Maria Caputo

Biography

Maria Caputo blends technical and creative skills in her career as a musician. She is a composer; pianist and vocalist; music director, conductor, pit musician, accompanist, and rehearsal pianist; music assistant, transcriber and copyist; and a piano technician.

Maria works as a music assistant and music copyist for regional and Broadway productions, as well as new works. She prepared sheet music for the McCarter Theatre Center world premiere of "I & You: the musical" by Lauren Gunderson and Ari Afsar, and three workshops of the show. (Directed by Sarah Rasmussen; music directed by Sujin Kim-Ramsey)

In her copyist role with J&J Music Preparation, she has prepared music for Broadway, touring and regional theatre, concerts, and more.

She still tunes pianos all over the Tri-State Area (New York metropolitan area), and loves meeting musicians and music lovers alike that way. Send her a message if you want your piano tuned!

Between professional theater seasons, Maria music directs for youth theater productions.

In July 2026, Maria (music/MD) and A. J. Freeman (words/director) debuted their 35-minute show, "Home'r Bust! a musical Odyssey for young audiences" at Lincoln Center's Summer for the City, in collaboration with the Library for the Performing Arts.
"Home'r Bust!" transforms Homer's classic tale: 10 year old Uly gets to walk home for the first time after his epic soccer tournament, but encounters all sorts of crazy detours and distractions along the way!

In March 2025, Maria (music), A. J. Freeman (lyrics), and Keurim Hur (book) presented a 75-minute musical, "The Crane Wife", at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center. They received Across a Crowded Room fellowship funding from the Library for the Performing Arts for this reading, which allowed them to develop their 20-minute short into a one-act. Diane Phelan directed and starred alongside Sienna Aczon and Christopher Lau; Maria music directed.
This musical retelling of the Japanese folk tale "The Crane Wife" focuses on the perspective of the titular character, who has a foot in two worlds and a loved one (and expectations) in each realm. After a woodsman saves her life, the crane returns to him in the guise of a human woman; her sister, still a bird, urges her to come back to the safety of the flock. The one-act version features three tales from East Asian mythology of women transforming between human, animal, and divine.

Maria completed the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writing Workshop as a composer. She and lyricist Allison Light penned four songs for their second-year project at the BMI Workshop: their musical adaptation of "Stardust" (available on Maria's YouTube channel!) earned them an invitation to the Advanced Workshop at BMI. Maria has also written and music-directed short musicals for Across a Crowded Room at Lincoln Center ("The Crane Wife" by Hur, Freeman, and Caputo), Brooklyn Children's Theatre (BCT), and elsewhere.

Her first single, "Curious", and accompanying music video came out on September 12, 2020. Several Maestra members played and sang in the 13-person ensemble (current video link!)

In fall 2024, Maria served as music associate for the Obie-Award-winning premiere of "The Beastiary" by On the Rocks Theatre Company (written by Dakota Rose & Christopher Ford).

In March 2024, Maria served as music associate and pianist for a presentation of songs from "Animal Magnetism" at Joe's Pub (story by Ellen Winter, Chris Littler, Jonathan Groff, and Kelly Tieger; songs by Winter & Littler). The presentation was directed by Machel Ross and music directed by Ellen Winter.

In summer 2023, Maria played piano for the Off-Broadway debut of "The Trouble With Dead Boyfriends", a musical with book & lyrics by Annie Pulsipher, and music & additional lyrics by Alex Petti.

In November 2023, Maria served as music associate for song cycle "Spiral Bound" at Joe's Pub (songs by Miranda Ferriss Jones based on the poems of Richard Edelman). This concert was a benefit for Maestra and Open Stage Project, produced by Laura Benanti, stage directed/choreographed by Emily Maltby, and music directed by Sujin Kim-Ramsey.

In 2021 and 2022, she served as music director for two projects at Molloy/CAP21 in NYC (Molloy University's musical theatre conservatory).

Maria served as Music Co-Director and Music Associate for two workshop readings of musicals by Sequoia Sellinger and colleagues.

Maria is a proud alum of Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied music and literature. She attended the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana for a semester (Cuba's leading arts conservatory). Maria is fluent in English and Spanish.

Maria is 1/3 of Classy Dame, a Brooklyn-based trio that meets at the intersection of musical theatre, Ben Folds, and Tune-Yards. Classy Dame's first EP, "Shut Your Mouth so the Bees Don't Get In", was released on February 17, 2022.