Marcy Heisler & Zina Goldrich receive Fred Ebb Award

The Fred Ebb Foundation in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company will present the fifth annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters to Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich.

The award, named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb, will be presented by Eric Schaeffer of the Signature Theatre on 30 Nov from 6-8pm at a by-invitation-only ceremony in the Penthouse Lobby of The American Airlines Theater.

The Fred Ebb Award recognizes excellence in musical theatre songwriting, by a lyricist, composer, or songwriting team that has not yet achieved significant commercial success. The award is meant to encourage and support aspiring songwriters to create new works for the musical theatre. The prize includes a $50,000 award.

The Fred Ebb Foundation is funded by royalties from Mr. Ebb's vast catalogue of work. Past winners include John Bucchino (2005), Steve Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman (2006), Peter Mills (2007) and Adam Gwon (2008).

The selection panel is comprised of: Foundation Trustee Mitchell S. Bernard; lyricist, writer and composer Sheldon Harnick; Music Director David Loud; Actress Debra Monk; Playwright/producer Tim Pinckney; Theatre producer Arthur Whitelaw. Author Marcy Heisler and Composer Zina Goldrich, who have been collaborating since 1993, are the recipients of this year's Fred Ebb Award for Musical Theatre Songwriting. They also received 2009 Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Lyrics and Music for 'Dear Edwina' and are past recipients of ASCAP's Richard Rodgers New Horizons Theatre Award.

Praised by The New York Times as a "bright inventive production" that "beguiles with rock, rag, rhythm and blues and doo wop among other attractions," Marcy and Zina's 'Jumie B. Jone' enjoyed three highly successful off-Broadway runs under the auspices of Theatreworks USA, earning two Lucille Lortel Award nominations.

As performers, Marcy and Zina have toured domestically and internationally, presenting their music at Carnegie Hall, Canada's "Juste Pour Rire" comedy festival and the Kennedy Center. Kristin Chenoweth popularized their song, "Taylor, the Latte Boy," performing it on The Today Show and The Rosie O'Donnell Show and in concert at Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera House, and the White House.

Together and apart, Marcy and Zina have provided original songs for The Disney Channel, Disney Interactive and Feature Animation projects, Disney Theatricals, PBS, and Nickelodeon. November 2009 marks the release of Marcy and Zina: The Album on Yellow Sound Label, and their Songbooks Volumes 1 and 2 are available from Hal Leonard.

As a writer, lyricist, composer and director, Fred Ebb made incalculable contributions to the New York theatrical community. Ebb is a Tony, Grammy, Emmy, Olivier and Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award winning recipient. Fred Ebb's first professional songwriting assignment came in 1953 when he and Phil Springer were hired by Columbia Records to write a song for Judy Garland called "Heartbroken."

Ebb was introduced to composer John Kander in 1964 by music publisher Tommy Valando and became one of the most legendary songwriting teams in American history. The first successful collaboration was on the song 'My Coloring Book,' recorded by Barbra Streisand. Their second theatrical collaboration, 'Flora, the Red Menace,' created a star out of Liza Minnelli in her Tony Award-winning Broadway debut. In 1966, their collaboration 'Cabaret,' opened and received seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Score. This is just a few of their hightly regarded musical acheivements.