Steven Lutvak, the composer and co-lyricist of the hit Tony-winning 2013 Broadway musical comedy A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, died October 9. He was 64.
His death was confirmed by his agent, Olivier Sultan. A cause of death has not yet been disclosed.
“Steven was one of the warmest, kindest, loveliest persons I know,” Sultan said in a statement. “Completely original, completely himself.”
Born in the Bronx on July 18, 1959, Lutvak enjoyed a musical career that included cabaret performance, songwriting, coaching, musical arrangment and two albums The Time It Take and Ahead of My Heart, but had his most significant breakthrough with the 2013 Broadway production of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. The production ran for more than two years, won the Tony Award for Best Musical and earned Tony nominations for its three stars Bryce Pinkham, Jefferson Mays and Lauren Worsham.
Based on a 1907 novel, the musical comedy chronicles the murderous misadventures of a distant heir to a family fortune who sets out to eliminate the relatives who stand between him and the money. The musical is marked by the madcap casting of a single performer – on Broadway, Jefferson Mays – in the multiple roles of the family members.
The popular production was Lutvak’s Broadway debut. In addition to composing the music, he co-wrote the lyrics with Robert L. Freedman, with Darko Tresnjak directing and Peggy Hickey choreographing. The show spawned two national tours.
Since Gentleman’s Guide, Lutvak served as an adjunct professor the New York University Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program.
According to his agent, Lutvak was working on several shows in development at the time of his death. “We are all the poorer that we won’t get to experience these projects in their finished forms,” Sultan said. “Mostly, we are all the poorer that we won’t get to enjoy Steven’s warmth, talent and wit anymore.”
Lutvak is survived by husband, choreographer Michael McGowan, and daughter Eliot Rose Lutvak-McGowan.