March 2, 2005

Broadway Writers Discuss the BMI Workshop on BBC Radio 3…Listen Now

Listen now to a preview of the BBC Radio 3 interviews with Emmy-nominated playwright Jeff Sweet (Pack of Lies, The Value of Names) and Tony Award-winning BMI composers Maury Yeston (Titanic, Nine, Grand Hotel), Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez (co-writers of Avenue Q), who were on hand for an in-depth discussion of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. The show, part of the Stage & Screen series hosted by Edward Seckerson, will air on BBC Radio 3 on March 7.

LISTEN NOW to the BBC Radio Stage & Screen Interviews (58:44)

Yeston provides unique insight into the Workshop's 43-year history. A student of Lehman Engel and longtime moderator of the Advanced Class, he was instrumental in continuing the Workshop after Engel's death in 1982. Yeston recalls: "We discussed what could be the best memorial for this great man of the theatre. We concluded that nothing could be more fitting than to keep his work going."

Sweet, who studied under Engel from 1968 through 1974, also reminisces about the Workshop's early days. Writing partners Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez, who met in the BMI Workshop and developed Avenue Q there, tell the story of the next generation of Broadway writers.

Show host Edward Seckerson and producer Bill Lloyd, who got to sit in on the Advanced Class the day before the interview, also share their thoughts on the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.

BBC Radio 3's Stage & Screen series is devoted to the rich heritage of music theatre and film music. It sets the agenda with interviews of songwriters, composers, orchestrators, musicians, actors, choreographers and producers, together with a round-up of the latest news, and cast and soundtrack recordings.