Musical Theatre

ASCAP's 2013 General Annual Membership Meeting was held on Thursday, April 18th at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. The meeting kicked off the 2013 ASCAP "I Create Music" EXPO, the annual three-day conference for music creators featuring educational and inspiring panels, networking opportunities and exhibits.

While the afterglow of this year’s eighth annual ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO still burns, here’s a look back at some of the highlights, from lessons learned to great photo and video moments from the heart of it all in Hollywood.

Block has written the book, music and lyrics to an all-new musical comedy entitled Guess Who’s Coming to Seder? A Delicious New Musical. The show is the hilarious and heart-warming story of Sarah Friedman, who decides to hold her first Passover Seder dinner for eight of her friends, none of whom are Jewish.

The ASCAP Foundation Marvin Hamlisch Broadway Conductors Program, made possible by an unrestricted bequest by Hamlisch to The ASCAP Foundation, is a unique initiative aimed at aspiring musical theater conductors, by giving them hands-on experience with current Broadway professionals.

As part of Symphony Space’s “The Music of Now Series,” pianist Anthony de Mare returns to the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre for the second installment of Liaisons: Reimagining Sondheim from the Piano.

ASCAP is pleased to announce that OnStage is now available through its latest mobile update. ASCAP Onstage gives members the opportunity to receive royalties when their music is performed live. The mobile version includes the ability to locate venues using a device's GPS. ASCAP members can now submit performances wherever they are.

The ASCAP Foundation is seeking new musicals for the annual ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop in New York. Serving once more as artistic director for the workshop is Grammy and Academy Award-winning composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz.

The ASCAP member will world premiere his new opera, Doubt, featuring a libretto by fellow ASCAP member John Patrick Shanley that is based on his Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a battle of wills ignited at a Bronx Catholic School in 1964.

Former ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul took a beloved holiday film classic and turned into a wonderful gift for lovers of musical theatre, Christmas and all things Ralphie.

Songwriting partners Pamela Phillips Oland & Tom Harriman have seen massive success overseas. Together, they crafted the music for the most successful musical in Holland’s history, Soldier of Orange. The duo recently spoke to us about their hit musical, upcoming projects, their involvement with ASCAP and more.

The ASCAP nominees for this year's Critics' Choice Awards includes the team behind the beloved music for Les Misérables, Adele’s Grammy-winning co-writer/producer Paul Epworth, Radiohead multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood and ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board Paul Williams.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is now accepting applications for the third annual Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Awards. The $10,000 awards (no strings attached) honor ASCAP member and musical theatre legend Stephen Sondheim and were created to celebrate his 80th birthday.

ASCAP's Board of Directors has elected composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Wicked) as a director, it was announced by ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams. Schwartz was elected to fill the seat left vacant by the recent death of lyricist Hal David.

It is with great sorrow that we share the news that ASCAP member and Founding Artistic Director of Symphony Space in New York Isaiah Sheffer, best-known as the voice of radio program "Selected Shorts," has passed away at the age of 76.

February House is Gabriel Kahane's new musical about a group of young writers and artists who live together in Brooklyn on the eve of World War II. The characters are real, and while very different, all of them are looking for the same things: love, community and inspiration. The issues they face feel as real today as they were 75 years ago.