Richard Maltby Jr. is a director, producer, lyricist, writer, and screenwriter, often reputed to be the “King of Revues.” Though he was most notably known for his musical revues on Broadway, he worked on numerous Off-Broadway productions.  Some of his Off-Broadway credits include: THE SAP OF LIFE (1961), AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ (1978), STREETSONGS (1979, 1984), CHEZ NOUS (1977), HANG ON TO THE GOOD TIMES (1985), 3 GUYS NAKED FROM THE WAIST DOWN (1985), THEY WROTE THAT? (2004), LOVE, LINDA: THE LIFE OF MRS. COLE PORTER (2013), JUST JIM DALE (2014). With David Shire he wrote STARTING HERE, STARTING NOW (1976), URBAN BLIGHT (1988), CLOSER THAN EVER (1989/2012) , TAKE FLIGHT (2010).  CLOSER THAN EVER was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics as well as an Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical Revival and won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Lyrics. In 1977, he and Shire were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Original Cast Recording for STARTING HERE, STARTING NOW..

Maltby has worked with numerous Off-Broadway theaters in New York City, including the Actors’ Playhouse, Cherry Lane Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Minetta Lane Theatre, One Sheridan Square, Roundabout Stage I (23^rdStreet Theatre), Stage 73, and the York Theatre at St. Peter’s.

Richard Maltby Jr. was born on October 6, 1937 in Ripon, Wisconsin, where he lived for only a matter of months as his father was a traveling trumpet player and founder of the Richard Maltby Orchestra. Once World War II began, the family settled down in a suburb of Chicago, where his father worked as the staff music arranger for a radio station until a connection at the station brought the whole family to New York City with a new job. He attended Yale, as the school’s only theatre major, with dreams of being a set designer, only to discover he could not draw. At Yale Maltby met David Shire, a composer and music student, and they fostered  their  professional partnership. Over the course of their undergraduate studies at Yale, Maltby and Shire co-wrote two musicals, Cyrano and Grand Tour, both produced by the Yale Dramatic Association.  A selection of his Broadway credits with David Shire includes: Baby, Closer Than Ever, and Big. Other Broadway credits for Maltby include Song and Dance ( additional lyrics), Miss Saigon (lyrics with Alain Boublil), Ring of Fire (creator and director), The Pirate Queen (adaptation from French book and lyrics with Alain Boublil and John Dempsey), and The Story of My Life (director).  Maltby has the distinction of conceiving and directing the only two Broadway musical revues to date that have won the Tony Award for Best Musical: Ain’t Misbehavin’(1988) and Fosse (1999).  Fosse also won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and a Laurence Olivier Award.