B i o g r a p h y
Matthew Loren Cohen was born in Hollywood, Florida, and grew up in Boca Raton, Florida. He attended high school at Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida, from which he graduated in the top 10 percent of his class. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the Florida State University from which he graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. At FSU, he began musical improvising with the Whammo Players, a group of gentlemen who went on to form Dad's Garage Theater Company in Atlanta, Georgia.
Matthew moved to New York City after college to work at Brooklyn Academy of Music. In New York City, he co-created The Next Big Broadway Musical!, a fully improvised musical comedy that garnered numerous awards and critical acclamation, and that is still running as Broadway's Next Hit Musical! Matthew also acted as musical director for the Nuclear Family, an improvised musical that enjoyed a six-month off-Broadway run. As well, he composed the music for Hello, Boys!, a cabaret revue featuring his and Michael Conley's songs, and music, lyrics and book for Jason & Ben, a musical that was seen during the 2008 New York Musical Theater Festival in a sold-out run. In New York, Matthew improvised with New York Theatresports, ComedySportz New York and Chicago City Limits. During this time, he also spent four months at sea on the Disney Magic as music director of the OffBeat Comedy Club.
In 2009, Matthew was hired by Chicago's famed Second City to music direct a revue aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines's Gem. Since that time, he has worked steadily for the Second City, including music directing and writing music for Second City revues at such regional theaters as Arizona Theatre Company, Centerstage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Dallas Theatre Center.
Matthew moved to Chicago in 2011. While there, he has wrote music and lyrics for his second musical, Broads on Boards, which was produced by the Annoyance Theatre. He also created Best Musical!, a completely improvised musical comedy for Porchlight Music Theater. The show was named one of the top five comedy picks of the year from Time Out Chicago in 2012.
In August of 2014 Matthew relocated to Los Angeles where he plays shows at The Groundlings, UCB Theatre and iO West. He most recently composed two pieces for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, including "Stay, Mr. Hannity, Stay," sung by the Broadway cast of Jersey Boys, and "Koch Blocked," which guest George Clooney called "fantastic," and he composed the music for NBC's still-untitled sketch comedy project.
Matthew has music-directed corporate productions for clients such as Pfizer, CVS, Michaels, Tribeca Film Festival, Disney, Hyatt and Humana, and he has created tracks and composed original music for corporate clients including Facebook, Pinnacle Vodka and Alliance Pipeline.
Matthew is a member of BMI.
Matthew moved to New York City after college to work at Brooklyn Academy of Music. In New York City, he co-created The Next Big Broadway Musical!, a fully improvised musical comedy that garnered numerous awards and critical acclamation, and that is still running as Broadway's Next Hit Musical! Matthew also acted as musical director for the Nuclear Family, an improvised musical that enjoyed a six-month off-Broadway run. As well, he composed the music for Hello, Boys!, a cabaret revue featuring his and Michael Conley's songs, and music, lyrics and book for Jason & Ben, a musical that was seen during the 2008 New York Musical Theater Festival in a sold-out run. In New York, Matthew improvised with New York Theatresports, ComedySportz New York and Chicago City Limits. During this time, he also spent four months at sea on the Disney Magic as music director of the OffBeat Comedy Club.
In 2009, Matthew was hired by Chicago's famed Second City to music direct a revue aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines's Gem. Since that time, he has worked steadily for the Second City, including music directing and writing music for Second City revues at such regional theaters as Arizona Theatre Company, Centerstage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Dallas Theatre Center.
Matthew moved to Chicago in 2011. While there, he has wrote music and lyrics for his second musical, Broads on Boards, which was produced by the Annoyance Theatre. He also created Best Musical!, a completely improvised musical comedy for Porchlight Music Theater. The show was named one of the top five comedy picks of the year from Time Out Chicago in 2012.
In August of 2014 Matthew relocated to Los Angeles where he plays shows at The Groundlings, UCB Theatre and iO West. He most recently composed two pieces for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, including "Stay, Mr. Hannity, Stay," sung by the Broadway cast of Jersey Boys, and "Koch Blocked," which guest George Clooney called "fantastic," and he composed the music for NBC's still-untitled sketch comedy project.
Matthew has music-directed corporate productions for clients such as Pfizer, CVS, Michaels, Tribeca Film Festival, Disney, Hyatt and Humana, and he has created tracks and composed original music for corporate clients including Facebook, Pinnacle Vodka and Alliance Pipeline.
Matthew is a member of BMI.