Valparaiso High School students and teachers gather with Workshop faculty at the day-long interactive seminar. Pictured are (back row): Dan Nellessen, Elizabeth Uzelac, Drew Nellesen, Richard Engquist, Tom Leland, Andria Kessler, Molly Vass, Tanau Popli, Aaron Porter, Mark Blane, Alan Chambers; (middle row): Ann Nellessen, Becky Schoon, Kathy McMillan, Laura Punter, Jamie Patton, Lindsay Babcock, Erin Gerig, Erika Marinello; (front row): Frank Evans, Jean Banks, Nancy Golladay, Alice Gambel, David Spencer, Pat Cook and Daniel Pritchett.

BMI Workshop moderators Rick Freyer and Pat Cook, who also serves as Artistic Coordinator, gave a short presentation, and then joined faculty members David Spencer (Kleban Award recipient for Weird Romance), Frank Evans (Jerry Bock Award for Dinner at Eight), Richard Engquist (Outer Critics Circle nominee for Kuni-Leml) and Librettist Workshop moderator Nancy Golladay to critique the students' songs. Spencer, author of "The Musical Theatre Writer's Survival Guide," also spoke about writing hit musicals.

Special guest Michael Korie and Workshop faculty member Frank Evans

Special guest Michael Korie-Kleban and Larson Award-winning lyricist of Grey Gardens, which opened to rave reviews at Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre-participated in a Q&A session with the students, who saw a performance of his show the night before. Korie's other credits include the operas Kabbalah and Harvey Milk, performed at New York City Opera and San Francisco Opera, and the upcoming musical version of Dr. Zhivago, which premiered in La Jolla, Calif., this summer.

Congratulating Robert Sherman Scholarship recipient Drew Nellessen (center) are Alice Gambel, creator of the Valparaiso Musical Theatre program, and BMI's Jean Banks, who supervises the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.

The Valparaiso students also caught a performance of the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line, the multiple Tony Award-winning musical developed by lyricist Edward Kleban in the BMI Workshop.

During the session, Valparaiso alumnus and Millikin University senior Drew Nellessen was awarded the BMI Foundation's first Robert Sherman Scholarship, a new award endowed by the BMI composer of Mary Poppins (opening soon on Broadway). Nellessen, who participated in the high school's 2002 visit, is currently preparing to star as "Vinnie" in Millikin's production of Lucky Stiff, and has also performed in the university's productions of Sugar, The Secret Garden and Damn Yankees.

Deemed "the Harvard of musical theatre" by The New York Times, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop was founded in 1961 by Lehman Engel, dean of American musical theatre, to create a setting where new writers could learn their craft. In addition to A Chorus Line, it is the birthplace of such celebrated musicals as Nine, Raisin, Little Shop of Horrors and Avenue Q, among others. An innovative program widely regarded as the foremost training ground for new writing voices, the BMI Workshop has been recognized with such prestigious awards as the 2006 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre, the 2005-2006 Drama Desk Award, and the 2005 Drama League Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre. The Workshop is supervised by BMI's Jean Banks, Senior Director of Musical Theatre.

Photos by Dana Rodriguez]]> 2006-11-10T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/334620 Berger, Calvin, Bock, Jerry, Bryant, Del, Dinner at Eight, Dreyfus, David, Engel, Lehman, Evans, Frank, Gaither, Jay, Gilbert, Julie, Hardy, Jeffrey, Hawkins, Cheryl, Hubbard, Alison, Oler, Kim, Schaechter, Ben, Wyner, Barry Barry Wyner has been named the winner of the 2005 BMI Foundation/Jerry Bock Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre for his musical, Calvin Berger.

This prestigious award was established in 1997 by Jerry Bock, BMI composer of such classics as Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello!, She Loves Me, The Apple Tree and The Rothschilds. The winner was personally chosen by Bock from the collective output of musicals developed in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.

Pictured after the presentation are BMI Foundation President Ralph Jackson, Workshop Artistic Coordinator Pat Cook, Jerry Bock Award winner Barry Wyner, Workshop Steering Committee member Frank Evans, composer Jerry Bock, BMI Foundation Treasurer Gary Roth, BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and BMI Workshop Director Jean Banks

A hip update of Cyrano, Calvin Berger chronicles 12th grader Calvin Berger as he grapples with his insecurity about the size of his nose. Lacking the courage to ask out the girl of his dreams, he instead communicates his feelings to her through the handsome new kid in school...which only makes him want her more. The award-winning musical was recently previewed at Musicals Tonight!

Award recipient Barry Wyner is congratulated by composer Jerry Bock

Wyner's other original musicals include Sugar Plum (produced at Company Carolina and Gloucester Stage), Something to Say (reading, Manhattan Theater Club) and Kelleher Was Dumbstruck (produced at Access Theater, NYC). His emerging career and involvement with the BMI Workshop was chronicled on a Japanese state television documentary on NHK Network last spring. Previous winners of the Bock Award include Alison Hubbard and Kim Oler for The Enchanted Cottage. Ben Schaechter, Frank Evans and Julie Gilbert for Dinner at Eight, Jay Gaither and Cheryl Hawkins for Hurricane, and David Dreyfus and Jeffrey Hardy for A Trip to the Footbinder.

Ben Schaechter has composed music for the Outer Critics Award nominated That's Life and the Outer Critics Award and Drama Desk Award nominated Too Jewish?, as well as for the long-running hit, Naked Boys Singing. Frank Evans, who serves on the Steering Committee of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, co-wrote the lyrics to Abie's Island Rose, named "one of the ten best plays of 2000" by the Palm Beach Post. Julie Gilbert is the winner of a Dramaloug Award for her play, The Cottage, and is a Pulitzer Prize nominee for the Paulette Goddard/Erich Maria Remarque bio, Opposite Attraction.

In attendance at the London reading of Dinner at Eight are the musical's composer Ben Schaechter, librettist Julie Gilbert, lyricist Frank Evans and BMI's Jean Banks.

]]> 2003-07-15T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/232995 Artists, Dinner at Eight, Engel, Lehman, Evans, Frank, Musical Styles, Musical Theatre Dinner at Eight, a new musical based on the George S. Kaufman/Edna Ferber classic play, has been awarded the 2001-2002 Jerry Bock Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre. With music by Ben Schaechter, lyrics by Frank Evans and book by Julie Gilbert, the new musical was developed in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop under the direction of Bick Goss from the Century Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan.

The biennial award was established in 1997 by Jerry Bock, BMI composer of such classic musicals as Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello!, She Loves Me, The Apple Tree and The Rothschilds. The winning musical was personally chosen by Bock from the collective output of musicals developed in the BMI Workshop. Jean Banks, BMI's Senior Director of Musical Theatre, is planning a private ceremony later this month where Mr. Bock will present the winners with their $2,000 cash awards, as well as plaques commemorating the honor.

Ben Schaechter has composed music for the Outer Critics Award nominated That's Life and the Outer Critics Award and Drama Desk Award nominated Too Jewish?, as well as for the long-running hit Naked Boys Singing. Abie's Island Rose, for which Frank Evans co-wrote lyrics, was named "one of the ten best plays of 2000" by the Palm Beach Post. Julie Gilbert is the winner of a Dramaloug Award for her play, The Cottage.

Previous winners of the Bock award include Jay Gaither and Cheryl Hawkins for Hurricane, which was seen at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, and David Dreyfus and Jeffrey Hardy for A Trip to the Footbinder, developed in a workshop at Goodspeed Musicals in a cooperative venture with BMI.