Fred Ebb Foundation Announces 2008 Guidelines

The Fred Ebb Foundation (Mitchell Bernard, Trustee) in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is pleased to announce the guidelines for the fourth annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters. The award is named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb, who passed away on September 11, 2004.

The first annual Fred Ebb Award was presented on November 29, 2005 at the American Airlines Theatre Penthouse Lounge.  The Fred Ebb Award recognizes excellence in musical theatre songwriting, by a lyricist, composer, or songwriting team that has not yet achieved significant commercial success. The award is meant to encourage and support aspiring songwriters to create new works for the musical theatre. The prize includes a $50,000 award.  The Fred Ebb Foundation is funded by royalties from Mr. Ebb's vast catalogue of work.  Past winners include John Bucchino (2005), Steve Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman (2006) and Peter Mills (2007).

The applicant, either a composer/lyricist or composer/lyricist team, must meet at least one of the following requirements:
 
1.      Work by the applicant has been produced on stage or in workshop.
2.      At least one song by the applicant has been published, recorded, or performed professionally.
3.      Applicant is or has been a member of a professional musical theater workshop or a musical theater development program.
4.      Applicant has not yet achieved significant commercial success.

Applications for the 2008 Fred Ebb Award will be accepted from June 2, 2008 through June 30, 2008.  Required materials are:
1.      A CD of up to four songs for one or more musical theater pieces, with typewritten lyrics and a description of the dramatic context for each song.
2.      A completed application form.

Application forms, along with detailed guidelines and information, are available at www.fredebbfoundation.org.

Applications should be mailed to:
Fred Ebb Award
Roundabout Theatre, 231 West 39th Street
Suite 1200
New York, New York 10018.  

The winner will be selected in November 2008.

As a writer, lyricist, composer and director, Fred Ebb made incalculable contributions to the New York theatrical community. Mr. Ebb is a Tony®, Grammy®, Emmy®, Olivier® and Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award winning recipient. Fred Ebb's first professional songwriting assignment came in 1953 when he and Phil Springer were hired by Columbia Records to write a song for Judy Garland called "Heartbroken." Mr. Ebb was introduced to composer John Kander in 1964 by music publisher Tommy Valando and became one of the most legendary songwriting teams in American history. The first successful collaboration was on the song "My Coloring Book," recorded by Barbra Streisand. 

Their second theatrical collaboration, Flora, the Red Menace, created a star out of Liza Minnelli in her Tony® Award-winning Broadway debut. In 1966, their collaboration Cabaret, opened and received seven Tony® Awards including Best Musical and Best Score. A 1972 movie version of Cabaret starring Liza Minnelli was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won eight awards and was nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards and won three including Best Picture, Musical or Comedy. The same year, the songwriting team wrote a number of songs for Minnelli's television special "Liza With a Z," which received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Program - Variety or Popular Music. In 1975, the two wrote the Broadway musical Chicago, directed by Bob Fosse and starring Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera and Jerry Orbach.  The musical was successfully revived 20 years later at City Center ENCORES! and subsequently transferred to Broadway where it is currently the longest running revival in Broadway history. 

In 1977, the team collaborated with Martin Scorsese on the movie New York, New York; the title song was introduced by Minnelli and later recorded by Frank Sinatra becoming the unofficial theme song of New York City. The Minnelli Broadway vehicle The Act also opened that year. After a four-year absence, Mr. Ebb and Mr. Kander returned with Woman of the Year (1981), The Rink (1984), Kiss of the Spiderwoman (1985), Steel Pier (1997) and the current smash hit Curtains (2007) which was nominated for 8 2007 Tony Awards including a nod for Best Original Score.  Miramax's 2002 feature film Chicago was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture and was nominated for eight Golden Globe Awards and won three, including Best Picture, Musical or Comedy.