Will Holt

Will Holt (born April 30, 1929 in Portland, Maine) is an American singer, songwriter, librettist and lyricist known first and primarily as a folk performer during the 1950s and 1960s and as an interpreter of the music of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht in performances and recordings with Martha Schlamme. Holt also made significant contributions to Broadway theatre during the 1970s.

Born in Portland, Maine, Holt made his Broadway debut in 1969 with "Come Summer", He enjoyed great success with "The Me Nobody Knows", which opened the following year and won him the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Musical Writer and a Tony nomination for Best Lyrics.

In 1974, Holt wrote the book for the musical Over Here! starring the Andrews Sisters, with a song score supplied by the Sherman Brothers, it was a nostalgic look at the home front during World War II. With Linda Hopkins, he conceived and wrote "Me and Bessie", a 1975 revue about the life and career of blues singer Bessie Smith.

In 1976, he collaborated with George Abbott and Richard Adler on "Music Is", an adaptation of the Shakespeare play "Twelfth Night" "Platinum (musical)", a 1978 musical starring Alexis Smith as a 1940s-50s film star attempting a comeback as a rock singer. His last Broadway project was the 1979 revival of A Kurt Weill Cabaret, for which he performed, as well as translating some of the lyrics. In 1988 he won the Los Angeles Dramalogue Critics Award for "A Walk on the Wild Side", for which he wrote book, music and lyrics.

He is currently composing "Minstrel Man" about Al Jolson, with Sherman Yellen supplying the book.

Holt wrote English lyrics for the Brazilian folk song "Meu limão, meu limoeiro". As "Lemon Tree", it was recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio, The Seekers, Sandie Shaw, and Trini Lopez, among others, and it was heard in television commercials for the aerosol furniture polish Lemon Pledge.

Holt also wrote the song "Raspberries, Strawberries", which was recorded by the Kingston Trio in 1960. The song is sung partially in French.

JFK: A Musical Drama was produced in Dublin, Ireland in 1997.

External links

• Will Holt at the Internet Broadway Database
• Will Holt at IMDb
• Bibliography at Doollee.com
• Will Holt | article by Portland Magazine