Bernadette Peters, Richard Maltby, Jr. & More to Appear at 32nd Annual Kleban Prize Ceremony

The Kleban Foundation will present the 32nd annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre in a virtual ceremony streaming online at Broadway On Demand starting Monday, February 21 at 7PM. The Kleban Prize for the most promising musical theatre lyricist will be awarded to César Alvarez (they/them). The Kleban Prize for the most promising musical theatre librettist will be awarded to Isabella Dawis. Free and open to the public, the event will feature musical performances from this year's recipients as well as special appearances by Tony Award® winners Bernadette Peters, Richard Maltby, Jr. and Maury Yeston.

The 32nd annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre will stream online at Broadway On Demand February 21 at 7PM through February 28. Beginning March 1, the event will be available for streaming at www.NewDramatists.org/Kleban-Prize-Musical-Theatre.

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 2018 Kleban Prize-winning lyricist Sarah Hammond (Pete the Cat); Obie Award-winning composer, lyricist and music director Or Matias (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812); and actor Manu Narayan (Company, My Fair Lady).

The Kleban Foundation was established in 1988 under the will of Edward L. Kleban, best known as the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning lyricist of the musical A Chorus Line. Kleban's will made provisions for annual prizes, which in recent years have totaled $100,000 each, payable over two years, to be given to the most promising lyricist and librettist in American musical theatre. For over 30 years, the Kleban Prize, which has recognized and honored some of the American musical theatre's brightest developing talents, is unique in that it is bestowed not just for an artist's previous achievements, but for the promise of creativity to come.

Over more than three decades, the annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre has awarded over $6,000,000 to 81 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 a complete listing of Kleban Prize winners, see the list at the end of this document.

"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 and its supporting and fostering of 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 are), 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."