Danny Larsen is a recent graduate of NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Program where he studied as a composer/lyricist. Danny also holds Bachelors of Arts degrees in Music and Theatre Education from Brigham Young University. He won the ACTF Kennedy Center Composition award for his music and lyrics for SOFT SHOE, a new musical comedy, which premiered at BYU in 2002. Danny has done an extensive amount of arranging, orchestration, and composing for various projects and is also a director, music director and performer.
With librettist/co-lyricist Michelle Elliott, Danny received both the 2006 Richard Rodgers Development Award and a Daryl Roth Award for THE YELLOW WOOD, their first collaboration together. THE YELLOW WOOD is the story of 17-year old Adam, who has wicked ADD and a real problem feeling good about his dual Korean-American heritage. He is trying to memorize Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, but can’t get beyond the first line, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” before an amazing yellow wood starts to overcome his high school.
In addition to THE YELLOW WOOD, Michelle and Danny are also writing a musical based on the exploits of female pirates Anne Bonney and Mary Read called MAIDEN VOYAGE. They have begun work on a new work titled RED, which is a fantastic departure from the Little Red Riding Hood tale. RED is an exploration of the reasons why societies needed to create stories warning young people not to venture into “the wood”.