ASCAP/Disney Musical Workshop Winners Announced

The ASCAP Foundation is pleased to announce that six new musical works have been selected for presentation at the annual ASCAP Foundation/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop in New York. The winning proposals were selected from close to 200 applicants.  The workshop takes place March 18, 19, 26, 27, 31 and April 1, 2008, at 7PM at ASCAP, 5th Floor, One Lincoln Plaza (Broadway between 63rd and 64th Streets) in New York.

The workshop is directed by Academy and Grammy Award-winning composer/lyricist, Stephen Schwartz, whose credits include the Broadway smash Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, the Walt Disney films Enchanted, Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the Dreamworks' film The Prince of Egypt. The selected musical theatre writers will have the opportunity to make short presentations from their original works-in-progress for professional critique by a panel of the most prominent theatre producers, directors and composers, including Lynn Ahrens, Susan Birkenhead, Craig Carnelia, Stephen Flaherty, Carol Hall and Glenn Slater.

All aspiring musical theatre writers, and those who submitted musicals for the workshop, are encouraged to attend.  The workshop is free of charge and open to everyone, regardless of performing rights affiliation.  Admission is on a first come, first served basis.

The ASCAP Foundation/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop in New York is part of an ongoing series of workshops sponsored by The ASCAP Foundation to nurture new American musicals.  For more information about the program, please call Michael Kerker at ASCAP at 212-621-6264.

The selected writers and their musical works are listed below, and will be presented on the following dates:

Tuesday, March 18
THE BOY IN THE BATHROOM
Book and Lyrics by Michael Lluberes; Music and Additional Lyrics by Joe Maloney
David lives in his bathroom.  He never comes out.  His mother feeds him thin, flat food that she can slide under the door.  He has everything he needs. David has obsessive-compulsive disorder and he's not going anywhere until he meets Julie and discovers that there might be something – or someone – on the other side of the door that will make it worth opening.

Wednesday, March 19
THE MASKED ZINFANDEL
Book and Lyrics by Justin Warner; Music by Peter Yarin
In the faraway, quasi-medieval kingdom of Helvetica, young Sam the Shoemaker idolizes the "Masked Zinfandel," a Zorro-esque hero-outlaw who appears to defend the peasants from persecution.  But, when Sam finds out the Zinfandel is a sell-out fraud, he takes over the Zinfandel's identity to set things right.  A wheels-within-wheels screwball comedy, The Masked Zinfandel digs into the dangers of celebrity-worship, the complications of heroism, and the loss of faith in our role models, all within a wholly original comic universe.

Wednesday, March 26
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Book and Lyrics by Bill Daugherty; Music by Ralph Affoumado
Musical comedy-of-errors Double Trouble is a story that revolves around identical twin brothers, their other halves, their meddling mother and their omni-present Italian landlords.  It's A Tale of love, secrets and assumptions.

Thursday, March 27
DANI GIRL
Book and Lyrics by Christopher Dimond; Music by Michael Kooman
Dani Girl is the story of Dani, a precocious seven year-old who discovers that her pediatric leukemia has returned.  Accompanied by her hospital roommate and imaginary guardian angel, she embarks on a magical quest to get back her beloved hair.  As she battles Cancer across the realms of fantasy and reality, she unlocks mysteries of life, death, and the nature of hope.

Monday, March 31
ROOM 16
By Stephen Sislen and Ben H. Winters
Room 16 tells the true story of the unlikely friendship behind the most famous burglary of the twentieth century.  In 1971, conservative operative G. Gordon Liddy is paired with former CIA agent Howard Hunt to oversee counterespionage for the Nixon campaign; though initially wary of each other, the two soon become successful co-conspirators…and pals.  A familiar story told from an unexpected point of view, Room 16 is a musical about politics, friendship, and how far men will go for what they believe.

Tuesday, April 1
ORDINARY DAYS
Book, Music and Lyrics by Adam Gwon
When stressed-out grad student Deb loses her most precious possession – the notes to her thesis – she unwittingly starts a chain of events that turns the ordinary days of four New Yorkers into something  extraordinary.  Told through a series of intricately connected songs and vignettes, Ordinary Days is an original musical about growing up and enjoying the view.

Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs, and public service projects for senior composers and lyricists. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States. www.ascapfoundation.org