Menier to Premiere New Maltby & Shire Musical in Summer

Take Flight, a new musical by Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire "about flying, about the invention of the airplane, about creativity, and about the human need to take risks" will have its world premiere at London's Menier Chocolate Factory.

The Menier Chocolate Factory - which recently had a success with its Olivier Award-winning (and Broadway-bound) production of Sunday in the Park with George - will present the new musical this summer.

The show honors such innovators as the Wright Brothers, as well as "the spirit of invention in us all, the obscure as well as the famous, and that it is just as noble in those who fail as in those who succeed," according to press notes from a 2004 concert run in Australia, where it played the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

As a team, Maltby and Shire have penned the song cycles Starting Here, Starting Now and Closer Than Ever, as well as the book musicals Baby and Big.  Maltby is currently contributing books and lyrics to the Broadway-bound The Pirate Queen.  He has also worked on lyrics for Miss Saigon, and created and directed the revues Ain't Misbehavin' and Ring of Fire.  Shire's other Broadway credits include Saturday Night Fever.  He has also scored dozens of films.  Their new revue A Time for Love, a two-person song cycle, was recently seen at the Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura, CA.

Visit www.menierchocolatefactory.com for more information.

Photo - David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr.