Hugh Wheeler was a British novelist, librettist, and screenwriter. He attended the University of London before moving to America in 1934, where he remained for the rest of his life. Under the pseudonyms Q. Patrick and Patrick Quentin, Wheeler wrote over 30 mystery novels and four of his novels were transformed into films: Black Widow, Man in the Net, The Green-Eyed Monster, and The Man with Two Wives. He also wrote the screenplays for Travels with My Aunt, Something for Everyone, and Nijinsky.
In 1961, he wrote Big Fish, Little Fish, Big Fish, one of the first Broadway plays to explore frankly the issue of homosexuality. This first play was then followed by Look: We've Come Through (1961) and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1966). In the 1970s, Wheeler turned his attention to musicals and wrote the books for A Little Night Music (1973), a new production of Candide (1973), Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), and Meet Me in St. Louis (adapted from the 1949 MGM musical). He also contributed material to Pacific Overtures (1976), and wrote a new adaptation of Kurt Weill's opera Silverlake, which was directed by Harold Prince at the New York Opera. WHeeler won the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical in 1973, 1974, and 1979 for A Little Night Music, Candide, and Sweeney Todd respectively.
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