Rusty Magee

Rusty Magee
Magee in June 2000
Born	Benjamin Rush Magee August 6, 1955 Washington, D.C., U.S.
Died	February 16, 2003 (aged 47) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Comedian, actor, composer/lyricist
Spouse(s)	Alison Fraser (1984–2003; his death)
Children	Nathaniel

Benjamin Rush "Rusty" Magee (August 6, 1955 – February 16, 2003) was an accomplished comedian, actor and composer/lyricist for theatre, television, film and commercials.

Magee was born in Washington, D.C.. In 1973, he received his bachelor's degree in music at Brown University in 1978 and was awarded an honorary Masters of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama after working there for three years as Musical Consultant for the Yale Repertory Theatre and the Yale School of Drama.

Magee then moved to New York, where he became an accomplished composer and lyricist for theatre, television, and film and commercials. He was also an established comedian who lampooned popular musicians and musical genres. He often concluded his act with a rendition of Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl, which soon become a trademark. Magee co-produced and wrote the music for hundreds of one-act plays as Musical Director and co-founder (with comedian Lewis Black and Rand Forester) of Steve Olsen's West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in New York City. The theatre was known for cultivating raw, undiscovered talent and many renowned playwrights such as Aaron Sorkin, Warren Leight and Alan Ball had works staged at the West Bank Cafe early in their careers.

In 1986, Magee appeared opposite Woody Allen in Allen's film Hannah and Her Sisters (the film also featured Lewis Black). That same year, he arranged and performed the music for the Tony Award-winning production of The House of Blue Leaves at Lincoln Center and on Broadway and PBS. He won the New York James Fleetwood Outer Critics Circle Award for his music and lyrics for Molière's Scapin (starring Stanley Tucci). %5D This adaptation has been produced at CSC Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, the Intiman Playhouse in Seattle, the Court in Chicago, and American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. He wrote the music and lyrics for ART's production of Carlo Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters and Molière's The Imaginary Invalid. Magee once again collaborated with Lewis Black on The Czar Of Rock And Roll, a musical based on the real-life story of singer Dean Reed. The show was staged at Houston's famous Alley Theatre in 1990. Two years later, Magee began working with RENT composer Jonathan Larson, Bobby Golden and Paul Scott Goodman on a new musical called Sacred Cows, an irreverent retelling of the Creation Myth. %5D The musical was never staged, but a demo recording (sung mostly by Larson and Magee) was released on iTunes over 20 years later.