Adam Schlesinger, Tony-Nominated Songwriter, Dies at 52

Adam Schlesinger, the alt-rock bassist and songwriter whose unique knack for storytelling begot a successful career in composing for the stage and screen, has passed away on April 1, according to Variety. Schlesinger died of complications from coronavirus, a viral pandemic that shuttered Broadway on March 12. He was 52. 

Schlesinger, born in Manhattan in 1967, was a founding member of the bands Ivy, Tinted Windows and Fountains of Wayne, for whom he wrote the Grammy-nominated song “Stacey’s Mom.” A self-described “chameleon” with songwriting, Schlesinger earned Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, as well as Oscar, Tony and Golden Globe nominations, for composing songs for the stage and screen. 

As a composer on Rachel Bloom’s musical television series, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2016), Schlesinger earned five Emmy nominations, winning once. He won two additional Emmys—sharing with lyricist David Javerbaum, with whom he collaborated on two Broadway shows—for writing the songs “It’s Not Just for Gays Anymore” and “If I Had Time,” performed by Neil Patrick Harris at the 65th and 66th annual Tony Awards. In 1997, he was nominated for an Oscar for writing the theme song to Tom Hanks’ That Thing You Do!, and in 2010 he won a Grammy for writing the music to Stephen Colbert’s comedy album, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All. 

Scheslinger was nominated for a 2008 Tony Award for best original score for writing music and lyrics to Cry-Baby, a Broadway adaptation of John Waters’ movie musical about a James-Dean style bad boy. Schlesinger, paired with lyricist and former The Daily Show executive producer Javerbaum, penned all new music for the show. 

Before Cry-Baby, Schlesinger had never written a musical, but his songwriting, typified in his biggest pop hit, “Stacey’s Mom,” often featured well-developed characters one might imagine having a place on stage. “I’ve always had an easier time writing songs that are linear and have a story,” he told The New York Times in a 2008 profile. “It’s atypical for pop songs. In theater it’s a requirement.”

The often ironic quality of his music—which made him a perfect pair to Javerbaum’s background in satire and comedy—fit well on the stage, too. “In ‘Stacy’s Mom,’… the singer’s delusion is funny in part because it’s in the style of a straightforward ’80s love song like ‘Jesse’s Girl,’" wrote Zachary Pincus-Roth in The New York Times. “Similarly, the songs in “Cry-Baby” combine the rockabilly style of Gene Vincent, Wanda Jackson and early Elvis Presley with lyrics that are a little off track.” In this way, Schlesinger added that his Tony-nominated musical concept for Cry-Baby was about “playing with tropes: something that musically sounds familiar right away but lyrically does something that you don’t expect.”

Schlesinger and Javerbaum collaborated again on Javerbaum’s play, An Act of God, which appeared on Broadway in 2015 and again in 2016. Schlesinger wrote the musical's closing number, "I Have Faith In You."

When Schlesinger passed, he was working on a new musical with Sarah Silverman, based on the comedian’s memoir, The Bedwetter. The production was set to make its world premiere at off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company this spring and summer.