Brief Biography of Bob Ost

A Brief Biography of
Bob Ost

National award winning playwright/composer/lyricist. Bob wrote book, music and lyrics for FINALE!, Grand Prize winner in the 1990 American Musical Theater Festival Competition and the 1992 New American Musical Writers Competition, and a finalist at the O'Neill Music Conference in 1989. THE BODY SHOP came in second in the `96 Turnip Festival 15-minute Play Competition, and a musical version of the play (written with Gary Hughes and Claudia Perry) was the Christmas '97 presentation at Westside Repertory Theatre, on a double bill with Bob's comic NOT ON CHRISTMAS EVE. Westside Rep also commissioned and performed Bob's adaptation of Machiavelli's classic LA MANDRAGOLA, which features an original Ost score.

Bob wrote book, music and lyrics for the off-Broadway revue EVERYBODY'S GETTIN' INTO THE ACT at the Actor's Playhouse; another revue, LOVE AND LAUGHTER, was a sell-out at Judy's Cabaret, and STEPPIN' OUT O' LINE (directed by casting director Barry Moss) has performed at Sam's Theater Restaurant and the Triad Cabaret. WHO SAYS LOVE IS EASY?, a "musical therapy" with lyrics by Eben Keyes, was performed successfully at Don't Tell Mama's in Fall '00. MAKING A DIFFERENCE, a series of evenings of his songs to benefit the Dramatist's Guild Fund, has played at Sam's. Most recently, the off-beat review NOT QUITE WHAT YOU EXPECTED! played at The Duplex, Triad and Sam's and was critically hailed as "pee-in-your-pants funny".

As a director of cabaret, Bob steered his own WHO SAYS LOVE IS EASY? to rave reviews, as well as having shaped and staged Vickie Phillips' A MUSICAL JOURNEY: THE SONGS OF BREL, AZNAVOUR, WEILL AND BLAU, Ms. Phillips' critically acclaimed DIFFERENT DREAMS, DIFFERENT TIMES, which also includes some songs by Bob, and the 2003 revue SONGS ARE LIKE FRIENDS in which Ms. Phillips sings the songs of Bob and music director Gerry Dieffenbach.

Non-musically speaking, his drama THE NECESSARY DISPOSAL was a finalist in the Elmira College Playwriting competition in '94, the White-Willis Theater New Playwrights Contest in '95 and the Sunset Center Festival of Firsts in '96, and was part of the Shotgun Productions New Play Reading Series in NYC in '98. BREEDERS was a finalist in the Mill Mountain Theater New Play Competition and the White-Willis Theater New Playwrights Contest, and was recently chosen as part of the TRU NEW VOICES New Play Reading Series. His one-act plays have been showcased at Synchronicity Theater, Golden Fleece, Murray Hill Players, Lovecreek, Inner Space Repertory and other small theater companies in Manhattan, and A GLASS OF WATER was part of the HOMOGenius Festival at Manhattan Theatersource..

His Xmas songs "If Christmas Isn't Love" and "Simple Holiday Joys" are published by Shawnee Press, and "Christmas Morning" and "It's Gotta Be America" (music by James Adler) are published by Lawson/Gould. His current CD A SPECIAL PLACE: SONGS FROM THE HEART features Annie Hughes, Rebecca Luker, Heather MacRae, Alice Ripley, KT Sullivan, David Sabella, Norm Lewis, Jane Summerhays, Lillias White and other Broadway notables, and is available at most stores and on-line at Amazon.com and CDNow.com, as well as Tower, HMV and Virgin Records.

In April 2003, the recording of his off-Broadway show EVERYBODY'S GETTIN' INTO THE ACT was released, featuring an all-star cast: Bryan Batt, Danny Burstein, Bob Cuccioli, Delisco, James Judy, Francince Lobis, Rebecca Luker, Karen Mason, Kristopher McDowell, Mark Nadler, Christianne Noll, Nancy Opel, Evan Pappas, Stephanie Pope, Jana Robbins, David Sabella, Emily Skinner, Steven Stein-Granger, Mary Stout and Mary Testa. The CD is available on the Fynsworth Alley label.

He is a member of The Dramatist's Guild and ASCAP, and is the founder and president of Theater Resources Unlimited.