Philip Glassborow
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Philip Glassborow is a playwright, lyricist and composer who writes for theater, radio and television. His best-known theater musical is the cult hit The Great Big Radio Show! (music and lyrics) with book in collaboration with Nick McIvor, which won a special prize in the Vivian Ellis Awards and was premiered by the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, showcased at the Bridewell Theatre in London, and presented by New York’s off-Broadway York Theatre Company in their prestigious “Musicals in Mufti” series.
Other theater credits include a new musical version of “Peter Pan” by J. M. Barrie (Watermill Theatre, Newbury and Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford) and “A Kid for Two Farthings” (lyrics) with music by Cyril Ornadel and book in collaboration with Robert Meadwell, based on the novel by Wolf Mankowitz.
For BBC Radio, Philip compiled and presented “The Gorey Details” based on the work of Edward Gorey, which starred Frank Langella, Katherine Kellgren, Andreas Brown and David Suchet[1]. He has dramatized many classic books for radio including “Billy Budd, Sailor” by Herman Melville; “Christopher Himself” based on 'Prater Violet' by Christopher Isherwood (which starred David Suchet, Adam Godley and Bernard Cribbins, and featured an interview with Don Bachardy); “The Secret Garden,” starring Dame Joan Plowright, Ron Moody and Prunella Scales; and “Silas Marner” starring Michael Williams, Jenny Agutter, Alex Jennings and Edward Woodward.
BBC TV credits include “Play Away”, “The Sunday Gang” and a dramatization of “The Princess Who Couldn’t Laugh” by A A Milne for Jackanory Playhouse.
He has compiled and edited several music folios including “Body And Soul: The Johnny Green Songbook”, “The Jessie Matthews Songbook” and “The Laurel & Hardy Music Book”. His music and theater documentaries include “Charlie Chaplin, Composer” (which he wrote and co-presented with Josephine Chaplin); “The Gene Kelly Story” presented by Leslie Caron; and the Sony award-winning series, “Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century”.
Sources: Theater program for “The Great Big Radio Show!”, York Theatre Company, New York, October 2005; Listings in Radio Times Watermill Theatre
