Pasek and Paul to Compose CHRISTMAS STORY for 5th Avenue, 11/30-12/19
By: Nicolas Coburn Jun. 16, 2010
Musical theatre songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul announced through their website today that they are writing the score to 5th Avenue's revised A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL!, running November 30 through December 19.
As BroadwayWorld previously reported, A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL! played as a pre-Broadway engagement and extended run at Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Before taking to the stage again, the creative team will undergo changes. Scott Davenport Richards, composer and lyricist of the Kansas City production, will not continue with the show. The book will remain intact, as will director Eric Rosen and choreographer Kelly Devine. The production will also go on as scheduled this upcoming winter.
The Kansas City production had been billed as a pre-Broadway engagement, with a goal of coming into New York in 2010. The producers elected to continue developing the production at the 5th Avenue Theatre this year instead.
Inspired by the classic 1983 movie and the stories of popular radio humorist Jean Shepard, A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL! features a libretto by Joseph Robinette and is a throwback to the 1940s and follows the adventures of young Ralphie Parker and his desperate quest to receive the most desirable and forbidden of all Christmas presents - "An Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle." All of films most memorable moments ("You'll shoot your eye out, kid!") and indelible characters will be onboard including "The Old Man," Ralphie's irascible father fighting with the furnace, and reveling in his prize leg lamp.
The world-premiere production of the show was produced by Grammy-nominee Gerald Goehring and Michael F. Mitri. Robert G. Bartner and Michael A. Jenkins (GUYS AND DOLLS, BOEING-BOEING) also produce.
For more information, or to order tickets, visit online at www.5thavenue.org.
Pasek and Paul are the creators of the musical EDGES and are currently working on JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and DOGFIGHT. They were named writers to watch by Dramatist Magazine and won the Jonathan Larson Award for songwriting. For more information, visit www.pasekandpaul.com.
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