The New York Musical Theatre Festival Announces Two More Awards for Excellence

The New York Musical Theater Festival will honor the winners of the NYMF 2009 Awards for Excellence as well as NY1 "On Stage" and Sh-K-Boom Records at the Sixth Anniversary Season Awards Gala taking place Sunday, November 22nd at The Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street). Two additional awards, presented by Daegu International Musical Festival and Stage Entertainment USA, will also be presented.

THE 2009 NYMF SPECIAL AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE:
Daegu International Musical Festival Production Award
Academy
Book, Music and Lyrics by John Mercurio
Conceived and Developed by Andrew Kato

Stage Entertainment USA DEVELOPMENT AWARD
Judas & Me
Book and Lyrics by Chad Beguelin
Music by Matthew Sklar

The DIMF Production Award gives Academy a full production at the Daegu International Musical Festival's 4th annual festival, held in Daegu, South Korea in June 2010. Presenting the award will be legendary Korean film star Sung-il Shin. The SEUSA Development Award will offer Judas & Me a twenty-nine hour AEA presentation for industry at New World Stages.

The 2009 New York Musical Theater Festival enjoyed record ticket sales, up by 20% over last year. Attendance was at an all-time high, with the majority of festival productions playing to over 90% capacity. 87% of festival events sold out most or all of their performances. Due to audience demand, 15 productions received a total of 22 extension performances, twice as many as in 2008.
The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) celebrated its sixth year with 28 full productions, a dance series, a developmental reading series, concerts, educational seminars, and other special events. Since its inception in 2004, this three-week annual festival has premiered more than 200 new musicals - many of which have gone on to award-winning productions in New York, in regional theaters and on tour in 43 states, and twelve countries worldwide. NYMF alumnus Altar Boyz has played well over 18,000 performances off-Broadway and spawned two National Tours; fellow NYMF alums [title of show] and Next to Normal opened on Broadway in the 2008-2009 season, garnering a combined 12 Tony® nominations -- with Next to Normal winning three Tonys®, including Best Score.

The largest musical theatre event in America, NYMF has been hailed as "the Sundance of Musical Theatre," and is widely regarded as the key source for new material and talent discovery. NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2009 is presented in association with BroadwayWorld.com, Production Resource Group and TheaterMania.com, and is supported by Back Stage, Barnes and Noble Booksellers, BroadwayBox.com, BroadwayInsider.com, Broadway.TV, Clear Channel Spectacolor, DFD-TV, Frank and Camille's Fine Pianos, King Displays, Manhattan Movement and Arts Center, New World Stages, NASDAQ OMX, Next Magazine, PMD Promotions, Queerty.com, Reuters, Sweet Caroline's, Tekserve, TheMenEvent.com, The Tank, and Times Square Squared. Major supporters include The ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Inc., The Broadway League, The BWF Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation with the support and encouragement of Jaimie Mayer, The Charlie and Jane Fink Charitable Fund, The Macintosh Foundation, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Rodgers and Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Theater League. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. NYMF's programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.