Matthew Sklar is an American composer who is best known on Broadway for his long standing partnership with playwright and lyricist Chad Beguelin. Born in Westfield, New Jersey, Sklar first began composing as a teenager and had one of his first songs performed on the Disney Channel show, the All-New Mickey Mouse Club. In 1991, he graduated from the Juilliard School Pre-College Division as a composition major and then went on to study at New York University from 1991 to 1995. While at university, Sklar played keyboards in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, and began conducting the show aged just 21.
In 2006, Sklar made his Broadway debut with Beguelin with The Wedding Singer. The show was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Original Score as well as Best Musical and has since proved an international hit. In 2010, the duo wrote the smash hit holiday musical Elf!, which was based on the 2003 film of the same name. The musical ran on Broadway for two Christmas seasons before transferring to the West End in 2015.
Since their success with Elf! and The Wedding Singer, Sklar and Beguelin have since teamed up on Broadway musical The Prom!, which received 7 nominations at the 2019 Tony Awards and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical. The hit musical was turned into a Netflix film adaptation in 2020.
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