Carner and Gregor

Carner and Gregor are an American musical theatre songwriting duo consisting of Sam Carner and Derek Gregor. They are the recipients of a 2004 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for their musical Unlock’d. The team has collaborated since 2002, with Carner working as the lyricist and Gregor as the composer. They reside and work in New York City.

Early Lives

Samuel Carner attended Yale University as an undergraduate, where his play Just Call Me Eli won the Yale Dramatic Association’s John Golden Prize for Best Student-Written Musical in 2000. He graduated in 2001 and enrolled in NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program with a Departmental Fellowship.^[1]

Derek Gregor graduated from Skidmore College in 2000.^[2] The next year, he started the rock band M-Lab, for which he was the keyboardist from 2001-2011.^[3]

Partnership

Sam and Derek met at NYU when they partnered together for a project. They have collaborated ever since.^[4]

Unlock’d

Based on Alexander Pope’s mock-heroic narrative poem The Rape of the Lock, Unlock’d is a two-act musical that takes place in 18th century England. It focuses on the romantic entanglements of four main characters and the chaos that ensues after a lock of the vain and beautiful Belinda's hair goes missing.

The team received a Richard Rodgers Award for Unlock'd in 2004. The show went on to win "Best in Fest" at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2007, as well as two Talkin' Broadway Summer Theatre Festival Citations. Unlock'd was also featured at the New Works Festival in Palo Alto and the Ravinia Festival outside of Chicago.

Unlock’d, presented by the Prospect Theater Company, opened Off-Broadway at The Duke on 42nd Street Theatre on June 16, 2013. The show was scheduled to run through July 13 but was extended to July 20, 2013. The show was directed and choreographed by Marlo Hunter, who won the Joe A. Callaway Award from SDC for her musical staging of the production,^[5] and starred Jillian Gottlieb as Belinda, Jennifer Blood as Clarissa, Sydney James Harcourt as Roderick Shearing (the Baron), A.J. Shively as Edwin, Maria Couch as Esther, Catherine LeFrere as Avia, Chris Gunn as Umbriel, Adam Daveline as Caleb, Chandler Reeves as Ariella, Hansel Tan as Barney, Emily Rogers as The Maid, and Lukas Poost as The Gardener.^[6]

Island Song

Telling the story of five contemporary New Yorkers as they pursue their passions, resist distraction, and live out a "twisted love affair" with the city, "Island Song captures every urbanite's triumphs, disappointments, and ever-tested perspective."^[7]

The musical had workshops at Princeton University and Western Carolina University in 2012 and Seattle's Balagan Theater in Seattle^[8] and the Indiana Festival of Theater^[9] in 2013. It had a workshop production at the Bloomington Playwrights Project in January and February 2014.^[10] Island Song has had concert presentations at (le) Poisson Rouge in New York,^[11] Crawfish in Tokyo,^[12] the St. James Studio in London,^[13] and the Comedie Nation in Paris.^[14]

Other Works

In 2009, a cabaret of Carner and Gregor songs, Sing, But Don’t Tell, was presented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. The cast of the Broadway revival of HAIR performed a concert of their songs in February 2010 entitled BUZZED. A concert of their songs, also called "Sing, But Don't Tell", was presented in the London Hippodrome's Matcham Room in March 2013.

They created "Carner & Gregor's Barely Legal Showtune Extravaganza," an annual summer concert in New York City featuring current college musical theater performers from around the country and world, selected by a panel of industry judges. Previous alums include Charlotte Maltby, Lora Lee Gayer, Holland Mariah Grossman, Blair Goldberg, Justin Stein, Kathryn Boswell, and Danielle Wade. Broadway hosts have included Sarah Stiles, Bobby Steggert, Natalie Weiss, and Andrew Kober.

Popular Songs

"Advice to a Young Firefly"
"After Hours"
"Almost First Kiss"
"Make It Here"
"New York, Do You Care?"
"Shoulders Down"
"Sing, But Don't Tell"
"So Far From Pennsylvania"
"Stay Awhile"
"TMI"
"Traffic Island Song"
“Wall Lovin’”

Awards

2015 Kleban Prize for Most Promising Librettist (Sam Carner) ^[15]
2015 Manhattan Association of Cabaret and Clubs Nominations for Best Song (Advice to a Young Firefly) and Best Comic/Novelty Song (Savin' It)^[16]
2014 John Wallowitch Award ^[17]
2014 Finalist for the Fred Ebb Award
2014 Manhattan Association of Cabaret and Clubs Nominations for Best Song (So Far From Pennsylvania) and Best Special Musical Material (Wall Lovin') ^[18]
2013 Finalist for the Kleban Prize (Sam Carner)
2012 Manhattan Association of Cabaret and Clubs Nomination for Best Song (Make It Here) ^[19]
2011 Manhattan Association of Cabaret and Clubs Nominations for Best Song (After Hours) and Best Special Musical Material (Sing, But Don't Tell)^[20]
2007 “Best in Fest” Audience Prize for the New York Musical Theatre Festival production of Unlock’d
2007 New York Musical Theatre Festival Honorable Mentions

- “Most Promising Musical”

- “Best Lyrics”

2007 Talkin’ Broadway Summer Theatre Festival Citations

- “Outstanding New Musical”

- “Outstanding Original Theatrical Score” (Wildcard Citation)^[21]

2006 Finalist for the National Musical Theatre Network’s Director’s Choice Award
2004 Richard Rodgers Award for Staged Readings (administered by The American Academy of Arts and Letters)^[22]

References

External links

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