Maury Yeston is a Two-time Tony award-winning composer, lyricist, and music theorist.
Yeston has written the music and lyrics for several Broadway musicals, and is also a classical orchestral and ballet composer.
Among his Broadway musicals are “Nine” in 1982, “Titanic” in 1997, for both of which he won Tony Awards for “Best Musical” and “Best Score” and was nominated for Grammy Awards, and “Grand Hotel” in 1989, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for “Best Score “and two Drama Desk Awards for his music and lyrics.
Yeston sat down and chatted with this journalist prior to the 2025 Kleban Prize reception, which was hosted in New York City on February 3rd by ASCAP and BMI.
This year, Benjamin Velez was recognized for “Most Promising Musical Theatre Lyricist” and Madeline Myers was honored as the “Most Promising Musical Theatre Librettist.”
“I’ve known Madeline ever since she joined my BMI Music Theatre workshop,” Yeston said. “I’ve known her talent from that moment, and I always knew that I would be sitting here one day watching her advance in her career as the brilliant writer that she is.”
Reflecting on his two Tony wins for ‘Nine’ and ‘Titanic’
On winning his two Tony Awards, he reflected, “My first Tony win was a surprise. My day job was teaching Music Theory at Yale University, and I wrote the show ‘Nine’ based on my favorite Federico Fellini movie titled ‘8½’. He had done seven movies and a documentary, so in his head, he had done 7.5 movies.”
Yeston continued, “Then, he made another movie that didn’t make any sense at all. So, he called the film his ‘8½’ movie… and that’s how it became the movie it was.”
“Every single list of Top 10 films ever made included that movie, so I figured I had nothing to lose, and I decided to write a musical out of it. I called it ‘Nine’ and we put it on the stage,” he elaborated.
“Then, there was a show out called ‘Dreamgirls’ and we thought it was going to win a Tony Award,” he noted.
“Then, we got nominated alongside ‘Dreamgirls’ and we wound up winning over “Dreamgirls.’ All of a sudden, I have a Tony Award, and my life changed,” he explained.
“I stayed at Yale, I did another show, and then, we did ‘Titanic’ and that show won a Tony as well,” he said.
“I stayed at Yale for the next 23 years, and my students from BMI have all done brilliantly,” he added.
Advice for young and emerging creatives
For young and aspiring creatives that wish to pursue musical theatre, Yeston said, “They need to have the talent; that is what pushes them. You need to never give up on your talent. Make sure you have a day gig and do what you need to do to pay the rent. That’s the American dream.”
“My luck has been time and time again, to help brilliant young people with brilliant talent and watch them struggle and struggle, and then, succeed,” he expressed.
“So, always follow your dreams and never give up… just keep going and believe in yourself,” he concluded.
To learn more about Maury Yeston, check out his official website.
