Marshall Brickman, Oscar Winner and Tony-Nominated Jersey Boys Writer, Dies at 85

Marshall Brickman, Tony-nominated book writer behind Broadway's Jersey Boys and The Addams Family, died on November 29 in Manhattan. His daughter Sophie Brickman confirmed the death without citing a cause. He was 85. 

Brickman was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 25, 1939 to American parents Pauline and Abram. He returned to the United States to attend college, double-majoring in music and science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After completing his degree, Brickman joined the folk group The Tarriers, which also featured his classmate, singer and banjo player Eric Weissberg. In 1963, the two released New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass, an album that later became the soundtrack for the 1972 movie Deliverance, including the hit “Dueling Banjos.” After The Tarriers disbanded, Brickman continued his music career in The New Journeymen with John and Michelle Phillips. After Brickman departed the group, the Phillipses formed The Mamas and the Papas.

In the late 1960s, Brickman became a gag and sketch writer for television shows such as Candid Camera and The Dick Cavett Show, and beginning in 1967, Brickman spent three years as head writer for The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, a job he would later describe as "indentured servitude." His manager Jack Rollins suggested he work on material with a comedian he also managed—and who often opened for The Tarriers—a New York standup named Woody Allen. Brickman would eventually collaborate with Allen on some of his most acclaimed films including Sleeper, Annie Hall and Manhattan.  

“With Annie Hall, we were trying to show off, trying to prove how clever we were," Brickman said in a 2021 interview with The Guardian. It’s a slice of what life was like at a particular time and place, but it can’t give you any clues as to how to write a movie." The film went on to win four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, which Allen shared with Brickman and Brickman accepted at the 1978 ceremony. 

In 1976, Brickman was also one of four co-writers of the television pilot for The Muppet Show. Throughout the 1980s, Brickman directed several of his own scripts including Simon, Lovesick and The Manhattan Project. In 2001, he directed the dark comedy Sister Mary Explains It All, a TV adaptation of the play by Christopher Durang.

Brickman made his first foray into theater when Rick Elice approached him about collaborating on a musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. He passed on the job when it was initially proposed as a jukebox musical with a retrofitted plot, but signed on after speaking with the group's founding member and primary songwriter, Bob Gaudio, who shared stories of the band's history. Jersey Boys won four 2006 Tony Awards including Best Musical and earned Elice and Brickman a Tony nomination for their book. The show ran at Broadway's August Wilson Theatre for over 11 years from October 2005 to January 2017. The musical also ran for nine years in London's West End, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 2009. A West End revival opened in the summer of 2021 and played its final performance January 4, 2024. Brickman and Elice also penned the screenplay for Clint Eastwood's 2014 film adaptation of the musical. 

Brickman and Elice returned to Broadway in 2010 with The Addams Family, again co-authoring the musical's book. The show featured a score by Andrew Lippa and starred Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth, Carolee Carmello, Kevin Chamberlin, Jackie Hoffman and Krysta Rodriguez, among others. 

Brickman is survived by his wife, film editor Nina Feinberg, and their two daughters Jessica and Sophie.