Alan Zachary News

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) will present its Songwriter Spotlight concert at 54 Below on February 11 at 9:30pm. The concert will highlight three songwriting teams who have been part of NAMT's Festival of New Musicals: Sara Cooper & Zachary Redler (The Memory Show, to be seen Off Broadway this spring at Transport Group), Michael Weiner & Alan Zachary (the Broadway-bound First Dateand Secondhand Lions) and host Andrew Lippa (The Addams Family, The Wild Party and Big Fish). The writers, joined by Broadway talents, will sing songs from their Festival shows and upcoming projects, perhaps sharing a behind-the-scenes story or two along the way.

Voting is now underway for the Seattle Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January.

The 17th annual ASCAP Foundation Awards Event took place at Jazz at Lincoln Center last week. Among the musical theater-related awards presented was the Mary Rodgers-Lorenz Hart Award to lyricist Marcy Heisler and the Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award to the composer-lyricist team of Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner. Check out photos of highlights from the award events inside!

Voting is now underway for the Seattle Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below.

Tony Award-winning producers Junkyard Dog Productions and Hal Luftig announced today that they will present a reading of the new musical FIRST DATE today, December 14, 2012. With a book by Austin Winsberg, music and lyrics by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner and direction by Bill Berry, the reading of FIRST DATE will feature Eric Ankrim, Sara Chase, Alli Mauzey, Brandon O'Neill, Brad Oscar, Nicole Parker and Andre Ward.

Voting is now underway for the Seattle Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below.

Voting is now underway for the Seattle Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below.

Voting is now underway for the Seattle Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below!

Voting is now underway for the Seattle Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below!

Ted Sod, Education Dramaturg, interviewed Rupert Holmes to talk to him about his work on The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

According to Variety, the musical adaptation of the film Secondhand Lions is aiming to open at Seattle's Fifth Avenue Theater in August 2013.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) announced today that Tony nominee Nancy Opel and Tony winner and NAMT alum Joe DiPietro (O. Henry's Lovers '98) will host the NAMT Songwriters Showcase as part of the 24th Annual Festival of New Musicals on Friday, October 12 from 1:20-2:30pm at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street).

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) announced today updated casting for the 24th Annual Festival of New Musicals and for the Songwriters Showcase that Tony nominee Nancy Opel and Tony winner and NAMT alum Joe DiPietro (O. Henry's Lovers '98) will host as part of the Festival on Friday, October 12 from 1:20-2:30pm at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street).

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) announced today that Tony nominee Nancy Opel and Tony winner and NAMT alum Joe DiPietro (O. Henry's Lovers '98) will host the NAMT Songwriters Showcase as part of the 24th Annual Festival of New Musicals on Friday, October 12 from 1:20-2:30pm at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street).

A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) have announced their mainstage season productions are now on sale to the general public for individual ticket purchases. The first two major productions of the season are First Date, a new musical co-produced with The 5th Avenue Theatre, followed by The Pitmen Painters, a regional premiere of the acclaimed London and Broadway play.

If you choose to take a date (first or otherwise) to the new World Premiere musical "First Date" currently being presented at ACT and co-produced through ACT and the 5th Avenue Theatre, you may end up getting quite sentimental and mushy towards your date as the evening wears on. Or you may end up breaking up as you laugh a little too hard at some of the baggage of these characters that hits a little too close to home. Either way, you're bound to have a good time (at least until the fighting begins) at this fun and funny bit of cotton candy.

Eric Ankrim and Kelly Karbacz go looking for love in First Date, a co-production between ACT - A Contemporary Theatre and The 5th Avenue Theatre which begins performances tonight. Get a first look at the production below!

Eric Ankrim and Kelly Karbacz will go looking for love in First Date, a co-production between ACT - A Contemporary Theatre and The 5th Avenue Theatre. This new musical about one date, two people, and all the voices in their heads, also features Seattle stars Benjamin Harris, Vicki Noon, Brandon O'Neill, Rich Gray, Greg McCormick Allen, and Sonya Meyer, in roles including old boyfriends, ex-fiancees, best friends, and pushy relatives, not to mention fellow diners who intrude on the couple's blind date. The 5th Avenue's Producing Director Bill Berry directs this clever and quirky world premiere romantic comedy with musical staging by Broadway's Josh Prince. With a book by screenwriter Austin Winsberg and music and lyrics by the dynamic writing team of Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, this comedy chronicles the perils and pitfalls of blind dating and the journey from "tragic mistake" to "true love." Or at least to a second date.