1. Rusty Magee was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, along with his three brothers.
21 Facts About Rusty Magee
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Rusty Magee graduated from Eaglebrook School in 1970 and then Phillips Exeter Academy in 1973.
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Rusty Magee received his bachelor's degree in music at Brown University in 1978 and was awarded an honorary Masters of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama after working there for three years as Musical Consultant for the Yale Repertory Theatre and the Yale School of Drama.
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Rusty Magee eventually moved to New York, where he became an accomplished composer and lyricist for theatre, television, and film and commercials.
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Rusty Magee was an established comedian who lampooned popular musicians and musical genres.
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Rusty Magee often concluded his act with a rendition of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl", which soon become a trademark.
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Rusty Magee co-produced and wrote the music for hundreds of one-act plays as Musical Director and co-founder of Steve Olsen's West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in New York City.
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In 1986, Rusty Magee appeared in a bit part in Woody Allen's film Hannah and Her Sisters.
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Rusty Magee won the New York James Fleetwood Outer Critics Circle Award for his music and lyrics for Moliere's Scapin.
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Rusty Magee wrote the music and lyrics for ART's production of Carlo Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters and Moliere's The Imaginary Invalid.
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Rusty Magee collaborated with Lewis Black on The Czar Of Rock And Roll, a musical based on the real-life story of singer Dean Reed.
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Two years later, Rusty Magee began working with RENT composer Jonathan Larson, Bobby Golden and Paul Scott Goodman on a new musical called Sacred Cows, an irreverent retelling of the Creation Myth.
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In 1995, Rusty Magee wrote the music and lyrics for Ubu Rock, a musical based on Alfred Jarry's controversial 1896 French play Ubu Roi.
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Rusty Magee collaborated again with Bobby Golden, writing songs for Nickelodeon's animated series The Wubbulous World of Dr Seuss, as well as Out of the Box on the Disney Channel.
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Rusty Magee wrote songs for Arthur: A Live Adventure, a musical based on the "Arthur" children's books by Marc Brown and the PBS animated series Arthur.
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The concert was hosted by Lewis Black and featured Rusty Magee's songs performed by Rebecca Luker, Alison Fraser and Mary Testa.
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Rusty Magee gave an impromptu half-hour set on piano, in which he both played songs and reflected on his life.
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Rusty Magee died of colon cancer, aged 47 and is interred at Forest Hills Cemetery in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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Rusty Magee belonged to Actors' Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild, AFTRA, and ASCAP.
20.
In 2000, Rusty Magee was awarded the "Coming Up Taller" Humanitarian Award from then-First Lady Hillary Clinton at the White House for his work at the 52nd St Project, a theatre company in Hell's Kitchen.
21.
On January 20,2019, another tribute concert called Rusty Magee Revisited was performed at 54 Below, featuring Tony Award winner Daisy Eagan.