TV Exclusive: BACKSTAGE WITH RICHARD RIDGE- Tony Nominees Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, Part 2

Welcome to BWW's exclusive talk show, BACKSTAGE WITH Richard Ridge. Follow Richard as he visits the theater's best and brightest in their dressing rooms, on their stages and favorite hang outs to talk about their lives, careers and all of the things you don't know, but want to know. In the special interview below, A Christmas Story composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul chat about their musical backgrounds, all of their future projects, and much more. Click here if you missed Part 1 and check out Part 2 below!

Benj Pasek & Justin Paul are the Tony-nominated songwriters of the Broadway musical A Christmas Story (dir. John Rando, chor. Warren Carlyle), which opened in November 2012 and enjoyed a critically-acclaimed, record-breaking run at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. In addition to the Best Score nomination, A Christmas Story also received Tony nominations for Best Musical and Best Book. The holiday musical was named one of the Top 10 Shows of 2012 by Time Magazine, shared recognition as the #1 Musical of 2012 in USA Today and received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Outstanding New Broadway Musical. Benj and Justin's score for the show also received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Music. The cast album was recorded and produced by Sony Masterworks and is published through Warner/Chappell Music.

Benj & Justin are also the composers behind the Off-Broadway musical Dogfight, (dir. Joe Mantello, chor.Christopher Gattelli), a Best New Musical nominee for the Drama League, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle awards. Benj and Justin also received an Outer Critics Circle Best Score nomination for their work on the show. Dogfight premiered in July 2012 at Second Stage Theatre, and a cast album, produced by Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records, was released in May 2013. The album debuted in the top 50 albums on iTunes. As television songwriters, their original songs were featured on Season 2 of NBC's Smash, and have risen to the Top 25 on the iTunes Pop Charts.