Lyricist Greg Edwards, who has written several songs with Marvin Hamlisch, is represented with two songs. "Yale Has the Gays" written with composer Zak Sandler from their new revue, Gay Yale which the team will perform themselves. "My Fragile Girl" is from an adaptation of Sheridan's The Rivals with composer Jonathan Breit and will be performed by baritone Doug Williams, who recently sang at the Salle Pleyel in Paris.
Deborah Tranelli, best known for her recurring role of Phyllis on the CBS series "Dallas" and most recently seen at off Broadway in Brother, Can You Spare a Dime will portray Katherine Hepburn singing " 'Til the Next Time" from Howard Hughes, a new musical about the eccentric billionaire by Jim Scully and Frank Evans.
First Year Workshop writing team Mishaela Faucher and Kristin Bair will be perform their song "Antarctica" with a cast of six. Andy Roninson, whose musical For the Birds is currently in production at Purchase College and George Merrick, currently in the Lincoln Center South Pacific, will perform their song "La Vita e Bella" from the musical of the same name.
The Eight Million, a new musical by Matthew Hardy (The Thing About Joe) and Robert Maggio (We Dance), both represented on the upcoming CD "No More Revivals, Volume I," due in April from Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight, will perform two songs "I Don't Need Her" and "You Gotta Use Your Words" Their new musical is a collection of O. Henry stories updated to modern New York.
"Emma the Red" is from Yo, Vikings! based on the book of the same name by Judith Byron Schachner. Book and lyrics are by Marcus Stevens (Richard Rodgers Award for Red) and music is by Sam Willmott (Kennedy Center ACTF Musical Theatre Award for Standardized Testing - The Musical!!!) Performers are Alyse Alan Louis, currently starring as Sophie Sheridan in Manma Mia aided by Erica Jacob (Scarlet Takes a Tumble), 2008 Kurt Weill Award Winner, Emily Cramer, Sam Pinkleton (Goodspeed's ...Forum), Jacob Richard (Dear Edwina) and Sam Tedaldi (Mrs. Sharp).
The event is co-produced by Kleban Award Winner Patrick Cook, Artistic Coordinator of the Workshop and Frank Evans, Special Events Coordinator. Cook garnered an Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination for Captain's Courageous, produced by Manhattan Theatre Club. Evans, whose musicals have been seen from Alaska to London is a Jerry Bock Award winning lyricist. He has been named on Best of The Year Lists in The Palm Beach Post, The Norwich Bulletin and TheatreWeek..
The BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, recipient of a 2006 Tony honor, Drama Desk Award and Drama League Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, was founded in 1961 by the late Lehman Engel, dean of American musical theatre, to create a setting where new writers could learn their craft.
Now marking its 65th year in business, BMI is an American performing rights organization that represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and publishers in all genres of music. With a repertoire of more than 6.5 million musical works from around the world, the non-profit-making corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.
