David Yazbek

David Norman Yazbek (born 1961) is an American writer, musician, composer, and lyricist. He wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals The Full Monty (2000), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2004), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010), The Band’s Visit (2017), Tootsie (2019), and Dead Outlaw (2025). He won a Tony Award and a Grammy Award for The Band’s Visit. He also consulted on the musical Buena Vista Social Club, for which he won another Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Early life David Yazbek was born in New York City. His father is of Lebanese descent, and his mother was of half-Italian and half-Jewish ancestry. He began cello lessons in elementary school and took up the piano as a teenager. He attended Riverdale Country School. While attending Brown University as an undergraduate, he wrote an original musical with the production group Brownbrokers before graduating in 1982. He also directed a production of Hair with the student theatre group Production Workshop, for which he composed an original song to complement the classic score. Career After college Yazbek got a job writing for David Letterman’s late-night television show Late Night with David Le