Boubil and Schönberg to be Featured on 'Downstage Center'

The American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio will air an interview with Tony Award winning lyricist Alain Boublil and composer Claude-Michel Schönberg on their weekly theatrical interview show, "Downstage Center," on XM's On Broadway (XM Channel 28). The legendary team will appear as the special guests on Friday, May 4 at 6 p.m. The show will repeat on Saturday, May 5 at noon, Sunday, May 6 at 7 p.m., and Wednesday, May 9 at midnight.  The program becomes available as streaming audio and podcast from www.americantheatrewing.org beginning Monday afternoon, May 7.

On Downstage Center, the two will discuss why they broke from their usual practice of originating their own projects and took on writing The Pirate Queen; how they first collaborated in the wake of Jesus Christ Superstar; the massive success of their first musical, La Révolution Française; the five year gap between Les Misérables' Paris and London debuts; and why they still tweak their Martin Guerre, 11 years after its London debut.

Press releases state, "Alain Boublil is the author of librettos and lyrics for La Révolution Française (1973), Les Misérables (1980), Miss Saigon (1989), Martin Guerre (1996), and The Pirate Queen (2007), all in collaboration with Claude-Michel Schönberg.  He has received two Tony awards for Best Score and Best Book, two Grammy awards, two Victoire de la Musique Awards, Molière award ( Les Misérables), Evening Standard Drama Award (Miss Saigon), and a Laurence Olivier Award (Martin Guerre). He is the author/librettist of Abbacadabra (1984), with songs by Abba and has also written The Diary of Adam and Eve (based upon short stories by Mark Twain), and prize-winning French novel, Les dessous de soi. Boublil, along with Michel Legrand also wrote the stage adaptation of Jacques Demy's film Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (2003)."

Press notes continue, "Claude-Michel Schönberg was born in 1944 of Hungarian parents. He began his career as a singer, writer and producer of popular songs.  He wrote the musical score of La Révolution Française, Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, Martin Guerre and The Pirate Queen. He has also supervised overseas productions of Les Misérables and Miss Saigon and co-produced several international cast albums of his shows.  In 2001 he composed his first ballet score, Wuthering Heights, which was created by the Northern Ballet Theatre in September 2002." 

For more information, visit www.americantheatrewing.org or www.xmradio.com.

Photo of Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.