Wrote the broadly amusing stage satire on women's prison movies "Women Behind Bars," premiering in New York in 1976 first with Pat Ast as the prison matron then with Divine. Chicago's Pary Production Co. mounted it in 1978 with Candace Ferger as the matron and Gary Houston directing.
Won Broadway's 1982 Tony Award as Best Book (Musical) for "Dreamgirls."
He was also nominated for the same show as Best Score, his lyrics with
music by Henry Krieger.