Samsel / Anderson
Musical Theater Songwriters
Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson are the LA based Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominated songwriting duo behind Apple TV’s Central Park, Disney Animation’s Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (Annie nomination), the off-Broadway Musical, Between the Lines (Drama Desk, OCC nominated) , and The Book Thief which played the Leicester Curve and Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre in 2023, and recently took place as staged Concert in October 2025, selling out four performances at the Prince of Wales Theatre on London’s West End. A full West End production is now in the works. Elyssa and Kate are also the songwriting eam behind Austenland, which is an adaptation of Shannon Hale’s novel of the same title. It debuted to rave reviews as a concert at the Savoy Theatre on the West End in March of 2025. The two also recently co-wrote the 70th Anniversary theme for Disneyland “Celebrate Happy”, performed by the Jonas Brothers.
Celebrate Happy!
Check out Samsel/ Anderson’s collaboration with writer/ producer Josh Cumbee on the Jonas Brother’s song “Celebrate Happy”, written for the 70th Anniversary celebration of Disneyland!
The Book Thief
Original 2023 UK Cast Album
Now Available on all platforms- Stream the 2023 Original Cast Album of the musical adaptation of Markus Zusak’s world wide bestselling novel, THE BOOK THIEF. This album captures the score from the 2023 UK Touring production (Coventry, Leceister’s CURVE). Stream now on SPOTIFY or APPLE MUSIC.
Watch Lucie Jones sing “Unmatched” in the official music video from the brand new musical adaptation of Shannon Hale’s novel AUSTENLAND. The musical will premiere as a staged concert this March at West End’s Savoy Theatre.
Now Available:
Stream the Between the Lines cast album on all music platforms, License a production of Between the Lines through Music Theater International, and purchase the Piano Vocal Selections through Hal Leonard!
Check out our brand new song for “Everybody Still Hates Chris” on Comedy Central
(Click Image to hear the full song on instagram!)
Check out the song from the new Zootopia+ Shorts series by Disney Animation, BIG TIME. Co-written by Michael Giacchino, Elyssa Samsel, and Kate Anderson and performed by the incredible Alan Tudyk. You can stream the musical episode “Duke: The Musical” now on Disney +!