Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program Alums (left to right): Brandon James Gwinn & EllaRose Chary (both Cycle 19)
Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program Alums EllaRose Chary & Brandon James Gwinn (both Cycle 19) were this year's recipients of the coveted Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre. The team won for their new musical TL;DR: Thelma Louise; Dyke Remix.
T and L drive their 1966 Ford Thunderbird Convertible off the edge of the Grand Canyon and into a fantasy-driven, irreverent, queer, rock musical—TL;DR: Thelma Louise; Dyke Remix—where strong female characters don’t “always gotta die.” T and L attempt to sort out their new identities, how those identities impact their relationships with each other and The Band, and seek out the queer-happy ending they’ve always deserved.
Richard Rodgers, who was elected to the Academy in 1955, endowed these awards in 1978 to nurture talented composers and playwrights by enabling their musicals to be produced by nonprofit theaters in New York City. Former award recipients include Maury Yeston, for Nine; Jonathan Larson, for Rent; Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty for Lucky Stiff; Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley for Violet; Scott Frankel, Michael Korie, and Doug Wright for Grey Gardens; Dave Malloy for Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812; and Anaïs Mitchell for Hadestown.
The members of this year’s jury were David Lang (chair), Lynn Ahrens, Kristoffer Diaz, Mindi Dickstein, Amanda Green, Michael R. Jackson, Richard Maltby, Jr., and John Weidman.