Joe Iconis
Joseph Peter Philip Iconis (born September 22, 1981) is an American composer, lyricist, and playwright. He is best known for writing the music and lyrics to the Broadway musical "Be More Chill". Early life and education. Iconis graduated from New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development in 2003 with a B.M. in music composition. He then went on to graduate school at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and in 2005 he received a M.F.A. in musical theater writing. Career. Iconis wrote the music and lyrics for "The Black Suits", with a  book by Iconis and Robert Maddock. The show was originally written as Iconis and Maddock's thesis at NYU. It is a "rock musical about a Long Island high school garage band." It played SPF at The Public Theater in June 2008. The musical was presented at the Barrington Stage Company's Musical Theatre Lab in Pittsfield, Massachusetts from August 16, 2012 to September 2, 2012. The musical had its world premiere at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, California from October 27, 2013 to November 24, 2013. Iconis wrote the music, lyrics, and book for "The Plant That  Ate Dirty Socks", a rock musical based on the book of the same name by Nancy McArthur. Produced by TheaterWorksUSA, it opened Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in July through August 2008. Iconis wrote the music, lyrics, and book for "ReWrite", trio of interconnected musicals about deadlines. The three parts are entitled “Nelson Rocks!”, “Miss Marzipan”, and “The Process”. The piece ran at Ars Nova in concert in July 2007, and played Urban Stages from December 2008 through January 2009. The musical had a reading at the Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals in January 2010. Iconis wrote the  music and lyrics for "Things To Ruin", rock concert about young people hell bent on destruction and creation. The show was seen in various incarnations at Ars Nova and Joe’s Pub (in 2007). The final version premiered at the Zipper Factory Theater (now closed) in November 2008 and January 2009. The show returned to Off-Broadway in May 2009 at the Second Stage Theatre. A cast recording was released in September 2010 from Sh-K-Boom Records. The New Jersey premiere of the song cycle was on August 6–8, 2015, performed by the Young Adult Drama Group (YADG), in  North Brunswick. Iconnics wrote the music, lyrics, and book for "Bloodsong of Love." Directed by John Simpkins, the musical played Off-Broadway at Ars Nova in April to May 2010. In 2010, "Bloodsong Of Love" was nominated for 3 Drama Desk Awards: Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Jeremy Morse), Outstanding Music (Joe Iconis), and Outstanding Book of a Musical (Joe Iconis). In 2011, it was presented at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. In 2013, his song, “Broadway, Here I Come!” was featured several times throughout the second season of the NBC television show "Smash". Based on the novel  by Ned Vizzini, Iconis wrote the music and lyrics for "Be More Chill", with a book was by Joe Tracz. The musical premiered in June 2015 at Two River Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey. A limited engagement Off-Broadway production starring Will Roland opened July 26, 2018 at the Pershing Square Signature Center and was scheduled to run until September 23, 2018. After selling out, it then received a one week extension and ran until September 30, 2018. The production played on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre from February 13, 2019 to August 11, 2019. Iconis was nominated for  Best Original Score at the 73rd Tony Awards. On August 11, 2019, Be More Chill gave its final curtain call, ending its Broadway run. After the show ended, Iconis gave a speech thanking the people who had "been playing with me for so many years... and people who have been so supportive" and performed "The Goodbye Song." On October 20, 2018, a film adaptation was announced with Greg Berlanti and Shawn Levy as producers. Iconis wrote the music and lyrics for "Broadway Bounty Hunter". The book was written by Iconis, Jason "Sweettooth" Williams, and Lance Rubin. The musical premiered in  August 2016 at the Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It starred Annie Golden as a down on her luck Broadway star. An Off-Broadway production occurred in 2019 at the Greenwich House Theater, with previews starting July 9, 2019. The show played from July 23, 2019 to August 18, 2019. It was announced that a cast album would be released in late 2019. The cast recording's release was delayed and came out on April 24, 2020. Iconis wrote the book, music, and lyrics for "Love in Hate Nation", which made its professional world premiere in 2019 at the Two  River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey after a developmental performance at Penn State University in 2017 as part of their new musicals program. Previews began on November 9, 2019. The show opened on November 15, 2019 and closed on December 1, 2019. It was directed by John Simpkins. "Love in Hate Nation" is a 1960s-set rock romance between two girls in a juvie hall. Iconis is currently working on a musical about Hunter S. Thompson for La Jolla Playhouse with playwright Gregory S. Moss, entitled "The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical". With Rob Rokicki, he developed a  jukebox musical called "Punk Rock Girl," featuring songs written or made famous by such female musicians or female-fronted bands as Avril Lavigne, Pink, Pat Benatar, and Blondie. The world premiere date for "Punk Rock Girl" was set for September 10, 2020 at the Argyle Theatre, before being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Punk Rock Girl" officially opened on January 20, 2022. Personal life. Iconis married musical theater actress Lauren Marcus in 2015. Iconis is a concert performer, often performing with his musical theater family, referred to as "Iconis and Family", at various New York City concert venues, such  as The Laurie Beechman Theater, Joe’s Pub, and Feinstein's/54 Below. Works. Unless otherwise marked, book, music, and lyrics by Iconis.