Annual Kleban Prize For Musical Theatre Ceremony To Stream On Broadway On Demand

Broadway On Demand will present the first ever virtual presentation of the 31st annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre, Monday, March 15 at 7PM ET.

Click here to stream the presentation at Broadway On Demand.

As previously announced, the 2021 Kleban Prize for the most promising musical theatre lyricist has been awarded to lyricist Benjamin Scheuer. The Kleban Prize for the most promising musical theatre librettist has been awarded to librettists Melissa Li and Kit Yan.

This free streaming event will feature musical performances from this year's recipients and will be hosted by Tony Award winners and Kleban Foundation board members Richard Maltby Jr. and Maury Yeston.

For those who are unable to attend the premiere streaming event on Broadway On Demand, 2021 Kleban Prize Presentation can be viewed online at www.NewDramatists.org/Kleban-Prize-Musical-Theatre starting Tuesday, March 16 at 10AM,

Since its inception, Kleban Prize winners have been selected by judging panels comprised of the theatre's most respected artists and administrators. The trio of award-winning judges making the final determination this year were actor Raúl Esparza (Company,Taboo); Kleban Prize and Rodgers Award-winning winning librettist Mike Lew (Teenage Dick, Tiger Style); and actor-director Seret Scott (for colored girls..., My Sister, My Sister).

For more than three decades, the annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre has awarded over $6,000,000 to 79 artists who collectively have garnered four Tony Awards (with nearly 30 Tony nominations), 59 Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards, 10 Drama Desk Awards, nine Outer Critic Circle Awards, four Obie Awards, two Olivier Awards, and two Pulitzer Prizes.

The list of previous Kleban Prize winners includes Lisa Kron (Fun Home), Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak(A Gentleman's Guide To Love and Murder),David Lindsay-Abaire (Shrek), Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years), John Bucchino (A Catered Affair, It's Only Life), Gretchen Cryer (I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road, The Last Sweet Days of Isaac), Michael Korie (Grey Gardens, Happiness), Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q), Michael John LaChiusa (Giant, See What I Wanna See, The Wild Party), Glenn Slater (The Little Mermaid) and John Weidman (Pacific Overtures, Road Show, Assassins).

"For over three decades, the Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre has been one of the theatre's most distinctive honors, and in this unique and challenging year, Ed Kleban's legacy may be more important than ever in its engaging with and fostering the creators of tomorrow's American Musical theatre," says Tony Award winner Richard Maltby Jr, President of the Kleban Foundation.

"Ed Kleban recognized that theatrical wordsmiths had the hardest time supporting themselves while honing their craft, and so the Kleban awards are specifically for librettists and lyricists. Particularly apropos for 2020 - 2021, it is notable that The Kleban Prize is not given to a specific work already completed (as other theatre awards do), but instead, recognizing the excellence of past work, it is given to the writers in anticipation of work yet to be done.

With a uniquely generous endowment, the Kleban Prize identifies, celebrates, and supports the most promising writing talent in the theatre, just when emerging writers and established writers need help the most. In these challenging times, The Kleban Foundation is proud to carry on Ed Kleban's enlightened legacy, and to continue fostering the work of new writers, as well as supporting writers who have already begun to establish themselves. Kleban Prize winners are the artists who are going to define the art form for years to come. We celebrate them, their fresh perspectives and creative energy that will be so very important to the theater when it returns."

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