Courtesy of Joshua Rosenblum

Joshua Rosenblum ’83 MUS ’85 wrote a book, in part because his wife, Joanne, told him to.

Rosenblum’s book, “Closer Than Ever: The Unique Six-Decade Songwriting Partnership of Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire” catalogs the 60-year partnership between Broadway icons and Yale alums Richard Maltby Jr. ’59 DRA ’62 and David Shire ’59. The idea for the book, according to Rosenblum, came to him in a dream.

“‘Closer Than Ever’ sort of has a double meaning because it’s the title of one of their revues and it also refers to them because they’ve been writing songs together for more than 60 years and they are truly closer than ever,” Rosenblum said. “It’s really wonderful to see them work together and hear about their work from them. They’re like an old married couple.”

During his research for the book, he interviewed both Shire and Maltby several times. The two met in their first year at Yale in 1955. Maltby was a lover of musicals seeking to become a set designer, and Shire always wanted to write and compose musicals. 

Upon their first meeting, they disliked each other immediately, said Rosenblum. 

“David thought that Richard was a snob, and Richard thought that David was a hick, but there was nobody else to write songs,” Rosenblum said. “[David] actually came to Yale with an entire musical score, just the music, no lyrics at all. Because no one else was around, they had to start writing songs together.”

They put one another through a “training period,” said Rosenblum. In it, Maltby learned the basics of musical composition and Shire that dramatism, in addition to catchiness, is essential to writing songs for the stage. 

From this training, they wrote their first jointly composed musical, Cyrano. This show would be staged at the end of their junior year as the commencement show. Through the show, the duo uncovered a rhythm of collaboration that has sustained their partnership and careers.

“David will bring Richard some music, and Richard will say, ‘No, no, no, it’s not quite right,’” Rosenblum said. “David will get kind of annoyed, but then he’ll go back and fix it, and it’ll turn into a great theater song. David still says Richard is kind of the arbiter.”

This rhythm seldom falters, but when it does, it quickly starts up again. Rosenblum attributes this synergy to Shire and Maltby’s individual selflessness and humility.

According to Rosenblum, Shire and Maltby’s more than 60 years of collaboration are akin to a marriage. Even then, many marriages don’t last nearly as long. The answer, Rosenblum believes, “lies in that neither of them is attached to being right, but they are both attached to getting the best results.”

He said that the pair is so close that they nearly finish each other’s sentences. Watching them is comparable to observing a “polished vaudeville act.” 

Through the research for this book, Rosenblum said that he learned a variety of interesting facts that few others know. For instance, Shire, a pop music fanatic at heart, wrote the Motown classic “With You I’m Born Again” in 1979. Sung by Billy Preston and Syreeta Wright, this ballad reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 

On the other hand, Maltby is a writer for Harper’s Magazine, curating cryptic crossword puzzles for the magazine’s monthly issues. According to Rosenblum, Shire told him that he would have written “six or seven more musicals” if Maltby wasn’t writing “those damn crossword puzzles.”

Rosenblum believes Maltby and Shire’s influence is significant on modern composers and writers. He hopes that readers in the Yale community familiarize themselves with their works to preserve history, as he finds them to be “cultural forebears and artistic godfathers.”’

Irene Nam ’28 has read from the book and said that its importance lies in its ability to show how ideas in the creative world are formed and brought to life.

“[“Closer Than Ever”] really shows how relationships and working as a team, especially in the musical industry, are so important and essential to making good work,” Nam said. “I think it also conveys the beauty of partnership and collaboration.”

Copies of Rosenblum’s book are available at the Yale Bookstore, where they are showcased in the books by Yale authors section, much to his delight.  

Geoffrey Block, Oxford’s Broadway Legacies publisher of “Closer Than Ever,” says that he is excited it is finally out. 

“I am delighted to report that the book was an incredible hit,” Block said. “It is an irresistibly readable, enjoyable, thorough and insightful book on a team that has often been overlooked. Not anymore.”

Before “Closer Than Ever” was published, Rosenblum’s original six-page introduction for the book was axed. Rosenblum released his unpublished foreword with the News. 

In it, he describes his piano-playing stint at the Ivoryton Playhouse in Connecticut, where he worked on the music for the first production of the summer: “Starting Here, Starting Now.” The revue of songs happened to be written by Maltby and Shire. 

He didn’t know what the show was about, much less who these two men were, but as Rosenblum began learning the score, he realized that “there was something quite special about their songs.” 

“So unbeknownst to the two of them, Maltby and Shire right away became role models for me,” wrote Rosenblum. “I had been writing music since around the time I was eleven and had recently become interested in composing for musical theater, which meant I was experimenting with writing my own lyrics as well. These two gentlemen really had it going on in a way that I thought was well worth aspiring to.” 

For the past four decades, Rosenblum said, Maltby and Shire played recurring and significant roles in his life. Through the book, Rosenblum hoped to take on the task of chronicling, deconstructing and celebrating the work of “two of the smartest, most interesting, and most diversely talented people [he knows].” 

Currently, Rosenblum is writing another book about Maury Yeston ’67 GRD ’73 ’74, composer of the Tony award-winning musical “Nine,” and his former undergraduate teacher.