Topic: Jeanine Tesori

Jeanine Tesori (formerly known as Jeanine Levenson) is a composer of musicals. She is perhaps best known for the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie; she composed eleven new songs for the show and added them to three from the movie version; four previously written songs from the 1920s were also added to the musical's score. She also composed the music for the Broadway musical Caroline, or Change, with lyrics by Tony Kushner. She won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play for the 1998 Broadway production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. She also composed an off-Broadway musical, Violet.

In 2006, she collaborated once again with Tony Kushner, composing new music for his translation of Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children, which was produced as part of the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park season.

In addition to her work as a composer, Tesori has also served as an arranger, conductor, and musician (usually a pianist). She wrote the dance arrangements and served as associate conductor for the Broadway musical The Secret Garden. She also served as associate conductor for The Who's Tommy on Broadway. Other Broadway arranging credits include dance arrangements for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Dream, and The Sound of Music (for which she also arranged incidental music); vocal arrangements for Thoroughly Modern Millie; and arrangements for Swing!. She composed the music for the stage musical Shrek the Musical, with lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, which opened on Broadway in 2008.