Michael Stewart (playwright)


Michael Stewart was an American playwright and librettist for the stage.

Life and career

Born Myron Stuart Rubin in Manhattan, Stewart attended Queens College, and graduated from the Yale School of Drama with a Master of Fine Arts in 1953.
His early work was writing sketches for the revues The Shoestring Revue, The Littlest Revue, and Shoestring '57. He then joined the staff writers of Sid Caesar's television program, Caesar's Hour.
He met Charles Strouse and Lee Adams in 1954, and several years after collaborated with them and Gower Champion on the 1960 Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie. He worked again with Champion and Jerry Herman, with their musical Hello, Dolly! opening on Broadway in 1964.
Stewart died on September 20, 1987 in New York City. Jule Styne said of him: "He was an extremely talented and knowledgeable man of the theater. He was one of the great musical-theater writers, and his string of hits showed that." Stewart's sister was writer Francine Pascal and brother Burt Rubin.

Theatre credits