Martin Charnin

Martin Charnin was a director, lyricist, composer, producer, author, and actor. In 1957, Charnin played the part of Big Deal, a member of the Jets, in the original Broadway cast of West Side Story, and two years later was in the revue The Girls Against the Boys, starring Bert Lahr and Nancy Walker. Around the same time, he began writing lyrics, at first for revues such as Kaleidoscope Revue (1957), which began its life at the Provincetown Playhouse in Boston, and Fallout Revue and Pieces of Eight (both 1959), and Seven Come Eleven (1961), all three of which opened off-Broadw...