Meet Our Honoree: Tom Kitt
Tom Kitt is a two-time Tony, two-time Emmy, two-time Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize Award winner. As a musical theater composer, he has written the music for six Broadway shows: Next to Normal (Tony Award, Olivier Nomination), If/Then (Tony Nomination), Almost Famous (Tony Nomination), Flying Over Sunset (Tony Nomination), High Fidelity, and Bring it On, The Musical. His work for the stage has also been seen Off Broadway at Second Stage (Next to Normal, Superhero), The Public Theater (The Visitor, Shakespeare in the Park) and he has worked at some of the most prestigious regional theaters including The Old Globe, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, The Signature Theater, and ART.
In addition, Tom’s Broadway credits as an orchestrator, arranger, and music supervisor include: Next to Normal (Tony Award), Hell’s Kitchen (Tony Nomination, Grammy Award), The SpongeBob Musical (Tony Nomination), Jagged Little Pill (Tony Nomination, Grammy Award), Almost Famous, Head Over Heels, Everyday Rapture, American Idiot, and Redwood. Tom has also been active in the world of film and TV. As one of the vocal arrangers working on the Pitch Perfect films, Tom most notably helped create the classic “Riff-off.” Tom also served as music supervisor/arranger/orchestrator for Grease Live, and contributed songs for Royal Pains, Penny Dreadful, and Sesame Street. He also provided music supervision for the NBC series, Rise and served as a Supervising Music Producer on the Bobby Lopez/Kristen Anderson-Lopez/Steven Levenson/Thomas Kail musical television series Up Here. And he is known for his three original opening numbers for The Tony Awards, “This Party’s for You” in 2024, written with Amanda Green for Ariana Debose, “Live” in 2019, written with David Javerbaum for James Corden, and the Emmy Award winning “Bigger” in 2013, written with Lin-Manuel Miranda for Neil Patrick Harris.
Tom is also proud that his musical adaptation of Freaky Friday, co-written with Bridget Carpenter and Brian Yorkey was turned into an original movie musical for Disney Channel and will be making its UK debut in the fall of 2025. Tom is a Sony Masterworks artist, with whom he recorded his debut album, Reflect in 2021.
Being recognized by SAY is an immense honor for which I could not be more proud. Over the years, I have had the great privilege of meeting so many incredible SAY kids, witnessing firsthand the lives that have been impacted and changed by this extraordinary organization. Thank you to SAY for making me part of their beautiful family.