David Joel Zippel (born May 17, 1954) is an American musical theatre lyricist, director, and producer.
Falling in love with theater as a child, Zippel first articulated his life's ambition to become a lyricist and director in junior high school.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he contributed lyrics to an equity production of "a bizarre political musical" called Rotunda, which had a brief run in Washington, D.C. before he graduated with a B.A.
degree from Harvard Law School.
At Harvard Law School, Zippel continued to pursue his ambition of writing several pop songs with singer Pamala Stanley, which appeared on her 1979 debut album, This Is Hot, and collaborating on three songs with Wally Harper, Barbara Cook's musical director, whose performance of the songs at Carnegie Hall in 1980 marked Zippel's New York City theatrical debut.