Kennedy Center Celebrates Millennium Stage 12th Anniversary with BROADWAY TODAY 1/31

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts celebrates the 12th Anniversary of the Millennium Stage on January 31, 2009 with "Broadway Today"-a star-studded, free concert, produced by Michael A. Kerker and presented in cooperation with ASCAP, in the Opera House as a part of the Center's season-long artistic initiative Broadway: The Third Generation. With the composers at the piano, original cast members and Broadway stars perform signature songs that made these artists household names. Free tickets are required. Tickets will be given away one (1) per person in line in front of the Opera House beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 31, 2009.

This celebration will feature three time Academy Award® winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pipin); Tony Award® winners, composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime, Once on This Island); and two-time Tony Award® nominee, composer Jeanine Tesori (Shrek The Musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie); and Tony Award® nominees, composer Scott Frankel and lyricist Michael Korie (Grey Gardens, Happiness). Broadway stars include Tony® Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell (Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate); Tony Award® nominee Liz Callaway (Baby, Miss Saigon); Tony Award® winner Adriane Lenox (Chicago, Doubt); Capathia Jenkins (Caroline, or Change, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me); and KT Sullivan (Three Penny Opera, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes). In an intimate living room-style setting, the composers and lyricists will discuss their works, perform at least one of their works, and composers will play while selected artists sing their Broadway hits.

The Millennium Stage will host a week of musical theater cabaret, also curated by Michael Kerker and ASCAP, from February 1-7, 2009 at 6 p.m., highlighting up-and-coming composers at the piano with rising stars singing their works that are becoming the "new standards" of Broadway. Featured artists include: Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner with Megan Hilty (Feb. 1); Michael Kooman and Chris Dimond with Anderson Davis and Natalie Weiss (Feb. 2); Benj Pasek and Justin Paul with Leslie Kritzer (Feb. 3); Scott Burkell and Paul Loesel with Stephanie J. Block (Feb. 4); Adam Gwon with Leah Horowitz and Stanley Bahorek (Feb. 5); Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham with Colin Hanlon and Farah Alvin (Feb. 6); Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich with Scott Coulter (Feb. 7). The Grand Foyer will be transformed into a cabaret as tables and chairs are arranged in front of the stage and drinks from the Foyer bars are available.

Michael A. Kerker has been Director of Musical Theatre for ASCAP (American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers) since 1990. He works with Walt Disney Feature Animation to produce the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles, and co-produces with the Kennedy Center a development program for new musicals entitled "In the Works." Michael Kerker produces the Sunday night ASCAP Songwriters' Series at the Firebird Café in New York. Together with Michael Feinstein, he produces a regular series of concerts featuring contemporary songwriters at Carnegie Hall. He also produces a continuing series of songwriter/singer concerts and showcases at UCLA.

ASCAP is a membership association of more than 330,000 U.S. composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers of every kind of music. Through agreements with affiliated international societies, ASCAP also represents hundreds of thousands of music creators worldwide. ASCAP is the only U.S. performing rights organization created and controlled by composers, songwriters and music publishers, with a board of directors elected by and from the membership.

BROADWAY: THE THIRD GENERATION

"Broadway Today" is part of the Kennedy Center's season-long initiative Broadway: The Third Generation, celebrating the current generation of Broadway musical composers. Past performances in the season include Broadway: Three Generations, containing abridged concert version of Girl Crazy, Bye Bye Birdie, and Side Show; and a newly commissioned Theater for Young Audiences production of The Trumpet of the Swan: A Novel Symphony, based on the children's book by E.B. White which was adapted by Marsha Norman with music by Jason Robert Brown. Upcoming performances will include a new Kennedy Center production of Ragtime; a co-production of Michael John La Chiusa's Giant to appear at Arlington's Signature Theatre as part of the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays; and the nationally touring production of Spring Awakening.

Web Site: www.kennedy-center.org
Sunday, February 1, 2008, 6p.m. on the Millennium Stage

Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner are currently composing songs for a Broadway musical adaptation of the film Secondhand Lions with book by Rupert Holmes and produced by Warner Brothers Theatricals and Unique Features. They are also writing a TV pilot they recently sold to the Disney Channel and are creators of The Misadventures of Bob Paparazzo, a comedy animated series for VH1 Online & Mobile. Their irreverent theme song for Folgers Coffee entitled "Happy Morning" was featured in a popular viral marketing campaign that swept the Internet. As avid songwriters for the Walt Disney Company, Zachary and Weiner were enlisted by DisneyToon Studios to write songs for Disney's Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. They also wrote the book, music, and lyrics for the new Disney musical, Twice Charmed: An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story, which premiered on the Disney Cruise Line in May 2005. Both have created live stage shows for Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, and Tokyo DisneySea. Zachary and Weiner have also composed, arranged, and acted as music consultants for Disney's Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, Alice in Wonderland Special Edition DVD, The Fox and the Hound II and The Three Musketeers. For film, Zachary and Weiner wrote Trouble with Paradise, a comedy produced by Andrew Lazar ("Get Smart"). The duo has presented their family musical, The Mystery of the Dancing Princesses, at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, New York State Theatre Institute, and the annual National Alliance for Musical Theatre Festival in Manhattan. Michael Weiner composed the score for Fine Line Features' Man of the Century, as well as the upcoming musical Liberty Smith. Alan Zachary contributed music and lyrics to Dreamworks Pictures' The Time Machine.
Monday, February 2, 2008, 6p.m. on the Millennium Stage

Composer and pianist Michael Kooman's work spans the mediums of theater, concert music, and digital media. Most recently, his original musical Dani Girl (book and lyrics by Christopher Dimond) was featured at the Kennedy Center's New Visions/New Voices program and also won the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Award for Best Musical. The piece has been work-shopped at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and Carnegie Mellon University, and was selected for the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theater workshop. Mr. Kooman also wrote the music for the song cycle Homemade Fusion, originally premiered at Carnegie Mellon University with a successful run at the Civic Light Opera Cabaret Space in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which has since been performed across the country. His musical scores have included the Carnegie Mellon Productions of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, Brecht's Man is Man, Guare's House of Blue Leaves, and Ibsen's Ghosts. Also active in the concert world, Michael Kooman was commissioned to write a piece for the 80th Anniversary season of the Altoona Symphony Orchestra, and his orchestral overture Two Precepts was premiered and recorded by the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic.

Christopher Dimond's most recent musical, Dani Girl (with music by Michael Kooman), has been work-shopped at such venues as the Kennedy Center's New Visions/New Voices Festival, American Conservatory Theatre, the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theater Workshop, and CAP-21. The duo's song cycle Homemade Fusion has been produced at Carnegie Mellon University, the Pittsburgh CLO's Late Night Cabaret, the Zipper Theater, Monday Night New Voices: Chicago, and has been featured in several NAMT showcases. Mr. Diamond was a 2007 playwright in residence at the Hangar Theatre for his one-act Burying Barbie. He was a fellow at the O'Neill Music Theater Conference and attended the Johnny Mercer Songwriting Workshop. Other works include Homeless: The Musical and Confessions of an 8th Grade Nobody (both with music by Suzanne Polak), and Shakespeare on Drugs (Outstanding Production, Pittsburgh New Works Festival, 2002). Chris Diamond is the recipient of the ASCAP Harold Adamson Lyric Award, the KCACTF Music Theater Award, 2nd Place in the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting, an ASCAPLUS Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Screenwriting Fellowship, the Schubert Fellowship for Dramatic Writing, the Mary Marlin Fisher Playwriting Award, and was a finalist for the John Cauble Award. He holds degrees from Duquesne University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Carnegie Mellon University.

Tuesday, February 3, 2008, 6p.m. on the Millennium Stage

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, recent graduates of the University of Michigan, are recipients of a 2007 Jonathan Larson Award-at the age of 21, the youngest winners in the foundation's history. The team's musical revue, Edges, has been produced throughout the U. S., Canada, Australia, and Europe, most recently at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Pasek and Paul are regular songwriters for Disney Channel's Johnny and the Sprites, and contributed music to White Noise [a cautionary musical], profiled on Good Morning America and ABC Primetime Live. They were invited participants of the first ever Johnny Mercer Songwriting Festival funded by the American Musical Theatre Project. Pasek and Paul wrote Horace and Morris but Mostly Dolores for Theatreworks USA, and were listed as part of the "50 to Watch" upcoming playwrights and composers by the Dramatist Magazine. They have been interviewed on National Public Radio's "Performance Space," and were honored as 2007-2008 Dramatist Guild Fellows. Their songs have been performed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
Wednesday, February 4, 2008, 6p.m. on the Millennium Stage

Scott Burkell (book and lyrics) and Paul Loesel's (music) songs have been performed at Carnegie Hall

("Michael Feinstein: Now and Then" Series), Lincoln Center ("American Songbook Series"), Joe's Pub, Symphony Space, and the Chicago Humanities Festival. Their songs have been premiered by Kristin Chenoweth (Carnegie Hall), Rebecca Luker (the Kennedy Center), Marin Mazzie, Jason Danieley, Susan Egan, and Liz Callaway. Recordings of their work have appeared on Lisa Richard's album Virgin Tracks, as well as Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley's Opposite You. Their musical, Six of One, received a Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Grant, an ASCAP workshop, a CAP21 workshop, and a production in the 2007 Philly Fringe Festival. Love Songs and Other Crap, their musical revue, received a MAC Award nomination, and their new musical, Ella Minnow Pea, premiered at the University of Michigan this past fall.

Thursday, February 5, 2008, 6p.m. on the Millennium Stage

Composer and lyricist Adam Gwon is a recipient of the 2008 Fred Ebb Award for excellence in musical theater songwriting. His musical Ordinary Days recently enjoyed a sold-out run at the Finborough Theatre in London, after making its world premiere at Pennsylvania Centre Stage and appearing in the 2008 NAMT Festival of New Musicals and the 2008 ASCAP/Disney Musical Theater Workshop. His other musicals include Bernice Bobs Her Hair (with librettist Julia Jordan) and Ethan Frome. He is currently working on an original musical with playwright Sarah Hammond, commissioned by Broadway Across America, and an adaptation of Joe Meno's The Boy Detective Fails, commissioned by Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia as part of its American Musical Voices Project: The Next Generation. Mr. Gwon was a 2006-07 musical theater fellow at the Dramatists Guild, and is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Friday, February 6, 2008, 6p.m. on the Millennium Stage

Joshua Salzman (music) and Ryan Cunningham (book and lyrics) met in the NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Their thesis musical, I Love You Because, went on to be professionally produced Off-Broadway, earned a Drama Desk nomination for the team, spawned a cast album on PS Classics, and garnered a licensing deal with Theatrical Rights Worldwide, resulting in productions both nationally and internationally. They continue their collaboration with many projects, including: Queen Esther, a family musical comedy based on the story of Purim and commissioned by the Kaufman Center; and Next Thing You Know, a song cycle currently in development with director John Simpkins. They are contributing songwriters on the Disney Channel's Johnny and the Sprites. Their song "Just Not Now," from I Love You Because, was featured on Lauren Kennedy's new solo album Here and Now. Cunningham and Salzman are both members of the BMI Advanced Writing Workshop, ASCAP, and the Dramatist Guild.

Saturday, February 7, 2008, 6p.m. on the Millennium Stage

Author Marcy Heisler has been collaborating with composer Zina Goldrich since 1993, providing book and lyrics for Dear Edwina, Dear Edwina Junior, and the Lucille Lortel Award-nominated Junie B Jones. As a lyricist, Ms. Heisler has contributed songs for many Disney projects, including Johnny and the Sprites, Pooh's Learning Adventures, and The D Show. As an adaptor, she wrote new versions of 101 Dalmatians, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and The Jungle Book for Disney Theatricals. Other productions include Adventures in Love (Ordway Theatre), Allison Under the Stars (Workshop, Second Stage Theatre), and The Marcy and Zina Show, which tours around the U.S. and Canada. Ms. Heisler was a co-recipient of ASCAP'S 2002 Richard Rodgers Theatre Award, and was a Joseph Papp Artist in Residence at Second Stage Theatre. She recently collaborated with composer Michael Picton on songs for Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus 137th Edition. She is currently working on book and lyrics for a musical adaptation of 20th Century Fox's Ever After, slated for the 2010 Broadway season. She sits on the Publications Committee of the Dramatists Guild, and is a contributing writer to Dramatist magazine.

Composer Zina Goldrich, along with lyricist Marcy Heisler, will make her Broadway debut in 2010 with the musical adaptation of Ever After, directed by Doug Hughes. Their children's show Dear Edwina Opened this past fall off-Broadway at the DR2 Theater, where it will run through April 19. She composed the score for Junie B. Jones, which completed its second sold-out Off-Broadway run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre this past spring. In addition, she has composed for Johnny and the Sprites, Pooh's Learning Adventures, and was a staff songwriter for Walt Disney Feature Animation. Goldrich has played keyboards on Broadway for Avenue Q, Bombay Dreams, Oklahoma, and Titanic where she also conducted. Currently, she is scoring episodes of Wonderpets on Nickelodeon.

The Millennium Stage, underwritten by James A. Johnson and Maxine Isaacs, is brought to the public by Target Stores and Fannie Mae, with additional funding provided by the U.S. Department of Education, Ameriprise Financial, Inc., The Meredith Foundation, Dr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A.J. Stolwijk, Temple-Inland, Inc., DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Millennium Stage Endowment Fund, and the Kennedy Center Washington Committee on the Arts.

Millennium Stage Endowment Fund:
James A. Johnson and Maxine Isaacs, Fannie Mae, James V. Kimsey, Gilbert and JayLee Mead, Mortgage Bankers Association of America, and Anonymous and other gifts to secure the future of the Millennium Stage.

Performing Arts for Everyone
The Center's Performing Arts for Everyone (PAFE) program is designed to make the performing arts accessible, affordable, and available to everyone. The Millennium Stage is a vital part of PAFE. Not only does it host a performance every single day, it is a showcase of diversity, is broadcast daily over the Internet, and every performance is free to the public.

Transportation
The Show Shuttle, Kennedy Center's link to Metro's Foggy Bottom/GWU Metro station and the Columbia Plaza parking garage, provides free daily transportation every 15 minutes to and from the Center. The Show Shuttle operates this service from the Metro from 9:45 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. until 11:45 p.m. on Sundays. Free parking is not available when attending free events.

Internet Broadcasts
Internet broadcasts of Millennium Stage events allow anyone with Internet access to view both live performances, and past performances in the archives of the Web site, by visiting www.kennedy-center.org

Performance Schedules
Millennium Stage schedules are available throughout the Kennedy Center, and on the Internet at kennedy-center.org.