Don Breithaupt, music; Jeff Breithaupt, lyrics
The Breithaupt Brothers are two-time finalists for the Fred Ebb Award, and their songs have been called “worthy of the Great American Songbook” (CBC Radio). Their musical, Seeing Stars, written with book writer and fellow Canadian, Shelley McPherson, was first presented as a concert reading featuring Kelli O’Hara and Jesse Tyler Ferguson at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater in New York. The show was subsequently developed at NYC’s York Theatre and produced at the New York Musical Festival, where it played to sold-out houses. Seeing Stars, praised by The New Yorker for its “tuneful theatrical fare,” was a finalist for NAMT and the O’Neill National Musical Theater Conference.
Among the many performers who have interpreted their songs are musical theatre greats (Kelli O’Hara, Norm Lewis, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, James Naughton, Louise Pitre, LaChanze, Jackie Richardson, Jan Maxwell, Brent Carver, Adam Brazier, Montego Glover, Chris Sullivan, Matthew Saldivar, Kyle Blair, Annie Golden, Joe Matheson) and luminaries from the jazz and pop worlds (Denzal Sinclaire, Catherine Russell, Ron Sexsmith, Paul Shaffer, Janis Siegel, Sarah Slean, Heather Bambrick). Their songs have been celebrated in several star-studded “Breithaupt Brothers Songbook” evenings at venues such as Toronto’s Koerner Hall and Soulpepper Theatre Company, and New York’s Public Theater and Birdland Jazz Club. The Breithaupt Brothers have released two recordings of their songs with interpretations by many of Canada’s finest voices, and Don is also the Emmy Award-winning, Juno-nominated leader of the acclaimed jazz-pop band, Monkey House. They live in Toronto (Don) and New York City (Jeff) and are members of the Dramatists Guild, and SOCAN and ASCAP, respectively.
