Jeff Blumenkrantz to Receive 2011 Fred Ebb Award

Jeff Blumenkrantz has been named the winner of the seventh annual Fred Ebb Award, which recognizes excellence in musical theater songwriting. The award will be presented by Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth on November 28 in the Penthouse Lobby of the American Airlines Theatre.

The award is named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb, who passed away in September 2004. It is funded by the Fred Ebb Foundation from royalties from Ebb's vast catalog of work. Awarded to a songwriter or songwriting team that has not yet achieved significant commercial success, the prize is meant to encourage and support aspiring songwriters to create new works for the musical theater. The prize includes a $50,000 award. In addition to the monetary prize, the Fred Ebb Foundation will produce a one-night-only showcase of the winner’s work.

The selection panel is comprised of: Foundation Trustee Mitchell S. Bernard; actress Heidi Blickenstaff; lyricist, writer and composer Sheldon Harnick; music director David Loud; playwright and producer Tim Pinckney; and theatre producer Arthur Whitelaw.

As one of the composers for the 2003 Broadway musical Urban Cowboy, Blumenkrantz received a Tony nomination for Best Original Score, and his one-act pieces, Woman with Pocketbook and Precious Little Jewel, have been performed at several regional theatres around the country. More recently he contributed songs to the song cycle The Seven Deadly Sins which McDonald performed at Carnegie Hall in 2004 and the Drama Desk-nominated off-Broadway musical The Audience. He has also written songs recorded by Sutton Foster, Megan Mullally, Audra McDonald, Victoria Clark and Lauren Kennedy. His Broadway acting credits include Into the Woods, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and A Class Act.