Laurence O'Keefe

Who is Laurence O'Keefe?

Laurence Crawford O'Keefe, also known as Larry, is a composer and lyricist for Broadway musicals, film and television.

O'Keefe is a graduate of Harvard College, where he studied anthropology and wrote humor for the Harvard Lampoon and sang with the Harvard Krokodiloes. He got his start in musical theater through Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals, performing in the Pudding's drag burlesques, composing two others, and penning one libretto. He later studied composition and film scoring at Berklee College of Music and the University of Southern California.

Until recently he was best known for writing the score for Bat Boy: The Musical, which ran off-Broadway from March 3 to December 2, 2001, followed by over 500 regional and amateur productions all over the USA. Bat Boy received eight Drama Desk Award nominations, including nods for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics, won two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and won both the Lucille Lortel Award and the Outer Critics' Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical.

In 2001, O'Keefe received the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award.