New musical production company Perfect Pitch and worldwide theatrical licensing house Broadway Licensing have today announced a new partnership that will see the commission, development, production and licensing of four new British musicals, as 7 existing Perfect Pitch titles join the Broadway Licensing catalogue.

Perfect Pitch founders Wendy & Andy Barnes, who are also producers of the international hit musical ‘SIX’, have been developing new musicals for over 15 years with the help of partners around the UK. Remarking on the new collaboration they said, “What is fantastic about this partnership is the wide spectrum of musicals that it reaches and the sheer number of British writers whose musicals it supports. It provides us an opportunity to share across the world many of the musicals we have developed over the years, whilst giving us access to seed funding for exciting new projects.”

The first new show selected for the partnership is Jack Godfrey’s sung-through musical ‘42 Balloons’, which tells the story of Larry Walters and Carol Van Deusen, who, in July 1982, constructed an aircraft using a lawn-chair and approximately 42 weather balloons and launched Larry 16,000 feet into the sky above LA. It is a story about lifelong dreams, and doing whatever it takes to achieve them.

One of the seven musicals to find itself a home with Broadway Licensing is Craig Adams and Ian Watson’s musical ‘LIFT’, which starred both Cynthia Erivo and George Maguire before their respective Tony and Olivier wins. ‘LIFT’ is joined by ‘Hamilton’ cast member Aaron Lee Lambert’s chamber musical ‘From Up Here’, and ‘The House of Mirrors and Hearts’ by Eamonn O’Dwyer and Robert Gilbert, which received its premiere at Arcola theatre in 2015.

The other titles joining Broadway Licensing’s portfolio are ‘The 45th Marvellous Annual Chatterley Village Fête’ by
Susannah Pearse and Rebecca Applin, ‘The Lost Christmas’ by Laurence Mark Wythe, ‘Danni Hero’ also by Wythe and Timothy Knapman, and Dougal Irvine’s futuristic musical ‘In Touch’.

Sean Cercone, CEO of Broadway Licensing said, “We’re honoured to partner with Wendy and Andy on the slate of musicals in development and continue to find exciting opportunities for their existing titles. Broadway Licensing has been built on our team’s passion for new work, new voices and new opportunities and the company continues to grow by staying true to those core values. Developing new work internationally is just the next step on our journey.”

As previously announced, Perfect Pitch will also be presenting a monthly preview of a new musical on Broadway
Licensing’s sister site, stream.theatre, as part of a drive to promote new work to wider audiences. Each episode of the
series, called ‘Rise Up’, will feature a different new musical in development alongside guest appearances and
performances from West End stars.

Andy Barnes remarked, “As a non-profit company we are continually grateful to Arts Council England for their ongoing support of our work and this partnership demonstrates a really positive collaboration between the commercial and subsidised sectors. This partnership will help support the work of around 20 British writers whose musicals will now be available around the world, and support four shows through development, to production and even beyond that.” And as our patron, Stephen Fry, noted, ‘I think we sometimes forget just how extraordinarily good we are at writing musicals in this country’.

For more information on Perfect Pitch’s titles please visit www.perfectpitchmusicals.com

For more information on Broadway Licensing, including details on professional and amateur licensing, visit
www.broadwaylicensing.com

For previous episodes of ‘Rise Up’, please visit www.youtube.com/riseup-series

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