Byam Shaw and Angela Baddeley, continued actively working in theatre and music throughout his childhood.[3] Hart began writing lyrics as a child, some of which were "dark and contemplative – precociously murderous and quite, quite feisty".[4] He went to school in Maidenhead over the same period when his grandmother was starring in a London stage production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Hart went on to study music at Robinson College, Cambridge, followed by postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in music composition in 1984.[5] Soon after leaving Guildhall, Hart came to the attention of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh, while they were judging the Vivian Ellis awards. Webber hired him as a lyricist for The Phantom of the Opera a year later, which opened in 1986.[6] In an interview published the day before the opening of Phantom, Hart said, "my ambition was to be an English Sondheim. Being a lyricist is the ideal job for a university-educated dilettante, because it uses up all the rubbish in your education."[7]

In 1990, during Stephen Sondheim’s tenure as “Professor of Musical Theatre” at Oxford, Hart linked up with like-minded writers George Stiles, Anthony Drewe and Howard Goodall, and in 1992, they founded the Mercury Workshop. The collaborative merged with the New Musical Alliance to become Mercury Musical Developments in 1999 and is today a registered charity whose patron was Stephen Sondheim.[8] Hart went on to collaborate with Howard Goodall on a number of successful musicals.

Selected works

[edit]

Musical theatre

[edit]
  • 1984 – Book and music for Moll Flanders– competition entry to Vivian Ellis Award
  • 1986 – Lyrics for Phantom of the Opera with music by Lloyd Webber
  • 1989 – Lyrics for Aspects of Love (co-written with Don Black) with music by Lloyd Webber
  • 1998 – Book and lyrics for The Kissing Dance with music by Howard Goodall[9]
  • 2001 – Book and lyrics for The Dreaming with music by Howard Goddall
  • 2015 – Book and lyrics for Bend It Like Beckham with music by Howard Goodall[10]

Operas

[edit]

Songs

[edit]

Film and Broadcast

[edit]

[6]

Awards

[edit]

Hart has received two Ivor Novello Awards. He was nominated twice for the Tony Award, Best Original Score, for Aspects of Love (1990) and The Phantom of the Opera (1988).[18] He was also nominated for an Academy Award for writing the lyrics to a new song "Learn to be Lonely" which was sung by Minnie Driver over the final credits to the film version of The Phantom of the Opera.[19]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Hart, Charles. "Biography". Berlin Associates. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  2. ^ Hart, Charles. "Biography". Search Collection. National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  3. ^ Anon (17 August 1956). "Weddings of the week". The Stratford-Upon-Avon Herlad: 10.
  4. ^ Morley, Sheridan, Interview with Charles Hart, The Times, 8 October 1986
  5. ^ Playward (12 September 2017). "Memories from the Vivian Ellis section of our British collection". The Bunnett-Muir Musical Theatre Archive Trust, Overtures. he Bunnet-Muir Musical Theatre Archive Trust is a UK registered charity no: 1141958. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Biography Charles Hart (VII)". IMDb. 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  7. ^ Morley, Sheridan (8 October 1986). "Exactly the type". The Times. No. 62583. p. 11. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  8. ^ Mercury Musical Developments. "About Us". Mercury Musical Developments. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  9. ^ Billington, Michael (28 March 2011). "The Kissing Dance – review". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  10. ^ Hart, Charles. "Biography". StageAgent. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  11. ^ Charles Hart at IMDb
  12. ^ Kettle, Martin (10 December 2018). "Marx in London review – Dove's opera spins comic capital from revolutionary icon: Theatre Bonn". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  13. ^ Hart, Charles. "Masterclass". Berlin Associates. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  14. ^ Harle, John. "A Diva is Born (1999)". Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  15. ^ Seventeen sheet music for voice and piano, By Russell Watson, Charles Hart, Claude-Michel Schonberg, Virtual Sheet Music
  16. ^ Berlin Associates, “Op. Cit.”
  17. ^ IMDb, “Op. Cit.”
  18. ^ "Charles Hart Broadway" Playbill, accessed 4 February 2020
  19. ^ "Nominees & Winners for the 77th Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2005. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
[edit]
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