Born in
New York City to Charles and Emma (Rosenblum) Stein, who had immigrated from
Poland, Joseph Stein grew up in the
Bronx. He graduated in 1935 from
CCNY, with a B.S. degree, then earned a Master of Social Work degree from
Columbia University in 1937. He began his career as a psychiatric social worker from 1939 until 1945, while writing comedy on the side. A chance encounter with
Zero Mostel led him to start writing for
radio personalities, including
Henry Morgan,
Hildegarde,
Tallulah Bankhead,
Phil Silvers, and
Jackie Gleason. He later started working in
television for
Sid Caesar when he joined the writing team of
Your Show of Shows They purchased a 50-cent tourist book filled with
Pennsylvania Dutch slang and returned to New York to write
Plain and Fancy, which opened on Broadway on January 27, 1955 and ran for 461 performances. It was an "old-fashioned, low-pressure alternative set among the Pennsylvania Dutch. It was pleasant and certainly suitable for the family trade." The musical has been playing at The Round Barn Theatre at
Amish Acres in
Nappanee, Indiana annually since 1986, and surpassed 3,000 performances as of 2010. Richard Pletcher, founder and producer, dedicated
The Round Barn Theatre stage to Stein in 1997 during its production of ''The Baker's Wife''. The theatre has produced eight of Stein's musicals since then. His greatest success Stein's additional Broadway credits include
Alive and Kicking,
Mr. Wonderful,
The Body Beautiful,
Juno,
Take Me Along,
Zorba,
Irene,
Carmelina, ''
The Baker's Wife, Rags, Enter Laughing and its musical adaptation, So Long, 174th Street. He also wrote the plays Mrs. Gibbons' Boys and Before the Dawn
. He co-wrote, with Carl Reiner, the screenplay for the film adaptation of Enter Laughing''. Stein wrote the book for the musical
All About Us, with a score by
Kander and Ebb, based on
The Skin of Our Teeth by
Thornton Wilder. It premiered at the
Westport Country Playhouse in April 2007. ;York Theatre The York Theatre featured Stein's
Take Me Along,
Carmelina, and
Plain and Fancy as its 2006 "Musicals in Mufti" staged concert series. Stein revised
Carmelina reducing it to a cast of seven from its original Broadway version for the York reading. Its 2007 series featured four additional Stein musicals,
Zorba,
Enter Laughing: The Musical (renamed from
So Long, 174th Street),
The Body Beautiful, and ''
The Baker's Wife. The readings are presented in concert format in mufti'', in street clothes without scenery or props. The York Theatre, under Artistic Director James Morgan, went on to produce a critically acclaimed fully staged off-Broadway production of
Enter Laughing: The Musical from September 3, 2008 through October 12, starring
Jill Eikenberry and
Michael Tucker. It was nominated for a 2009 Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding revival. A Broadway transfer has been announced. ;Encores!
Victoria Clark starred the
City Center Encores! production of
Marc Blitzstein and Joseph Stein’s
Juno. Directed by
Garry Hynes, with guest music direction by
Eric Stern and musical staging by
Warren Carlyle,
Juno played for five performances, from March 27 – 30, 2008 at
New York City Center and was the first presentation since the original Broadway staging in 1959 to use the original orchestration by Blitzstein,
Hershy Kay and
Robert Russell Bennett.
Juno, with music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein and book by Joseph Stein is based on the 1924 play
Juno and the Paycock by
Seán O'Casey. It originally opened on Broadway at the
Winter Garden Theater on March 9, 1959, starring Shirley Booth and Melvyn Douglas and played a total of sixteen performances. Songs include "I Wish It So", "We’re Alive", and "One Kind Word". ==Personal life==