Thomas Meehan, Book Writer Behind Musical Comedies Annie, The Producers and Hairspray, Dies at 88

Thomas Meehan, the mastermind of musical comedy who won Tony Awards for his collaborations on Annie, The Producers and Hairspray, died on August 22. He was 88.

Thomas Edward Meehan was born on August 14, 1929 and raised in Suffern, NY. He attended Hamilton College and moved to New York when he turned 24. His first gig was as a writer for The New Yorker's "Talk of the Town."

Meehan's show-business career kicked off in Hollywood, earning consecutive Emmy nominations (1964 and 1965) for That Was the Week That Was and winning a 1970 Emmy for Annie, the Women in the Life of a Man.

Meehan's first shot at Broadway came in 1977, writing the libretto for the new musical Annie. The show featured music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin and was directed by Charnin. Based on Harold Gray's comic strip Little Orphan Annie, the show was a runaway success, earning Meehan his first Tony for Best Book of a Musical and running 2,377 performances.

Meehan's other big hits came in his librettos for the stage musical adaptations of The Producers (2001), co-written with Mel Brooks, and Hairspray (2003), written with Mark O'Donnell. The musicals earned Meehan his second and third Tony Awards.

Off-Broadway, Meehan reunited with Strouse and Charnin on the 1993 sequel Annie Warbucks. He also wrote the libretto for the 2011 stage musical Death Takes a Holiday. From 1991-2001, Meehan used his comedic talent as a writer for the Tony Awards. Additional Broadway projects on Meehan's extensive résumé included I Remember Mama (1979), Ain't Broadway Grand (1993), Young Frankenstein (2007), Cry-Baby (2008), Elf (2010), Chaplin (2012) and his final Broadway credit, Rocky (2014).