Despite his impressive musical theater roots, composer PETER MELNICK has long straddled the worlds of live theater and film scoring.  His new musical ADRIFT IN MACAO, a parody of film noir written with collaborator/librettist Christopher Durang, received Drama Desk nominations including the Outstanding Music category, for its near sold-out run at New York's Primary Stages earlier this year. The show's first post-New York production opens at Boston's Lyric Stage in early January 2008.

In addition to ADRIFT IN MACAO, Melnick is working with librettist Bill Russell on THE LAST SMOKER IN AMERICA, a futuristic fantasy about a dysfunctional family in a smoke-free America. He is also collaborating with librettists Bill and Cheri Steinkellner (the Broadway-bound SISTER ACT) on ESTHER PLAYS THE PALACE, a musical based on the Purim story.  Past productions include the scores to CHINESE CABARET, Twyla Tharp’s SEXTET, and several off-off-Broadway projects that fall under the category of learning experiences.

Melnick’s film credits include Farce of the Penguins, written and directed by Bob Saget. Other credits include L.A. Story, the Steven Martin comedy; award-winning independent features Call Waiting and West of Here; The Only Thrill, starring Diane Keaton and Sam Shepard; Horton Foote’s Convicts, with Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones; and Only You, starring Helen Hunt and Kelly Preston. His cable and television credits include the Emmy-winning Indictment: The McMartin Trial (HBO), Grand Avenue (HBO), Lily Dale (Showtime), Mermaid (Showtime), and numerous PBS documentaries.

Melnick attended Harvard College, Berklee College of Music, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He also studied privately with jazz legend Jaki Byard. (Disclosure: he dropped out of Harvard one year shy of a degree in order to study music at Berklee, which he similarly abandoned seven semesters later when offered his first film scoring assignment.)

Melnick now makes his home in Montecito, California, with his wife, Laini, an appellate criminal defense attorney and their children Daniel and Reine. He grew up in New York, the product of an extraordinary entertainment family - his father is film producer Daniel Melnick (All That Jazz, Straw Dogs, Altered States, Footloose, That’s Entertainment, and the seminal television comedy Get Smart), his mother is Linda Rodgers (composer ‘Three to Make Music’, ‘A Child’s Introduction to Jazz’ and other popular children’s songs) and his grandfather was legendary composer Richard Rodgers.  Raised in the New York tradition of bagels-and-lox secular Judaism, Melnick has since connected with the Jewish community in a more active way. He became an adult bar-mitzvah in his thirties, and subsequently had the joy of teaching his own son how to chant Torah. He currently sits on the board of the Santa Barbara ADL, and serves as the Social Action chair of the Community Shul of Montecito and Santa Barbara. Israel advocacy is his third great passion, after family and musical theater.