Benj Pasek News

BroadwayWorld has confirmed that A Christmas Story, The Musical!, which played the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre for the 2012 holiday season, might be heading back to the Great White Way this year. A show respresentative revealed that following a mini-tour to Hartford's Bushnell Theatre (November 12-17) and Boston's Wang Theatre (November 20-December 8), producers are considering bringing the show back to Broadway. An official announcement has not yet been made.

Sundance Institute just presented playwright and Sundance Institute Theatre Lab alum Branden Jacobs-Jenkins with the first-ever Tennessee Williams Award from the Institute's Theatre Program, which supports the development of new work for the stage. Sundance Institute Emeritus Trustee Sally Field presented the honor and accompanying $10,000 grant at the Celebrate Sundance Institute benefit for its Theatre Program last night at Stephan Weiss Studio in Greenwich Village. BroadwayWorld was there for the festivities and you can check out who was there to celebrate below!

The Off-Broadway League today announced nominations in 14 categories and two additional special awards for the 2013 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The Lortel Awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 5, 2013 at NYU Skirball Center beginning at 7:00pm EST, and hosted by acclaimed stage and screen actors Aasif Mandvi and Maura Tierney. This year's event will once again benefit The Actors Fund.

Broadway Gives Back presents a concert entitled 'Broadway Charity Songs!' 'Broadway Charity Songs' has paired a group of award-winning musical theatre composers with a group of outstanding charities and tasked them with composing an original piece that each prospective charity could use for fundraising purposes. The result is a group of songs gifted to the charities - with the hope that the songs 'go viral' while increasing awareness for these outstanding organizations. The concert will take place tonight, March 25th, 2013, 7:30pm at Le Poisson Rouge.

Broadway Gives Back has announced an upcoming concert entitled 'Broadway Charity Songs!' 'Broadway Charity Songs' has paired a group of award-winning musical theatre composers with a group of outstanding charities and tasked them with composing an original piece that each prospective charity could use for fundraising purposes. The result is a group of songs gifted to the charities - with the hope that the songs 'go viral' while increasing awareness for these outstanding organizations. The concert will take place on March 25th, 2013, 7:30pm at Le Poisson Rouge.

Ars Nova (Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Jeremy Blocker, Managing Director) proudly presents the world premiere of Steven Levenson's new play Core Values, directed by Carolyn Cantor. A limited Off-Broadway engagement plays Tuesday, April 23 through Saturday, May 18 at Ars Nova (511 West 54th Street). Official Opening Night takes place Monday, May 6 at 7:00 PM.

The Dramatists Guild Fund (DGF) announces that it will begin expanding its Dramatists Guild Fellows Program through collaboration with developmental theater organizations. Each resident theater program will select one playwright or writing team to join their workshop season.

It seems fitting that the young, new Austin Theatre Project should kick off their 2nd Season with a young, new musical. The little-known song cycle Edges is the perfect choice. With its complex score, its energetic tone, and its themes about growing pains and becoming what we envision for ourselves, Edges is a captivating and engaging new work.

Edges opens February 28 and plays through March 10 at the Dougherty Arts Center.

Ghostlight Records will release the Original Cast Recording of the musical, DOGFIGHT later this spring. The show - which debuted Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre last year - features music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (A Christmas Story), a book by Peter Duchan (IFC Films' Breaking Upwards) and directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Wicked, Glengarry Glen Ross).

Katharine McPhee leads a brand new contemporary-sounding SMASH track titled 'Good For You'. The song is written by Jimmy, the troubled modern musical theatre writer newly introduced in the second season of NBC's musical drama series, played by NEWSIES star Jeremy Jordan.

Edges opens February 28 and plays through March 10 at the Dougherty Arts Center.

The American Theatre Wing announced today that the recipients of the 2013 Jonathan Larson Grants are writing team Joshua Salzman (music) & Ryan Cunningham (book and lyrics); and Kamala Sankaram. The prestigious grants, totaling $10,000, will be presented on Sunday, March 24, 2013 at a private event at the WNYC Greene Space. The event will feature special performances of the recipients' work.

NBC's hit musical drama series SMASH had its Season Two premiere last night and new castmember Jeremy Jordan (Jimmy Collins) has already scored a coup for the show with scoring a slot on the iTunes Top 100 chart with his passionate recording of the original Joe Iconis song 'Broadway, Here I Come'. The full iTunes chart is available here. Unlike the other musical TV series of the moment, GLEE, SMASH songs have rarely had a prominent place on the iTunes charts, so this early hit portends well for the contemporary original material being created for the show in Season Two by tunesmiths Joe Iconis as well as A CHRISTMAS STORY and DOGFIGHT composer/lyricist team Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Original material for BOMBSHELL and the other original musicals in SMASH beside HIT LIST is written by Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman.

Jon Lind, an award-winning songwriter who has collaborated with Madonna, Demi Lovato, Vanessa Williams, Selena Gomez and other singing greats, is the newest master teacher to lead the 2013 Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project at Northwestern University.

SMASH makes it's long-awaited return to the NBC lineup for a second season on Tuesday, February 5 (9-10 p.m. ET) and will continue in its regular time slot on Tuesday, February 12 (10-11 p.m. ET). Season two will feature a slew of new talent, including Jennifer Hudson, Jeremy Jordan, Andy Mientus, Krysta Rodriguez, Sean Hayes, Jesse L. Martin, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters, Nikki Blonski, and more.

Christmas Story, The Musical! arrived on Broadway at The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre just in time for the 2012 holiday season. The new musical, based on the 1983 movie perennial, began November 7, opened November 19, and runs through today, December 30, 2012. BroadwayWorld takes you on a flashback through the new musical's beginning on Broadway with photos and video below!

A Christmas Story, The Musical and STOMP Out Bullying have announced the Grand Prize winner of their Anti-Bullying Writing Competition, Ahmed Shayef. A 7th Grader at M.S. 577 in Brooklyn, Ahmed has won a walk-on role in the Thursday evening, December 27 performance of A Christmas Story, The Musical.

This past month, some of the kids from prior productions of A Christmas Story, The Musical (Kansas City world premiere and 1st National Tour) reunited with the current Broadway members. Check out the shots below of their reunion!