Richard Thomas (Composer, Bookwriter, Lyricist) is an Olivier-award winning composer and writer and is best known for writing and composing Jerry Springer - The Opera, the first-ever musical to win all four British 'Best Musical' awards. Music and lyrics for the show were written by Richard, its book and additional lyrics were co-written by Richard with Stewart Lee. The show ran for 609 performances in London (National Theatre, Cambridge Theatre) and a UK national tour and continues to be performed regularly around the world including notable productions at Carnegie Hall, US and Sydney Opera House, Australia. A new production of the musical opened in February 2018, off Broadway in New York’s The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre, produced by The New Group and is nominated for four 2018 Lucille Lortel awards, including Outstanding Musical.
Richard also wrote the lyrics for the musical adaptation of Made in Dagenham, which opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London's West End in 2014. The show was written for Stage Entertainment with David Arnold and Richard Bean.
Richard began his career as a comedian and television composer working with comedians including Frank Skinner, David Baddiel and Harry Hill and is also known for his BBC2 television series Kombat Opera Presents... which consisted of five half-hour musicals based around existing television programmes and which won two Rose D'Or awards in 2008 for Best Comedy and Best Programme across all categories.
Richard has also written songs for two seasons of Tracey Ullman's sketch show (BBC1/HBO).
Other notable work includes the two-act dance show Shoes (Sadlers Wells/West End), the libretto for 2011 smash-hit opera Anna Nicole (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; BAM, New York), the critically-acclaimed Tourettes Diva which has been performed in the USA, Australia and Europe, a two act musical set in a British Comedy Club entitled The Ha Ha Hole, a choral piece entitled Earth, Wind and Choir, and The Anger Demon for Copenhagen Opera House, his Wrong Songs series and his work with British comedian Jayde Adams.
Richard is working on a several new musicals, amongst which are AA - the alcoholics anonymous musical, as well as My Left Right Foot The Musical in association with the National Theatre of Scotland. He also continues to write choral commissions and one-off commissions for groups around the world.