Jake Brunger

Jake Brunger (book and lyrics) and Pippa Cleary (music and lyrics) met at Bristol University, where they were studying Drama and Music respectively. They have been described by The Stage newspaper as “one of the most exciting musical theatre writing teams working in the UK today.”

Their stage musical adaptation of Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾ The Musical ran at the Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End in 2019 following critically acclaimed runs at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London and Curve Theatre in Leicester. The show was nominated for the 2017 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical and the Original London Cast Recording is available on all streaming platforms on the Sony Masterworks Broadway label.

Their other musicals include: Jet Set Go! (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Theatre 503 and Jermyn Street Theatre), The Great British Soap Opera (Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Jermyn Street Theatre), Red Riding Hood (Singapore Repertory Theatre and multiple productions worldwide), Prodigy (National Youth Music Theatre; Original London Cast Recording on all streaming platforms), Treasure Island (Singapore Repertory Theatre) and Chicken Little (The Other Palace / Singapore Repertory Theatre). They also wrote the music and lyrics for The Snow Gorilla (Rose Theatre, Kingston).

Jake and Pippa’s songs are regularly performed in cabarets, concerts and drama school showcases. In 2018 they headlined their first sell-out concert at Live at Zedel, which can be viewed online here. They were chosen for the 2013 Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project in Chicago and in February 2016 they were made Associate Artists of Leicester Curve by Artistic Director Nikolai Foster. They recently spent a year on attachment to the National Theatre Studio.

Jake and Pippa regularly work on their own projects too. Jake’s debut feature film Love Sarah starring Celia Imrie, Bill Paterson and Rupert Penry Jones was released in cinemas in 2020, reaching #1 at the New Zealand Box Office and his stage play Four Play was first seen at the Old Vic Theatre starring Richard Madden and Jeremy Irvine. Pippa’s other credits include the UK tour of In the Willows starring Clive Rowe and the musical Snow White and Me written with Hollywood screenwriter Philip LaZebnik (writer of Mulan and The Prince of Egypt). She also runs her own toddler and baby music class business Pippa’s Poppets.

You can follow Jake and Pippa on Twitter and Instagram or visit their website www.brungerandcleary.co.uk.