Tony-Nominated Composer Micki Grant Dies at 80
(Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty Images)
Micki Grant, who received Tony Award nominations for creating the musicals Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope and Working, died on August 22 at the age of 80. Members of the theater community have taken to social media to honor her memory.
#restinpower Micki Grant (@MickiGNYC)! pic.twitter.com/BXKFUQchJO
— André De Shields (@Andre_DeShields) August 22, 2021
Rest In Peace spectacular #MickiGrant. Book, music AND lyrics! A groundbreaker, a fierce brilliant artist, a lovely woman. https://t.co/8uPvHPStfQ
— Amanda Green (@amanda_green) August 22, 2021
I am honored that I got to work with the legendary, ahead of her time, trailblazing, Micki Grant! May she Rest In Peace and may we continue to learn from her brilliant work! Love you always Micki! #dontbothermeicantcope #mynameisman
— JelaniAlladin (@JelaniAlladin) August 23, 2021
Born Minnie Perkins on June 30, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois, Grant attended the Chicago School of Music and the University of Illinois. She went on to make her Broadway debut as an actor in Langston Hughes' Tambourines to Glory in October 1963 and was subsequently a standby in Lanford Wilson's The Gingham Dog in April 1969.
(Photo: Friedman-Abeles/NYPL)
Grant is perhaps best known for making history as the first woman to create and perform in her 1972 Broadway show Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope. She earned Tony nominations for Best Book and Best Original Score, Drama Desk Awards for Most Promising Lyricist and Outstanding Performance and a Grammy Award for Best Cast Album. Grant was on hand at the opening night of the New York City Center Encores! production of Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope in 2018, which was directed and choreographed by Tony winner Savion Glover.
In addition to Working, which earned her a 1978 Tony nomination for Best Original Score and featured direction and a book by Stephen Schwartz, her Broadway credits also included contributing music and lyrics to Your Arms Too Short to Box With God and creating It's So Nice to Be Civilized.
Onscreen, Grant played lawyer Peggy Nolan on the daytime soap opera Another World from 1966-1973. Her additional screen credits included The Edge of Night, Guiding Light, Camera Three, Somerset, Having Our Say, Ed, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and All My Children.
In 2013, Micki Grant was awarded the Dramatists Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award where she also served on Council from 1999 until her death. She joined the Guild in 1972.