\n<\/p>\n
Joel Paley, a dancer, playwright and director who wrote the book and lyrics for \u201cRuthless!,\u201d an award-winning Off Broadway musical about an ambitious girl who will do anything \u2014 including murder her rival \u2014 to star in a grade school show, died on Jan. 11 in Milford, Conn. He was 69 and lived in Redding, Conn.<\/p>\n
His sister Barbara Paley Cohen confirmed the death but did not know the cause.<\/p>\n
According to the Connecticut State Police, he had a medical emergency while driving on I-95 and pulled over at a rest stop in Milford. Someone who saw him in distress called 911, and medics administered lifesaving measures, but he died in a hospital.<\/p>\n
Mr. Paley\u2019s death followed by nearly six weeks that of Marvin Laird<\/a>, his partner in marriage, who wrote the music to \u201cRuthless!\u201d which opened in 1992. When the show was revived Off Broadway in 2015, Mr. Paley surprised Mr. Laird during his remarks at an opening night party by<\/a> saying, \u201cNow that our child is alive and well and kicking, will you marry me?\u201d Mr. Laird accepted and they married a few months later.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Paley\u2019s first major show business job \u2014 after taking ballet lessons \u2014 was with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo<\/a>, a cross-dressing parody troupe, in 1975, a year after it was formed. He stayed three years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHe was an absolutely natural comedian,\u201d Peter Anastos, Trockadero\u2019s founder, said in an interview. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t a very good dancer, but none of us were in those days. Even the prima ballerinas were lacking.\u201d He added, \u201cHe made his comedy chops with us. \u2018Ruthless!\u2019 might have been different if not for us.\u201d<\/p>\n While dancing with Trockadero, Mr. Paley wrote \u201cSeedy,\u201d a musical parody of \u201cThe Bad Seed,\u201d the novel, play and 1956 film about an 8-year-old girl who, despite her apparent sweetness, is really a murderous psychopath. The script reflected Mr. Paley\u2019s love of old movies.<\/p>\n In 1976, while rehearsing with Trockadero for a Shirley MacLaine TV special, Mr. Paley met Mr. Laird, a composer who was the show\u2019s musical director. The two were immediately attracted to each other and Mr. Paley showed him the \u201cSeedy\u201d script. Mr. Laird agreed to write the music to accompany it.<\/p>\n Over the next year, Mr. Paley told Broadway World in 2014, \u201cI would send lyrics to Marvin and he would write the songs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But it took nearly two decades to turn \u201cSeedy\u201d into \u201cRuthless!\u201d An early obstacle was the refusal by the estate of Maxwell Anderson, who had acquired the rights to the novel and wrote the 1954 play, to license the story to Mr. Paley and Mr. Laird. As a workaround, they expanded the story, adding references to films like \u201cGypsy\u201d (1962), about an ambitious stage mother and her two daughters, and \u201cAll About Eve\u201d (1950), the story of an aging actress whose life is invaded by a ruthless ing\u00e9nue.<\/p>\n \u201cRuthless!\u201d finally opened in 1992 at the Players Theater in Manhattan. It tells the story of Tina Denmark, who, by the end of the show, has murdered six people. In Tina\u2019s song \u201cBorn to Entertain,\u201d the lyrics go, in part:<\/p>\n From the top of my nose<\/em><\/p>\n To the tap of my shoes<\/em><\/p>\n Strike up the band<\/em><\/p>\n Hand me a hat and my cane.<\/em><\/p>\n In The Daily News, the critic Howard Kissel<\/a> called \u201cRuthless!\u201d \u201ca hilarious show business musical\u201d and wrote that Laura Bell Bundy, who played Tina, \u201cis sensational, especially strong at conveying menace.\u201d Her understudies were Britney Spears and Natalie Portman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe had a friendship as soon as Joel was with Marvin,\u201d she said in an interview. \u201cThey were connected for so long, then that connection was over. One left and the other one left.\u201d<\/p>\n Joel Paley was born on Oct. 6, 1955, in Philadelphia. His father, Bernard, was a salesman, and his mother, Norma (Bomze) Paley, managed the home.<\/p>\n Joel started acting as a child, and at 13 had a role in the play \u201cSummertree,\u201d by Ron Cowen, at a theater at the University of Pennsylvania. He credited his training in high school for hooking him on a theatrical career. He later attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan for a year.<\/p>\n In addition to Trockadero and \u201cRuthless!,\u201d Mr. Paley\u2019s work included choreographing dances for a 1978 episode of the TV series \u201cMaude,\u201d starring Bea Arthur<\/a>, for whom he was also a personal assistant; directing the only episode of the sketch comedy show \u201cShe TV\u201d (1994); and, with Mr. Laird, writing nightclub acts for Abbe Lane and Donna Pescow.<\/p>\n He also directed Woody Allen\u2019s \u201cPlay It Again, Sam,\u201d with Frank Gorshin<\/a>, at the Sid Caesar Dinner Theater in Huntington Station, N.Y., on Long Island in 2001, and a road tour of a female version of Neil Simon\u2019s \u201cThe Odd Couple,\u201d starring Barbara Eden, from 2001-02.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Laird and Mr. Paley also collaborated on a revue, \u201cThe Yiddish Are Coming \u2026 The Yiddish Are Coming,\u201d a tribute<\/a> to the Yiddish language, which was produced in Denver in 2006.<\/p>\n In addition to Ms. Cohen, Mr. Paley is survived by another sister, Sheryl Beegal.<\/p>\n During the second Off Broadway run of \u201cRuthless!,\u201d in 2015 at Playhouse 46 at St. Luke\u2019s, Mr. Paley stepped into the role of Sylvia St. Croix, a histrionic agent, for a few performances, when the actor Paul Pecorino got sick. In another production, he played Tina when the young actress was sick.<\/p>\n