# Charlie Rosen (musician)

Charlie Rosen (born July 20, 1990) is an American musician, composer, arranger, orchestrator, musical director, and music producer. He is best known for his work on Broadway, where he has worked on Be More Chill, Prince of Broadway, American Psycho, and, along with Bryan Carter, won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for Some Like It Hot. He is also the leader of the 8-Bit Big Band, a jazz orchestra specializing in video game music.

## Early life

Rosen was born in Los Angeles, California, as the son of a bassoonist and organist. He was taught piano by his mother, starting from the age of three. At the age of fifteen, he joined the onstage band for the Los Angeles production of 13. He moved to New York at the age of seventeen to make his Broadway debut in 13, where he was a swing. He later attended Berklee College of Music for four semesters.

## Career

Rosen began his professional career as a swing musician for the bass, guitar, and percussion tracks of 13. Starting in 2012, he was the bandleader of Charlie Rosen's Broadway Big Band, where he arranged classic musical theater numbers into music that could be performed by a jazz orchestra with Broadway performers as the vocalists. As of April 2019, he primarily features as a guitarist in the Broadway musical Be More Chill.
Rosen can play about 70 musical instruments including the "flugelbone", melodica, Fender Rhodes, and theremin. Of these he has described the flugelbone as his "orchestrating secret weapon" due to its ability to utilize variety of timbres. However, he considers himself primarily a bassist but uses the range of instruments in his repertoire to improve the quality of the music he is able to create.
In 2017, Rosen founded the 8-Bit Big Band, a jazz and pops orchestra, in which he serves as the director. The band won a Grammy Award for an arrangement for the song "Meta Knight's Revenge", from the game Kirby Super Star (1996), in 2022, and were nominated again in 2024.
Rosen is also the composer on 2021 comedy film Here Today.

## Credits
### Theater

| Year(s) | Production | Role | Location | Category |
| 2008 | 13 | Swing bass, guitar, percussion | Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre | Broadway |
| 2010 | Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson | Associate conductor Bass | Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre | Broadway |
| 2011 | The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful (And Her Dog!) | Orchestrator Track production | John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts | Regional |
| 2012 | One Man, Two Guvnors | Lead guitar/drums/lead singer (understudy) Music director Bass | Music Box Theatre | Broadway |
| 2012 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Music | American Airlines Theatre | Broadway |
| 2013 | The Black Suits | Music director Orchestrator | Center Theatre Group | Regional |
| 2014 | Soon | Arranger Orchestrator | Signature Theatre | Regional |
| 2015 | Honeymoon in Vegas | Orchestrations | Nederlander Theatre | Broadway |
| 2015 | Be More Chill | Orchestrator | Two River Theater | Regional |
| 2015 | The Visit | Guitar/Zither/Mandolin | Lyceum Theatre | Broadway |
| 2015 | A Little More Alive | Orchestrator | Barrington Stage Company | Regional |
| 2016 | American Psycho | Associate music director Keyboard/Guitar 2 | Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre | Broadway |
| 2016 | Broadway Bounty Hunter | Music supervisor Orchestrator | Barrington Stage Company | Regional |
| 2017 | A Legendary Romance | Music director Orchestrator | Williamstown Theatre Festival | Regional |
| 2017 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Orchestrator | The Public Theater | Off-Broadway |
| 2017 | Prince of Broadway | Associate orchestrator | Samuel J. Friedman Theatre | Broadway |
| 2018 | Be More Chill | Orchestrator Music supervisor Guitar 2/Ukulele | Pershing Square Signature Center | Off-Broadway |
| 2018 | Miss You Like Hell | Orchestrator | The Public Theater | Off-Broadway |
| 2018 | Pamela's First Musical | Orchestrator | Two River Theater | Regional |
| 2019 | Be More Chill | Orchestrator Music supervisor Guitar 2/Ukulele | Lyceum Theatre | Broadway |
| 2019 | Broadway Bounty Hunter | Music supervisor Orchestrator | Greenwich House Theater | Off-Broadway |
| 2019 | Moulin Rouge! | Co-orchestrations (horn) | Al Hirschfeld Theatre | Broadway |
| 2019 | Love in Hate Nation | Music Supervisor Orchestrator | Two River Theater | Regional |
| 2019 | A Strange Loop | Orchestrations | Playwrights Horizons | Off-Broadway |
| 2019 | A Strange Loop | Orchestrations | Lyceum Theatre | Broadway |
| 2022 | Some Like It Hot | Co-orchestrations | Shubert Theatre | Broadway |
| 2023 | Guys and Dolls | Orchestrations | Bridge Theatre | London |
| Year(s) | Title | Role |
| 2016 | Maya & Marty | Musical director |
| 2017–2018 | The President Show | Composer Music producer |
| 2018 | The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel | Track production Guitar recording |

### Film

| Year(s) | Title | Role |
| 2021 | Here Today | Composer |
| 2021 | Listening to Kenny G | Composer |
| 2023 | Wonka | Music Producer |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 2015 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Orchestrations | Honeymoon in Vegas | Nominated |
| 2018 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Orchestrations | Miss You Like Hell | Nominated |
| 2019 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Orchestrations | Be More Chill | Nominated |
| 2020 | Obie Award | Special Citation | A Strange Loop | Won |
| 2020 | Tony Award | Best Orchestrations | Moulin Rouge! | Won |
| 2022 | Grammy Award | Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella | "Meta Knight's Revenge (From Kirby Super Star)" | Won |
| 2022 | Tony Award | Best Orchestrations | A Strange Loop | Nominated |
| 2023 | Tony Award | Best Orchestrations | Some Like It Hot | Won |
| 2024 | Grammy Award | Best Musical Theater Album | Some Like It Hot | Won |
| 2024 | Laurence Olivier Award | Outstanding Musical Contribution | Guys and Dolls (with Tom Brady for Musical Supervision & Arrangements) | Nominated |