Broadway On Demand, the theater-focused streaming platform, is presenting the first ever virtual presentation of the 31st annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre, tonight, Monday, March 15 at 7pm ET. Click here to stream. 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 event can be viewed online at New Dramatists 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); Kleban Prize and Rodgers Award-winning winning librettist Mike Lew (Teenage Dick); and actor-director Seret Scott (for colored girls…).
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 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.