Creative team

Co-lyricists

Herbert Kretzmer

Lyricist, English version, Les Misérables

Herbert Kretzmer was born in South Africa, where he began a career in journalism, writing the commentary for a weekly cinema newsreel. He lived in London from 1954, pursuing twin careers as newspaperman and songwriter. He joined the Daily Express in 1960 and later became its senior drama critic, a post he held for 18 years. He later won two national press awards as the television critic for the Daily Mail. As a lyricist, he wrote weekly songs for That Was the Week That Was. He won an Ivor Novello Award for the Peter Sellers/Sophia Loren comedy song Goodness Gracious Me.

Other award-winning lyrics include two songs written with, and for, Charles Aznavour: Yesterday When I Was Young and the chart-topping She. He wrote the book and lyrics for the West End musical Our Man Crichton, starring Kenneth More and Millicent Martin, and the lyrics for The Four Musketeers, starring Harry Secombe as D’Artagnan.

He also collaborated with Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson (ABBA), Anthony Newley and Michel Legrand. Kretzmer was the recipient of two honorary doctorates and was appointed OBE in 2010. He passed away on 14 October 2020, aged 95.

Jean-Marc Natel

Co-lyricist, original French lyrics (1980), Les Misérables

Born in 1942, he studied art at the Beaux Arts in Toulon before turning to poetry. On moving to Paris in the late 1960s he met Alain Boublil, who introduced him to songwriting. From Alain Boublil’s initial concept and framework, he co-wrote the original French lyrics for Les Misérables, which first played in Paris in 1980. He continued to write several songs with Alain Boublil for various French artists.

Stephen Clark

Co-lyricist, Martin Guerre

Stephen’s plays include Stripped (Jefferson Award, Chicago, 2003), Takeaway and Making Waves. His first musical, Eyam, was followed by the Olivier award-winning Martin Guerre with Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg. Other work includes Forbidden City and The Far Pavilions. He adapted the libretto of La Traviata for ENO’s 2006 production and wrote the music theatre adaptation of The Mahabharata. Stephen wrote the book and lyrics of Zorro and Love Story for theatre. A rich talent was lost with Stephen’s premature death at the age of 55.

Richard Maltby, Jr

Co-lyricist, Miss Saigon, The Pirate Queen

Broadway: conceived and directed two Tony Award-winning musicals, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978: Tony, N.Y. Drama Critics, Outer Critics and Drama Desk Awards, plus the Tony Award for Best Director) and Fosse (1999: Tony, Outer Critics and Drama Desk Awards), as well as Ring of Fire (2006). With composer David Shire: director/lyricist of Baby (1983, seven Tony nominations); lyricist of Big (1996, Tony nomination for Best Score; also Dominion Theatre, London, 2019). With Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, co-lyricist of Miss Saigon (Evening Standard Award, London 1990; Tony nomination for Best Score, 1991) and The Pirate Queen (2007). Director of The Story of My Life (2009). Director/co-lyricist of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song & Dance (1986 Tony Award for star Bernadette Peters).

Off-Broadway: with David Shire, director/lyricist of Starting Here, Starting Now (1977, Grammy nomination) and Closer Than Ever (1989, two Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Score; also Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical Revival 2013; and Jermyn Street Theatre, London, 2014). Director of Just Jim Dale (Roundabout Theatre 2014, Vaudeville Theatre, London 2015).

Regional: lyricist/conceiver of Take Flight (Menier Chocolate Factory, London 2010; McCarter Theatre 2012); book and lyrics of Waterfall (2015, Pasadena Playhouse and Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theatre); lyricist of the new musical Sousatzka (2017, Toronto).

Film: screenplay, Miss Potter (2007: Christopher Award for best screenplay). He contributes cryptic crossword puzzles to Harper’s Magazine. Son of a well-known orchestra leader; five children: Nicholas, David, Jordan, Emily and Charlotte.

Michael Mahler

Additional lyrics, Miss Saigon

Michael Mahler (ASCAP) is the award-winning Chicago-based composer/lyricist of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, October Sky, Hero, The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes, Painted Alice, Rockne, Wonderland: Alice’s Rock & Roll Adventure and others. His songs have been featured in concerts and showcases across the globe, including an evening at the Kennedy Center. Michael served as the premiere English lyricist for Boublil and Schönberg’s La Révolution Française and contributed lyrics to Russell Watson’s album Only One Man.

John Dempsey

Co-lyricist, The Pirate Queen

Wrote the book and lyrics for The Witches of Eastwick, The Fix, Zombie Prom, Circles and Dick Whittington. He provided lyrics for A Country Christmas Carol, The Reluctant Dragon and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Plays include One Miracle in a Lifetime, The World Today and The Greater Goode.