Yazbek co-wrote the theme song to the 1991 Emmy award winning PBS-TV series Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
with songwriter Sean Altman, a high school friend who led the show's featured vocal group, Rockapella.
Yazbek and Altman also composed and wrote the theme song to World's successor, Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?
In October 2009, the musical had a closed reading directed by Bartlett Sher and featuring Salma Hayek, Jessica Biel, Matthew Morrison, and Paulo Szot.
[5] The musical starred Patti LuPone, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Sherie Rene Scott, with direction by Bartlett Sher.
[6] The production received mixed to negative reviews, despite praise for the actors and Yazbek's score, and closed on January 2, 2011, after 30 previews and 69 performances.
[7] Despite the early closing, the show was nominated for three Tony Awards, for the performances of Patti LuPone and Laura Benanti, and Yazbek's score.
He has produced tracks for the band XTC, and its lead singer Andy Partridge has collaborated on Yazbek's solo albums.
[15] Variety reported that the musical was aiming to open at the Rialto Square Theatre during the 2010–2011 season,[16] but these plans have been put on indefinite hold.
On June 12, 2013, it was announced that Yazbek would be replacing the Barenaked Ladies to write the score to the musical adaptation of National Lampoon's Animal House,[17] with a book by Michael Mitnick.