One thing I learned about writing book for a musical is that no one really knows what that is. But if you do, you know what an amazing job the other nominees in this category have done. Our book was so collaborative--I will never will able to thank all the people I should mention here, but let me start with the man who brought us to the party, Bill Finn, for his exuberant score and for being hard to say no to. James Lapine, for being harder to say no to. Rebecca Feldman and the actors who started all this, Jay Reiss for his inspired sentences, Dan Fogler, Sarah Saltzberg, and our whole exciting ensemble for their characters and creativity. We all want to thank our producers David Stone, Second Stage Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, and finally, since this is a show about kids trying to please their parents, I just want to say how lucky I am to have a family who makes fun of me no matter what. Thank you.

Additional Thanks

Thank you to the American Theatre Wing, the League of American Theatres and Producers, and the voters.

I want to again mention the Farm, Rebecca Feldman's group who wrote, or even more amazingly, improvised nightly, the play C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E from which our musical was adapted. I believe the award is very much in recognition of their work, and all the members of that group--those I have met and those I haven't--should be congratulated, in addition to our current cast, who helped shape what the show became. In a sense our book had a terribly unfair advantage over the brilliant work of Misters Lane and Lucas (and from what I hear Eric Idle, but who can get a ticket to that show?) because people were familiar with the material they were adapting, and too few got to see our underlying play. I take the award as being the way the Wing and League have honored all of our work, and am privileged to stand as representative of it.

So many others deserve mention: Dan Knechtges brought just the right touch and tone to his choreography; his dances are so much a part of what makes the show work. Beowulf Boritt's set is practically (and sometimes literally) a part of the book, and the book also benefited from the unifying vision of our designers Jennifer Caprio, Dan Moses Schrier, and Natasha Katz. Team music: Vadim Feichtner, Carmel Dean, and Michael Starobin not only did beautiful work they made it a pleasure to go into rehearsal every time.

Director Michael Barakiva was instrumental in the early stages of our adaptation and in pointing the book in the right direction. Michael Unger directed the next stage in its evolution with infinite patience and grace. Robb Sapp, Darren Katz, Nathan Christensen, Scott Murphy, Dana Harrel, Niegel Smith, and DJ Gray also all made helpful contributions to the book while working on the show.

Thank you to our incredible stage management team, crew and production team, and to the generous people who supported us and sent us on this crazy ride, including Julianne Boyd, Carole Rothman and Chris Burney, Patrick Catullo, Nancy Gibbs, Nina Essman, Barbara Whitman, Marcia Goldberg and everyone at all our production centers.

Thanks to agents Ron Gwiazda and Howard Rosenstone, and to my brother Steve for telling me to do this project even when I said, you know, this is gonna be one crazy collaboration.

A personal thank you to Sarah Schlesinger, Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell, Karen Henderson, Alex Zalben, and everyone at NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, which has brought me so many blessings--including introducing me in person to a composer/lyricist whose work had long before inspired me to explore musical form: William Finn.

This has been an amazing learning experience--I'll certainly be a stronger lyricist having worked with Bill and a stronger librettist having learned so much from James Lapine. The two of them have not only helped to launch my career but have sent me out much wiser to the next stage of it. And thanks to my other collaborators, GrooveLily, Nils Olaf Dolven, Joel Derfner, for their patience while I've been getting wised up.

Finally thanks to everyone I've forgotten, and all who've come to see--and participate in--The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.