Producer Ken Davenport Boards Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group is very pleased to announce that Ken Davenport will join the company as Executive Producer for North America, effective immediately. Mr. Davenport will report in to Jessica Koravos, President of The Really Useful Group and will support the UK team in overseeing the ever growing level of business that The Really Useful Group titles are doing on Broadway and on tour in North America.

Broadway currently hosts The Phantom of the Opera, School of Rock - the Musical and Cats. RUG also has recent and upcoming touring productions of titles including Love Never Dies (the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Wizard of Oz, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and more.

Mr. Davenport commented, "When one of the greatest contributors to the art of musical theater asks you to look after his shows here in the States, you don't just say yes. You say, 'Absolutely-without-a doubt-unquestionably-and-when-do-I-start-yes.' I'm honored and thrilled to work with such an extraordinary organization with such a steeped history on Broadway and around the world. I look forward to helping play a part in its future."

The Really Useful Group is Andrew Lloyd Webber's theatre producing and rights licensing company and controls the theatrical rights for all of Andrew's works, including The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Sunset Boulevard and School of Rock - The Musical. The Really Useful Group reached over 20 million people across the globe last year from Live Theatre and concert audiences, cinema goers, television viewers and music fans, to social media and art lovers. This year The Really Useful Group continues to work across film, television and theatre as it produces and develops new projects and partnerships worldwide alongside its ongoing work in education, amateur licensing and music publishing.

Ken Davenport is a Broadway producer whose credits include Deaf West Theatre's Spring Awakening (Tony nomination), It's Only a Play, Macbeth starring Alan Cumming, Godspell, Kinky Boots (Broadway - Tony Award, National Tour, Toronto, Australia, and West End), The Visit (Tony nomination), Mothers and Sons (Tony nomination), The Bridges of Madison County (National Tour), Allegiance, Chinglish, Oleanna, Speed-the-Plow, Will Ferrell's You're Welcome America (Tony nomination), Blithe Spirit starring Angela Lansbury (Broadway, West End and National Tour), and 13.

Off-Broadway, Ken has produced Daddy Long Legs (the first Broadway or Off Broadway show to be livestreamed around the world), Altar Boyz (Co-Conceiver), My First Time (Author), The Awesome 80s Prom (Author),That Bachelorette Show! (Author), and Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating, & Marriage (Author). Ken's productions have been produced internationally in over 25 countries around the world.

Ken's unique production and marketing style has garnered him international attention, including two front page articles in the NY Times and features on CNN, MSNBC, Rock Center, Fox News, BBC, and his favorite, a mention in Jay Leno's monologue on "The Tonight Show." Ken was a Crain's "40 Under Forty," is one of the co-founders of TEDxBroadway, and was featured on a national commercial for Apple's iPhone.

Prior to his career as a Producer, Ken was a Company Manager and General Manager for Broadway shows and National Tours including Show Boat, Ragtime, Jekyll & Hyde, Chicago, Candide, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Gypsy and many others. Ken continues to cultivate exciting new projects on stage and screen, including his original musical Gettin' The Band Back Together, which premiered at George Street Playhouse and the upcoming revival of Once on This Island.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is the composer of some of the world's best known musicals including Cats, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard. School of Rock, a stage version of the movie, is his latest musical and a hit on Broadway with a London production opening next month. His awards, both as composer and producer, include seven Tonys, seven Oliviers, a Golden Globe, an Oscar, the Praemium Imperiale, the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, a BASCA Fellowship, the Kennedy Center Honor and three Grammys, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Requiem, his setting of the Latin Requiem mass which contains one of his best known compositions, Pie Jesu. He owns seven London theatres, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the New London Theatre and the London Palladium. He was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 1992 and created an honorary member of the House of Lords in 1997. He is passionate about the importance of music in education, and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has become one of Britain's leading charities supporting the arts and music.