Richard Maltby, Jr. & David Shire to Receive the 2020 Bistro Award for Lifetime Achievement

January 22, 2020

New York, NY – (January 21, 2020) —Lyricist and director Richard Maltby, Jr. and composer David Shire will be honored at the 35th annual Bistro Awards where they will be receiving the Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award, the Bistro Award’s highest honor, for their more than 50 years of musical accomplishments.

The songwriting team, one of the longest-running musical partnerships in Broadway history, is probably best known for such Broadway shows as Baby (seven Tony nominations including Best Musical and Best Score), Big (Tony nomination for Best Score), and two Off-Broadway revues, Starting Here, Starting Now (Grammy nomination for Best Cast Album), and Closer Than Ever (Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical). These two shows got their start in smaller nightclub venues, as did Maltby’s Ain’t Misbehavin’.

In addition to their collaborative efforts, each has an impressive list of individual accomplishments.

Mr. Shire is an Oscar and Grammy winner and Emmy nominee who has composed prolifically for film, television, and recordings. His feature film scores include Norma Rae (Academy Award), The Conversation, All the President’s Men, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, Zodiac, Farewell, My Lovely, The Hindenburg, Saturday Night Fever (two Grammy Awards), and others. His television scores have earned him five Emmy nominations. His songs have been recorded by Barbra Streisand, Maureen McGovern, Melissa Manchester, Glenn Campbell, Johnny Mathis, Nancy LaMott, Billy Preston and Syreeta Wright, and numerous others.

Mr. Maltby conceived and directed two Tony Award-winning musicals — Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Tony as well as New York Drama Critics, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk awards) and Fosse (Tony, Outer Critics Circle. Drama Desk awards) — as well as Ring of Fire. With Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, he was the co-lyricist on Miss Saigon (Tony nomination for Best Score), co-lyricist on The Pirate Queen, and director of The Story of My Life. He directed and was the co-lyricist on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song & Dance and was at the helm for Just Jim Dale.

Other stage productions by the pair include Take Flight (produced in London, Tokyo, St. Petersburg, and at N.J.’s (Toronto). They are currently collaborating on new musicals with Adam Gopnik.

The Bistro Awards Gala will be held on Monday, March 9 at 7pm at Gotham Comedy Club, 208 W. 23rd St., produced by Sherry Eaker who has headed up the event since its inception in 1985.

A full list of winners will be announced at the end of January; tickets will go on sale at that time on the Bistro Awards website: www.BistroAwards.com.

For press inquiries and other information, call 917-239-5467, or write: sherry@sherryeaker.com.

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About the Author

Sherry Eaker has been the producer of the annual Bistro Awards since the awards’ inception in 1985. She is the former editor of "Back Stage" and, during her 30-year run, produced panel discussions and workshop events on an ongoing basis, including the programming for Back Stage’s annual Actorfest. She compiled and edited four editions of the "Back Stage Handbook for Performing Artists," and compiled and edited "The Cabaret Artists Handbook." She is a member of the National Theatre Conference and the American Theatre Critics Association (and produced eight of ATCA’s New York weekend conferences). She is an advisor to the boards of both the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and the Women in the Arts & Media Coalition.