Jeanine Tesori facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jeanine Tesori
Tesori at the 76th Tony Awards in 2023
Born	(1961-11-10) November 10, 1961 (age 63) Port Washington, New York, United States
Education	Barnard College, Columbia University (BA)
Musical career
Genres	Musical Theatre
Occupation(s)	Composer, Musical Arranger
Years active	1995–present

Jeanine Tesori (born November 10, 1961) is a famous American composer and musical arranger. She is best known for creating music for plays and musicals. Jeanine Tesori has written music for many Broadway shows. She has received many awards for her work.

She has been nominated for six Tony Awards and five Grammy Awards. She won the 1999 Drama Desk Award for her music in Twelfth Night. In 2004, she won another Drama Desk Award for Caroline, or Change. She also won the Tony Award for Best Original Score twice. The first was in 2015 for Fun Home, which she shared with Lisa Kron. They were the first all-female team to win this award. Her second Tony Award for Best Original Score was in 2023 for Kimberly Akimbo, shared with David Lindsay-Abaire.

Jeanine Tesori's most well-known works include Kimberly Akimbo, Fun Home, Caroline, or Change, Shrek The Musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Violet.

Early Life and Education

Jeanine Tesori grew up in Port Washington, New York. When she was fourteen, she saw her first Off-Broadway show, Godspell. She felt very excited by the experience. She said she felt like she was "someplace where there's something happening, and I don't want to be anywhere else." She also worked at Stagedoor Manor, a summer camp for performing arts.

She went to Paul D. Schreiber Senior High School. Later, she studied at Barnard College at Columbia University. She first planned to study medicine but changed her major to music.

Career Highlights

Jeanine Tesori started her career in theater in 1989. She was an assistant conductor for the musical Gypsy. Her first official Broadway job was in 1991. She was the dance arranger and keyboard player for The Secret Garden.

Early Broadway Work

After The Secret Garden, she worked on The Who's Tommy. She was an associate conductor and played keyboard. She later directed the music for the German version of Tommy. This experience gave her confidence to continue directing music. She used what she learned from Tommy when she wrote Fun Home.

In 1997, Tesori wrote the music for the Off-Broadway musical Violet. For this show, she won several awards. These included an Obie Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

Award-Winning Musicals

In 1998, Jeanine Tesori wrote the music for a production of Twelfth Night. She was asked to create 60 minutes of music in just three months. This music was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score in 1999.

In 2000, she worked with Dick Scanlan to write new songs for Thoroughly Modern Millie. The show was very popular and moved to Broadway in 2002. Tesori was nominated for a Tony Award for her music.

She has worked with writer Tony Kushner four times. In 2004, she wrote the music for Caroline, or Change. This musical earned her another Tony nomination. In 2006, she wrote music for Kushner's play Mother Courage and Her Children. In 2011, their opera A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck premiered. In 2019, Tesori was a voice coach for the film West Side Story.

Music for Films and Shrek The Musical

Jeanine Tesori has also composed music for several movies. These include Nights in Rodanthe, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, and animated films like The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning. She also wrote music for Shrek the Third, Mulan II, and The Emperor's New Groove 2: Kronk's New Groove.

In 2008, she wrote the music for Shrek The Musical. This show opened on Broadway and earned her more Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations.

Fun Home and Other Recent Works

In 2011, Tesori wrote the music for Fun Home. Lisa Kron wrote the story and lyrics. The musical is based on a true story by Alison Bechdel. Fun Home first opened Off-Broadway in 2013 and was very successful. It then moved to Broadway in 2015. Tesori and Kron won Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score for Fun Home. This was a historic win for an all-female writing team. The musical was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Tesori was the artistic director for a concert series called "Encores! Off-Center." In this role, she helped bring actor Jake Gyllenhaal to perform in Little Shop of Horrors in 2015.

Her opera The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me premiered in 2013. In 2016, she wrote English lyrics for three songs in a show at Tokyo DisneySea.

In 2018, her musical Soft Power opened. It was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2020. In 2019, her opera Blue premiered. This opera talks about important social issues.

In December 2021, her musical Kimberly Akimbo opened. It won many awards, including Best Musical at the Drama Desk Awards. It moved to Broadway in October 2022. Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire won the Tony Award for Best Original Score for this show. The musical also won Best Musical.

In October 2023, Tesori's new opera Grounded opened. It tells the story of a fighter pilot who becomes a drone operator.

Personal Life

Jeanine Tesori lives in Manhattan with her child, Siena. She is divorced from Siena's father, Michael Rafter. He is also an arranger and conductor.

Stage Works

• Violet (1997)
• Twelfth Night (1998)
• The First Picture Show (1999)
• Thoroughly Modern Millie (2000)
• Caroline, or Change (2003)
• Mother Courage and Her Children (2006)
• Shrek The Musical (2008)
• A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck (2011)
• Fun Home (2013)
• The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me (2013)
• Soft Power (2018)
• Blue (2019)
• Kimberly Akimbo (2021)
• Grounded (2023)

Awards and Nominations

Tony Awards

Drama Desk Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Grammy Award