Jeremy Sams

• Name — Jeremy Sams • Born — 12 January 1957 • Birthplace — Croydon, London, England • Children — 1 • Occupation — * Writer • director • composer • translator • orchestrator • lyricist • Notable Works — Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Born and raised in Croydon, London, Sams is the son of the Shakespearean scholar and musicologist Eric Sams and his wife Enid (née Tidmarsh). He was educated at the independent Whitgift School. Sams attended Magdalene College, Cambridge and initially read modern languages (French and German) before switching to music. After Cambridge, he went on to train as a pianist at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

At the start of his career, Sam worked as a freelance pianist and coach, giving frequent recitals and tours and doing stints as a repetiteur at opera houses in Brussels and Ankara. His first big break in theatre came about through working with Steven Pimlott in the early 1980s, when he was commissioned by Pimlott to write the music for his production of Ring Round the Moon at the Manchester Royal Exchange. Sams directed a revival of Michael Frayn's farce Noises Off, which he mounted in London's Royal National Theatre in 2000. This production then transferred to the West End, and then to Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway in 2001. Among his other directing credits are the West End musicals Spend Spend Spend (1999), the story of Viv Nicholson, who squandered a fortune won in the British lottery, and a stage adaptation of the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2002) for both of which he received Laurence Olivier Award nominations; the 2002 Broadway production Amour, which he translated from the original French libretto by Didier Van Cauwelaert. His efforts earned him two Tony Award and two Drama Desk Award nominations. His directing credits also include Jason Carr and Gary Yershon's musical of The Water Babies at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2003. He directed the Jason Robert Brown Broadway musical13 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, on Broadway. He has also written and directed the stage adaptation of The Good Life based on the BBC TV sitcom which toured the UK in autumn 2021. He directed a stage adaptation of The Lavender Hill Mob based on the 1951 Ealing comedy film which began touring in autumn 2022. Sams' many translations include plays by Botho Strauß; Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Puccini's La Boheme, and Wagner's The Ring Cycle for ENO; The Merry Widow for Covent Garden; Les Parents terribles, The Miser and Mary Stuart for the Royal National Theatre; The Threepenny Opera for the Donmar Warehouse; and What's in a Name? for the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Sams' composing credits include the 1995 BBC film adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion, for which he won the British Academy Television Craft Awards for Best Original Music. Other scores include The Mother (2003) and Enduring Love (2004). Sams has written, arranged, and directed music for some 50 theatre productions, including The Wind in the Willows and Arcadia (Royal National Theatre) and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Royal Shakespeare Company).

Sams has one child with his former partner, actress Maria Friedman.

In 2013, Sams was awarded an honorary degree by Birmingham City University and was appointed as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.

Awards and nominations received by Jeremy Sams • Year — Awards Ceremony — Category — Nominated work(s) — Result — Note/Refs References • 1995 — Laurence Olivier Awards — Best Revival of a Play or Comedy — Les Parents terribles — Nominated as translator of the play • Best Musical Revival — The Threepenny Opera — Nominated as translator of the lyrics • 1996 — British Academy Television Awards — Best Original Music — Persuasion • 2000 — Laurence Olivier Awards — Best Director — Spend Spend Spend • 2002 — Outer Critics Circle Awards — Outstanding Direction of a Play — Noises Off • 2003 — Laurence Olivier Awards — Best New Musical — Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — Joint nomination with Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman • Tony Awards — Best Book of a Musical — Amour — Joint nomination with Didier van Cauwelaert • Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre — Joint nomination with Michel Legrand and Didier van Cauwelaert • Drama Desk Awards — Outstanding Book of a Musical — Joint nomination with Didier van Cauwelaert • Outstanding Lyrics • 2005 — Ivor Novello Awards — Best Original Film Score — Enduring Love • 2007 — Laurence Olivier Awards — Best Revival — Donkey's Years — Director of the revival