Shown (l-r): Matthew Hardy, Sean Hartley, Randy Klein, Ron Barnett, Greg Edwards, Eric March, jeff Ward, Matt Schatz, Phillip Chernyak, Patrick Cook, , Mary Liz McNamara, Richard Engquist, Frank Evans, Alison Hubbard, Kim oler, Ray Bokhour, Phoebe Kreutz, BMI’s Jean Banks, and Daniel Israel. Not pictured: Simon Gray

The new musicals showcased included The Suicide by Raymond Bokhour and Simon Gray; The Thing About Joe by Randy Klein and Matthew Hardy; Saloon Songs by Richard Engquist; and The Dirty Hippie Jam Band by Dan Israel and Phoebe Kreutz. Other writers included Mary Liz McNamara, Sean Hartley, Greg Edwards, Eric March, Jeff Ward, Matt Schatz, Phillip Chernyak, Alison Hubbard and Kim Oler. Previous smoker participants include Best Musical Tony Award-winners Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (Avenue Q); Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer (I’m Getting My Act Together…); Eric Rockwell and Joann Bogart (The Musical of Musicals, The Musical); and Amanda Green and Tom Kitt (High Fidelity). The event was produced by the Workshop’s Artistic Coordinator Patrick Cook and Special Events Coordinator Frank Evans. The BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, a 2006 Tony Honor recipient, Drama Desk Award and Drama League Award winner for Excellence in Musical Theatre, was founded in 1961 by the late Lehman Engel, dean of American musical theatre, to create a setting where new writers could learn their craft.

A recipient of the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre Award, the Lehman Engel Musical Workshop consists of approximately 250 composers, lyricists and book writers who are actively writing new works for the musical theatre. The first year class is co-moderated by Workshop Artistic Coordinator Patrick Cook (Captains Courageous, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) and Workshop alumnus Frederick Freyer (Captains Courageous). Alumni include Tony Award winners Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q), Edward Kleban (A Chorus Line), Maury Yeston (Titanic, Grand Hotel, Nine), Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors) and Michael John LaChiusa (Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party).

Sponsorship for the Workshop is fully covered by BMI, at no cost to participating writers. The purpose of the Workshop is to bring writers together to work under the guidance and supervision of experienced professionals in order to develop new creative talent in American musical theatre. A springboard for new works, the Workshop creates a learning environment for members to experiment, take risks and learn from moderators and other participants.

Applications for the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop can be downloaded here, or requested by emailing theatre@bmi.com. Applications should include:

Composer: Three (3) contrasting compositions on CD –up-tempo, comedy song, ballad. Please include copy of score that includes lyrics.

Lyricist: Three (3) contrasting lyrics –up-tempo, comedy song, ballad.

Composer/Lyricist: Three (3) contrasting songs on CD -up-tempo, comedy song, ballad. Please include copy of score that includes lyrics.

Please send completed applications to:

Jean Banks BMI 320 West 57th Street New York, NY 10019

(Front row, L-R): Michael Bush, BMI’s Jean Banks, Jane Smulyan, Randy Klein, Kristin Maloney, Adam Matthias, Rick Freyer, Raymond Bokhour, Phoebe Kreutz, David Spencer, Robert Yarnall, Sara Wordsworth, Andrew Sherman; (Back Row)Jack Lechner, Andy Monroe, Robert Maggio, Diane Daltner, Nancy Golladay, Pat Cook, Doug Katsaros, Frank Evans, Dan Irsael, Ben H Winters, Robert Sislen, Chris Boal

The evening began with composer Brad Alexander and book writer/lyricist Adam Mathias’s See Rock City & Other Destinations, winner of the 2008 Richard Rodgers Award and 2007 BMI Foundation Jerry Bock Award. Anthony Rapp (Rent) and Jill Abramovitz (Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me) performed two songs from the show, followed by Jenifer Foote, currently in the Broadway revival of a Chorus Line, who performed the title song from BMI Foundation Harrington Award-winning writer Stephen Sislen and Ben H. Winters’ Room 16.

Pat Cook presents retirement award to Advanced Class moderator Richard Engquist.

The showcase continued with selections from The Dirty Hippie Jam Band Project, with a performances from Sandie Rosa and Bret Carr; Pleasantville, an adaptation from the film of the same title; The Kid, based on the book by Village Voice columnist Dan Savage; The Thing About Joe, with a performance of “Some Girls” by Kevin B. McGlynn; Shall We Dance, featuring an ensemble performance of “He Needs Me”; Drive, created by composer/lyricist Andy Monroe; China Doll Overdrive, with a performance from Workshop composer Adam Overett and Mick Bleyer; My Blue Heaven, created by composer Andy Karl and lyricist Diane Daltner; National Geographic, spawned from author Chris Boal and Grammy Award-winning composer Andrew Sherman; and The Suicide, with a performance of “Hold the Pity Pudding.”

Anthony Rapp performs “See Rock City”.

Pat Cook, artistic coordinator of the Workshop, presented an award to Richard Engquist on his retirement as the moderator of the Advanced Workshop. Engquist has been moderating the Second Year and Advanced classes for 25 years.

The finale of the showcase featured Anthony Rapp, star of the original cast of Rent, singing the title song from the BMI Foundation Jerry Bock Award-winning musical See Rock City.

Writers previously showcased include Best Musical Tony winners Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (Avenue Q); Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning Edward Kleban (A Chorus Line); triple Tony Award winner Maury Yeston, (Nine, Titanic, Grand Hotel); eight-time Oscar-winner and nine-time Grammy-winner Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Little Shop of Horrors); Drama Desk winner Carol Hall (Best Little Whorehouse in Texas); Tony Award recipients Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Seussical); Tony and Grammy winners Judd Woldin and Robert Brittan (Raisin); Tony nominees Michael Korie and Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens; and Tony nominee Jeff Blumenkrantz (Urban Cowboy).

A recipient of the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre Award, the Lehman Engel Musical Workshop consists of approximately 250 composers, lyricists and book writers who are actively writing new works for the musical theatre. The first year class is co-moderated by Workshop Artistic Coordinator Patrick Cook (Captains Courageous, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) and Workshop alumni Frederick Freyer (Captains Courageous). Alumni include Tony Award winners Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q), Edward Kleban (A Chorus Line), Maury Yeston (Titanic, Grand Hotel, Nine), Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors) and Michael John LaChiusa (Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party).

Sponsorship for the Workshop is fully covered by BMI, leaving no cost for participating writers. The purpose of the Workshop is to bring writers together to work under the guidance and supervision of experienced professionals in order to develop new creative talent in American musical theatre. A springboard for new works, the Workshop creates a learning environment for members to experiment, take risks and learn from moderators and other participants.

Applications for the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop can be downloaded here, or requested by emailing theatre@bmi.com. Applications should include:

Composer: Three (3) contrasting compositions on cassette – ballad, up-tempo, comedy song. Please include copy of score that includes lyrics.

Lyricist: Three (3) contrasting lyrics – ballad, up-tempo, comedy song.

Composer/Lyricist: Three (3) contrasting songs on cassette - ballad, up-tempo, comedy song. Please include copy of score that includes lyrics.

Please send completed applications to:

Jean Banks BMI 320 West 57th Street New York, NY 10019

Now in its fourth decade of working with musical theatre writers, the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop was recently celebrated with Drama League, Drama Desk, and Tony™Honors awards for its contribution to the theatre community. The Librettists Workshop was created by the late Lehman Engel as an essential complement to the original songwriters’ workshops that Engel led from 1961 until 1982. Engel was fond of Oscar Hammerstein’s statement that “the song is the servant of the play.” BMI’s Librettist Workshop was founded to foster the new scripts which allow the American musical theatre to keep on singing.

The Workshop’s goal is to clarify the special techniques of writing for the musical stage. BMI fully sponsors the Workshop; there is no cost to participating writers. Most members of the Librettists Workshop are accomplished playwrights, but some join the Workshop after experience in screenwriting, journalism, or other literary disciplines. The Workshop has become a springboard for new works, a resource for new collaborations, and a talent pool known throughout the theatrical industry.

Broadway Literary Manager and scriptwriter Nancy Golladay serves as Librettist Workshop Moderator. Members meet weekly to present work in progress and to participate in peer discussion. Golladay has also created a number of innovative programs where Librettist members work on short-term projects with members of BMI’s songwriting workshops to promote collaboration and networking among the groups. Occasional guest lecturers visit the Workshop to discuss other aspects of the theatre business. Participants learn musical theatre skills both through moderated critiques and from the examples shown by the group’s senior members.

The BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop is made up of approximately 250 composers, lyricists, and bookwriters working in the musical theatre. Alumni include Edward Kleban (A Chorus Line), Maury Yeston (Titanic, Grand Hotel, Nine), Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors), Michael John LaChiusa (Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party), Linda Klein (A Class Act), Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Once on This Island, Ragtime, Dessa Rose, Seussical), and Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q).

To apply to the Librettists Workshop, writers must submit samples of their work with a résumé and completed application form by May 1. In addition to bmi.com, application forms and information may be obtained by contacting:

Jean Banks, Senior Director, Musical Theatre, BMI

320 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019

musicaltheatre@bmi.com

The current Broadway season has theatre-goers scrambling for seats to shows from BMI’s ever-growing list of writers from the Tony-honored BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.

A CHORUS LINE
A revival of A Chorus Line opened Oct. 5, 2006, at the Schoenfeld Theatre in New York. The ground-breaking and record-breaking musical features lyrics by BMI writer Edward Kleban, who won the 1975 Tony, Drama Desk, Olivier Awards and the Pulitzer Prize in Music for the show’s lyrics. Kleban was a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Workshop for over 20 years.

A Chorus Line begins on a bare stage, where casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete. The competition has been narrowed down to just 17 dancers. During the show we find out the dancers’ dreams and disappointments. By the show’s finale, the final chorus line of eight is chosen.

In 2001, a musical biography of Kleban, A Class Act, was produced on Broadway. The show features Kleban’s music and lyrics and has scenes set in the BMI Workshop. Mr. Kleban, who died in 1987 at the age of 48, posthumously won an Obie for his score for A Class Act, and was nominated for a Tony and a Drama Desk Award. Linda Kline, Kleban’s literary executor and a BMI Workshop member, is co-writer. The Kleban Foundation, created according to his will, awards grants to aspiring theatre lyricists and bookwriters so that they may carry on the tradition of the American musical theatre, which he loved so dearly.

Joel Siegel of ABC-TV wrote, “This proves you can be a singular sensation twice. The choreography, the staging, the set and the score are still magic. You’ll dance out humming the score. The music moved me to tears twice. And something I’ve never done, during the finale, I whispered wow under my breath.”

Jon Lahr in The New Yorker described A Chorus Line’s score “full of wit and fun. Edward Kleban’s shrewd lyrics sit easily on Marvin Hamlisch’s inspired score.”

Entertainment Weekly proclaimed, “This sensational revival blows the sequins off most Broadway musicals. It’s thrilling!”

Michael Sommers of the Star-Ledger wrote, “Welcome back, you beautiful thing! The show glows with dynamic and dazzling songs by composer Marvin Hamlisch and lyricist Edward Kleban,” and Joe Dziemianowicz of the Daily News asserted, “There’s nothing better. The score sounds fantastic, too. As long as ‘A Chorus Line’ is kicking on Broadway, audiences have somewhere exciting to go.”

MARY POPPINS
Based on P.L. Travers’ cherished stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film, Mary Poppins features the Sherman Brothers’ original Academy Award-winning songs, bringing to life the story of the Banks family and their magical nanny.

Mary Poppins marks the first collaboration between Disney, producer of the The Lion King (BMI’s Elton John and Tim Rice) and Beauty and the Beast (BMI’s Alan Menken) with Cameron Mackintosh, legendary producer of the record-breaking Phantom of the Opera, Cats and Les Miserables. The Cameron MackIntosh Foundation provides underwriting for the annual BMI Workshop Musical Theatre Showcase at Manhattan Theatre Club.

Mary Poppins, with classic songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, and new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, opened Nov. 16, 2006, at the historic New Amsterdam Theatre in New York.

The Sherman Brothers are leading composer/lyricists in family entertainment. Among their many hits is the most translated and performed song on earth: “It’s a Small World (After All).” Robert Sherman endows the BMI Foundation’s Robert B. Sherman Scholarship, which is given annually to a college student who is a musical theatre composer/lyricist.

The Shermans’ career spans almost 50 years and includes two Academy Awards for Best Score and Best Song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee” from Mary Poppins. Their other Broadway credits include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Over Here, which is being prepared for a lavish West End revival.

Additional songs are by composer/lyricists George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, Olivier Award winners for the musical Honk and founders of London’s Mercury Musicals.

Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press wrote, “All the big, classic Sherman Brothers songs are here, and new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe fit seamlessly into the proceedings. In fact, one or two of them, including Mary’s opening number, ‘Practically Perfect,’ possess an instant hypnotic quality.”

Terry Teachout wrote in The Wall Street Journal, “I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t run for at least a century!”

SPRING AWAKENING
Based on the scandalous 1891 play about troubled teens, Spring Awakening opened off-Broadway last summer and opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on Dec. 10, 2006. This ground-breaking show is by BMI writers Duncan Sheik (music) and Steven Sater (book and lyrics).

Christopher Isherwood of the The New York Times called Sheik and Sater’s score “ravishing” and declared that “Broadway would never be the same. The music, spare in its simple orchestrations, lush in the lapping reach of its seductive choruses, embodies the shadowy air of longing that infuses the show, the excitement shading into fear, the joy that comes with a chaser of despair. The singing throughout is impassioned and affecting, giving powerful voice to the blend of melancholy and hope in the songs.”

Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik’s self-titled debut album, both a popular and critical success, introduced the hit singles “Barely Breathing” and “She Runs Away,” and spent 30 weeks on the Billboard 200. Other albums include Humming, Daylight, Phantom Moon with lyrics by Steven Sater and his latest, White Limousine.

Sheik’s film soundtracks include Great Expectations, The Saint, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Three to Tango, What a Girl Wants, Transamerica and A Body Goes Down. Sheik and Sater recently wrote original songs for the feature film A Home at the End of the World. For the stage, their Nightingale workshopped both at the O’Neill Musical Theatre Conference and La Jolla Playhouse, and is announced for La Jolla’s 2007 season.

Sater’s plays include the long-running Carbondale Dreams, Perfect for You and Doll (Rosenthal Prize, Cincinnati Playhouse).

HIGH FIDELITY
The romantic musical comedy High Fidelity follows the adventures of Rob, a record store owner who knows almost everything about pop music, but almost nothing about how to hang on to a girlfriend. This new musical adaptation of Nick Hornby’s best-selling novel marks the first-time collaboration of fast-rising songwriters Tom Kitt and Amanda Green (daughter of actress Phyllis Newman and legendary Broadway lyricist Adolph Green) and book writer David Lindsay-Abaire (a Tony nominee last season for his play Rabbit Hole).

Kitt and Green first met and collaborated in 2006 in the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, and songs from High Fidelity have been featured in BMI Workshop showcases. Tom’s work has been heard in film (The Two Ninas), television (Dawson’s Creek), and original recordings (Julia Murney, The Tom Kitt Band). Amanda’s shows include Hallelujah Baby (Arena Stage 2004; additional lyrics) directed by Arthur Laurents, For The Love of Tiffany (NY Fringe Festival 2003) and Up the Week Without a Paddle (L.A. Drama Critics Circle nomination, Garland Award, Best Score).

Frank Rizzo in Variety wrote, “This is a musical that celebrates the power of pop culture with wit, verve and a killer beat. Nailing the music in all its varied forms is Tom Kitt’s tuneful score and the sharp, funny and telling lyrics of Amanda Green.”

Terry Teachout proclaimed Green “a master of the craft of packing everything you need to know about a character into a neatly wrapped, deftly rhymed package.”

The Philadelphia Enquirer calls the musical numbers the show’s “mother lode. Act II bubbles over with so many show-stealers that you begin to wonder whether it has anything left to plunder. Indeed, it keeps bringing out the treasure.”

And Entertainment Weekly declared that High Fidelity is “the unique show that charms both your college drinking buddy and your mother.”

THE APPLE TREE
A revival of The Apple Tree, which opened Dec. 14, 2006, at the Roundabout’s Studio 54 Theatre, features a score by BMI writers Jerry Bock (music) and Sheldon Harnick (lyrics). The original production, which opened at the Shubert Theatre in 1966, was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Bock and Harnick are the Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning writing team responsible for Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me, The Rothschilds and Fiorello.

The Apple Tree contains three short musicals, all pertaining to the subject of temptation. The first is based on Mark Twain’s interpretation of Adam and Eve, the second, Frank Stockton’s classic fable of The Lady or the Tiger, and the third, Passionella, Jules Pfeiffer’s delicious look at a chimney sweep who is transformed into a glamorous movie star.

Composer Jerry Bock personally selects and endows the BMI Foundation’s Jerry Bock Award, which is given bi-annually to a composer/lyricist team from the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop.

Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote that The Apple Tree “is somewhere you should definitely spend time if you need reassurance that musicals can still float next door to heaven,” and praised Bock and Harnick’s “remarkably fresh comic and musical stylings, which speak slyly in an assortment of musical tongues.”

Terry Teachout declared, “musical comedy fans, rejoice!” and Broadway.com wrote, “With a lovely score and witty book by the legendary Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, ‘The Apple Tree’ is a must-see revival for lovers of musical theater.”

BMI Broadway blockbusters from earlier seasons include:

Avenue Q
2004 Best Musical and Best Score Tony Award by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who met and first wrote together in the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop; plays nightly at New York’s Golden Theatre and in London at the Noel Coward Theatre.

Beauty and the Beast
Now in its 12th year at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, has music by Alan Menken, who also honed his craft at BMI’s Musical Theatre Workshop; he is currently a member of the Workshop’s Steering Committee. Menken’s Sister Act is currently breaking box office records on its pre-Broadway tour, and his Little Mermaid is in preparation for Broadway next season.

Chicago
1997 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, by John Kander and Fred Ebb, celebrates its tenth year at the Ambassador Theatre. Kander and Ebb’s Curtains opens on Broadway March 22 at the Hirschfeld Theatre.

The Color Purple
2006 Tony nominee featuring a score by BMI writers Brenda Russell and Allee Willis plays at the Broadway Theatre.

Jersey Boys
With music by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe, the 2006 Tony Award winner for Best Musical celebrates its 500th performance at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre.

The Lion King
Music by Sir Elton John (PRS) and lyrics by Tim Rice (PRS), winner of the 1998 Best Musical Tony, is in its ninth year at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre.

Mama Mia!
With songs by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA, Mama Mia! has been playing at the Winter Garden Theatre since 2001.

Monty Python’s Spamalot
2005 Tony Award for Best Musical with book and lyrics by Eric Idle and music by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, directed by BMI writer Mike Nichols, continues its run at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre.

The Producers
Won an unprecedented 12 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Score for Mel Brooks‘ music and lyrics, plays at the St. James Theatre.

Tarzan
With music and lyrics by Phil Collins, continues at Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre.

Tarzan, The Lion King, Mary Poppins and Beauty and the Beast are all Disney Broadway productions.

Pictured after the ceremony at Tavern on the Green are (front row): Tony Honors recipient Gerard Alessandrini, BMI Workshop moderator Maury Yeston, American Theatre Wing President Douglas Leeds, Shubert Organization Chairman Gerald Schoenfeld, actress Angela Lansbury, American Theatre Wing Chairman Sondra Gilman, Tony Honors host Cynthia Nixon, BMI Workshop moderator Richard Engquist, Tony Honors recipient Biff Liff; (middle row): Workshop alumni and Tony Honors presenters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Workshop Steering Committee members Nancy Golladay, Jane Smulyan and David Spencer; (back row): Workshop moderator Rick Freyer, Workshop alumnus Judd Woldin (composer of Raisin, the Workshop's first Tony-winning musical), BMI Workshop Director Jean Banks, Workshop Steering Committee members Patrick Cook and Frank Evans, and Workshop alumna Linda Kline.

In accepting the crystal trophy, Yeston, the Tony Award-winning BMI composer (Titanic, Grand Hotel, Nine) who has led the Workshop for more than 25 years, said, "Lehman wanted to pass on his expertise in writing musicals and he got together with an extraordinary corporation, BMI, and they did something unprecedented that I don't think has ever been done before or since: They made a workshop. BMI put up the money, they provided the infrastructure and the room and the piano, and they've been doing this for more than 40 years, free of charge, no strings attached. It is a real privilege to sit there and to see these shows come into existence week by week and song by song."

American Theatre Wing President Douglas Leeds, American Theatre Wing Chairman Sondra Gilman, BMI Workshop moderator Maury Yeston, who accepted the Tony Honor on the Workshop's behalf, and Workshop alumna Lynn Ahrens, who presented the award

Deemed "the Harvard of musical theatre" by The New York Times, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop was founded in 1961 by the late Lehman Engel, dean of American musical theatre, to create a setting where new writers could learn their craft. With more than 250 composers, lyricists and bookwriters who are actively writing new works for the musical theatre, noted alumni include Yeston, as well as Tony Award winners Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q), Edward Kleban (A Chorus Line), Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors), and Michael John LaChiusa (Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party).

(Back row): Workshop committee members Patrick Cook, Jean Banks and Frank Evans; and (front row): Lynn Ahrens and Maury Yeston

The BMI Workshop's 2006 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre adds to an impressive trophy shelf that already boasts a special 2006 Drama Desk Award "for nurturing, developing and promoting new talent for the musical theater," and the 2005 Drama League Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre.

In addition to the BMI Workshop, Forbidden Broadway and its creator Gerard Alessandrini- a BMI composer and Workshop alumnus-were also honored with a Tony Honor, given to individuals and organizations that have demonstrated extraordinary achievements in the field of theatre, but that are not eligible in any of the established Tony categories. Winners are chosen by the Tony Administration Committee.]]> 2006-10-27T05:00:00+00:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/334990 Alessandrini, Gerard, Engel, Lehman, LaChiusa, Michael John, Lopez, Robert, Marx, Jeff, Menken, Alan, Yeston, Maury, Musical Theatre, Tony Awards Congratulations to the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, recently announced as a recipient of the 2006 Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre. This prestigious honor will be presented Oct. 24 at Tavern on the Green in New York City.

The Tony Honors "recognize contributions to the field of theatre for individuals and organizations that are not eligible in any of the established Tony categories." In addition to the BMI Workshop, Forbidden Broadway and its creator Gerard Alessandrini, a BMI composer and Workshop alum, will also be feted. Other honorees include William Morris Agency Senior VP Samuel Liff and La MaMa E.T.C. Founder/Director Ellen Stewart.

Deemed "the Harvard of musical theatre" by The New York Times, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop was founded in 1961 by the late Lehman Engel, dean of American musical theatre, to create a setting where new writers could learn their craft. The Workshop consists of approximately 250 composers, lyricists and bookwriters, most of whom are actively writing new works for the musical theatre. Noted alumni include Tony Award winners Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q), Edward Kleban (A Chorus Line), Maury Yeston (Titanic, Grand Hotel, Nine), Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors) and Michael John LaChiusa (Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party).

The Workshop's 2006 Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre adds to an impressive trophy shelf that already boasts a special 2006 Drama Desk Award "for nurturing, developing and promoting new talent for the musical theater" and the 2005 Drama League Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre.]]> 2006-09-26T05:00:00+00:00