American Theatre Wing Celebrates Frank Loesser At Their Spring Gala 6/7

The American Theatre Wing has announced that their Annual Spring Gala, to be held on Monday, June 7, 2010 at Cipriani 42nd Street (110 East 42nd Street), will celebrate the centennial of Academy and Tony Award-winning composer Frank Loesser. Heart and Soul: The Legacy of Frank Loesser will celebrate the composer famous for the scores of the Tony Award® winning musicals Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Trying (among many others), as well as honor the companies he created: Music Theatre International and Frank Music Corp.
The evening's honorary chairs include Susan Loesser, John Loesser, Emily Loesser Stephenson (Frank's children), Stephen Sondheim, and ATW's longest serving board member (and Frank's widow) Jo Sullivan Loesser, who, among many other roles, played the lead role in the original production of her husband's The Most Happy Fella and toured the country in Guys and Dolls. The Gala Co-Chairs are Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Jacquin Philip Fink, Freddie Gershon and ATW Board members Theodore S. Chapin and Douglas B. Leeds.

Last year's gala featured entertainment from Tony Award-winners Kristin Chenoweth, Barbara Cook, and Hugh Jackman. A comparably starry line-up for this year's program will be announced shortly.

The entertainment portion of the evening is produced by Lauren Class Schneider of Class Productions and directed by Marc Bruni, with musical direction by Rob Berman and lighting by Ken Billington.

All proceeds from the evening will benefit the education and outreach programs of the American Theatre Wing, and also go towards sustaining free access for students, aspiring professionals, and the general public to programming on AmericanTheatreWing.org, including "Working in the Theatre," "Downstage Center," and "In the Wings."

BIOS

Frank Loesser has been called the most versatile of Broadway's composers/lyricists. Each of his five Broadway musicals, Where's Charley?, Guys and Dolls, The Most Happy Fella, Greenwillow and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying stands as a unique contribution to the art of the American musical theatre. But long before his Broadway success, he was known for the dozens of hit songs from his work in Hollywood, where he supplied lyrics to the music of Jule Styne, Hoagy Carmichael, Burton Lane and Arthur Schwartz; producing such hits as "I Don't Want to Walk Without You," "Heart and Soul," "The Lady's In Love With You," and "They're Either Too Young or Too Old" and, with his own music, "Spring Will Be a Little Late this Year," "On A Slow Boat To China," and the 1948 Oscar-winner, "Baby, It's Cold Outside." In recent years, there have been major revivals of The Most Happy Fella, Guys and Dolls (which was a smash hit and won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Revival) and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Music Theatre International (www.mtishows.com) is one of the world's leading dramatic rights licensing agencies, granting amateur and professional theatres from around the world the rights to perform over 300 musicals from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and London's West End. MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these shows to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 60,000 theatrical organizations in the US and in over 60 countries worldwide. Starting in the 1990's, as part of its educational initiative, MTI has created The MTI Broadway Junior Collection®, bringing classic musical theatre to elementary and middle school students. Broadway Junior ShowKits consist of scripts that are custom-tailored to the needs of young performers and their schools as well as additional materials that help teachers produce their shows, including a "How To" guide to producing Broadway's most beloved and celebrated musicals.

Frank Music Corp. is a music publishing company founded by Frank Loesser in the early 1950s, with the primary purpose of discovering and developing new and young popular composers and lyricists. In addition to the great works composed by Frank Loesser himself, the catalog features songs by artists as varied as Bessie Smith and Meredith Willson and includes such standards as "Unchained Melody," "76 Trombones," and "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas." In 1979, Frank Music was acquired by Paul McCartney's music publishing company, MPL Communications, Inc.

The American Theatre Wing (Theodore S. Chapin, Chairman of the Board of Directors; Howard Sherman, Executive Director) is best known as the creator of the Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards®, which it presents annually with The Broadway League. The Wing operates a variety of programs, all dedicated to recognizing excellence and supporting education in theatre. These programs include "Downstage Center," a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with the leading artists and professionals working on stage today; "Working in the Theatre," a weekly television program on CUNY TV which gathers panels of theater artists to discuss their crafts; "In the Wings," a new web series that spotlights theatre's behind-the-scenes talents; a National Theatre company grants program that will support 10 emerging theatres across the country in 2010; the Theatre Intern Group, a career development program for young professionals; SpringboardNYC, a two-week college-to-career boot camp for young performers moving to NYC; and the Jonathan Larson® Grants, given annually to honor emerging composers, lyricists and book writers. All ATW media is available on americantheatrewing.org and on iTunes.

For additional information about all American Theatre Wing programs, go to americantheatrewing.org. You can also find the American Theatre Wing on Twitter (www.twitter.com/TheWing) and on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/TheAmericanTheatreWing).