MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL Will Be Developed into a Musical by Jason Robert Brown and Taylor Mac

Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, the 1994 iconic blockbuster book by John Berendt, which still holds a New York Times bestseller list record, is being developed into a new musical.

The production will be directed by Tony Award winner Rob Ashford, written by MacArthur "Genius" Grantee and Pulitzer Finalist Taylor Mac, with music and lyrics by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown and choreography by Tanya Birl and Sarah O'Gleby. Additional creative team to be announced at a later date. An invitation only industry reading will take place May 12th and 13th, 2023.

MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL, a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, is the story of a socially prominent Savannah, Georgia, antiques dealer who was tried, and retried, for murder. The book was on the New York Times Best-Seller for 216 weeks and was adapted for Clint Eastwood's 1997 film of the same name.

Rob Ashford (Director) is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning director and choreographer. Broadway Theatre credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Frozen, How To Succeed In Business, Promises, Promises, Evita, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Shrek, John Water's Cry Baby, Curtains, & The Wedding Singer. London Theatre credits include The Winters Tale, Romeo & Juliet, The Entertainer, Harlequinade, Macbeth, Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, and the Olivier Award-winning productions of Anna Christie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Parade. He directed and choreographed NBC's "Sound of Music Live!" and "Peter Pan Live!". He directed and choreographed Carousel, Carmen, & The Barber of Seville for Chicago Lyric Opera and Houston Grand Opera and choreographed Candide at La Scala, ENO, and Chatelet in Paris. He choreographed and staged the 2009, 2013, 2014, & 2015 Academy Awards winning an Emmy for his work on Baz Luhrmann's 2009 production number featuring Hugh Jackman and Beyonce. He has staged The Tony Awards for 8 years and has also staged tributes at The Kennedy Center Honors for Barbra Streisand, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerry Herman, Barbara Cook, Tom Hanks, Shirley MacLaine, and Meryl Streep. Films include choreography for Disney's Cinderella, Beyond the Sea, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Ted 2, Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.

Taylor Mac (Book) is a MacArthur Fellow, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a Tony Nominee (for Best Play), and the recipient of the Kennedy Prize (with Matt Ray), the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a Guggenheim, a Drama League Award, a NY Drama Critics Circle Award, two Obie's, two Bessies, and the first American to receive the International Ibsen Award. Mac is the author of Joy and Pandemic (premiering spring, 2023 at the Huntington Theater); The Hang (with Matt Ray); Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus; A 24-Decade History of Popular Music; Hir; The Fre, The Walk Across America For Mother Earth, The Lily's Revenge; The Young Ladies Of; and The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac.

Jason Robert Brown (Music and Lyrics) has written the music and lyrics to several of the most renowned and influential musicals of our time, including the generation-defining The Last Five Years, his debut song cycle Songs for a New World, and the seminal Parade, currently on Broadway in a highly acclaimed new production starring Ben Platt and directed by Michael Arden. His other musicals include 13, which was made into a feature film on Netflix last year; The Bridges of Madison County, winner of Tony Awards for score and orchestrations; Mr. Saturday Night with Billy Crystal; and Honeymoon In Vegas. As a pianist, singer and bandleader, Jason has performed concerts around the world. His latest album, "Coming From Inside The House," features Ariana Grande and Shoshana Bean and is

available from Craft Recordings.

Tanya Birl (Co-Choreographer) is a New York City based Movement Director/Choreographer. Choreography: How I Learned What I Learned (OSF), Twelfth Night (The Public Theater), The Red Letter Plays (The Signature Theater), Comedy of Errors (Classic Stage company), As You Like It (The Guthrie Theater) and Peter and the Star Catcher (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Select performance credits, Broadway: Memphis the Musical, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, How to Succeed, On The Town. Others: The Lion King, The Bubbly Black Girl...,

The Wiz, West Side Story. Tanya is currently in the process of writing an original choreo-play titled 'A Play in 3 Movements' about intergenerational trauma/healing and its links to auto immunity in women. She is a 2023/24 MAP Fund Grantee, 2022 NoMAA artist in residence and a High-Arts/Critical Breaks Fellow in collaboration with OSF New Works. @sohumanity SoHumanity.com

Sarah O'Gleby (Co-Choreographer). Her credits include Shucked (Broadway), Almost Famous (Broadway), Tony's Opening Numbers 2022 (Radio City), Shucked (Pioneer, SLC), The Wanderer (Paper Mill Playhouse), Mythic (Charing Cross, London), High Button Shoes (City Center Encores). Sarah is Resident Choreographer for "SNL" and "The Tonight Show" (NBC). Sarah also creates unique one-off events for Hermes, Robin Hood Foundation, Target, Rose Bowl (NBC), Thanksgiving Day Parade (NBC), "The Kelly Clarkson Show" (NBC), "The View" (ABC) and The Kennedy Center Honors (CBS).

JOHN BERENDT (Award-Winning Author) was born and raised in Syracuse, New York. He attended Harvard, where he majored in English and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. Upon graduation he was hired by Esquire magazine--first as an editor, then as a monthly columnist. Later he became the editor of New York Magazine. It was during a trip to the South in the mid-1980s that he discovered Savannah--a cloistered, inward-looking garden city that basked on the Georgia coast, reveling in its own peculiarities and giving not a thought to the outside world. He was enchanted and began writing about the city and its people in what would eventually become Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

An invitation only industry reading will take place May 12th and 13th, 2023. MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL is being produced by Hal Luftig, Craig Haffner, and Sherry Wright.