The Library for the Performing Arts Acquires the Thomas Meehan Archive

The Billy Rose Theatre Division at the Library for the Performing Arts has acquired the archive of Thomas Meehan, an American librettist best known for writing the books for the Broadway musicals Annie, The Producers, and Hairspray. The archive, dating from the 1960s to 2017, contains drafts for his major theater work, as well as notes, programs, press clippings, agreements, and audio and video recordings. The collection also holds drafts of Meehan's short stories and unrealized theater, film, and television projects.

Thomas Meehan was born in Ossining, New York in 1929. Meehan’s first job was for The New Yorker as an editor and writer of humorous short stories. One of his stories caught the attention of lyricist and director Martin Charnin and actress Anne Bancroft, and Charnin hired Meehan to adapt the story for Bancroft's 1970 television special, Annie, the Women in the Life of a Man, which also starred her husband, Mel Brooks. Brooks and Meehan would go on to work on many more collaborations.

In 1972, Charnin asked Meehan to adapt Harold Gray's comic strip Little Orphan Annie into a musical. Meehan agreed, and wrote a book for the musical that featured a more realistic Annie from the comic, set in Great Depression-era New York City. Annie premiered on Broadway on April 21, 1977 and played there for six years. The musical is now considered a classic of American theater. 

During the late ‘70s and ‘80s, Meehan wrote the book for I Remember Mama, Richard Rodgers’s last musical, co-wrote screenplays for the films To Be or Not to Be, starring and produced by Mel Brooks, One Magic Christmas, and Brooks's Spaceballs. Meehan and Brooks's partnership continued with a musical adaptation of Brooks's 1967 comedy film, The Producers.

His next musical, Hairspray, was based on the 1988 film of the same name, about a teenage dancer who helps desegregate a television show in the early 1960s. The musical opened in Seattle, Washington in 2002 and premiered on Broadway the same year. Hairspray proved to be another hit for Meehan: the original production won eight Tony Awards and ran for more than 2,500 performances. 

Meehan received the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times: in 1977 for Annie, 2001 for The Producers, and 2003 for Hairspray. He remains the only librettist with three Broadway shows whose original productions ran for more than 2,000 performances.

Meehan was also a committed supporter of the Billy Rose Theatre Division at the Library for the Performing Arts, and regularly joined our programs. In 2016, he participated in the musical theater networking program, Across a Crowded Room, as a mentor to other writers. Jennifer Ashley Tepper, producer and Creative and Programming Director of 54 Below, interviewed Meehan at that year’s networking event.

Meehan died in 2017. 

The Meehan archive is currently being processed, and will be accessible to the public. Stay tuned for updates by signing up to receive our email newsletter.