Premiére Theatrical Licensing is a theatrical publisher and performance rights licensing agency for plays, musicals, short plays, theater for young people, theater for seniors, and other genres of theatrical entertainment. Thirty years after starting his first publishing company in 1978, Michael Perry sold it in 2008, and began a life of semi-retirement — until his authors came back to him and said “we need your representation.”
He established Leicester Bay Theatricals in 2011 and has accepted into his catalog of plays and musicals close to 500 titles in the last 12 years. In 2021 Leicester Bay Theatricals along with Zion Theatricals, Diaspora Theatricals, and Good News Theatricals, were all bought under one banner: Premiére Theatrical Licensing.
The customers of Premiere Theatrical Licensing are a wonderful cross-section of the theatrical community worldwide: professional theaters, college and university theatres, community theatres, theater for young Audienes, senior theaters, and elementary through high school theater programs. So, if you need to put on a live or streamed theatrical entertainment, PTL is a great place to get your licenses and rehearsal materials. Here’s an example of one of Michael’s musicals available for licensing.
A Musical Celebrating the Catskill’s Brightest Star!
Book and Lyrics by Stephen Cole
Music by Claibe Richardson
Additional Lyrics by Ronny Graham
(based on an original idea by Rita Lakin and Doris Silverton)
“A joyful evening of entertainment, with a borscht aroma and schmaltz flavor and multiple opportunities for performers to shine.” — Brian Vinero.
“Will win you over with its enthusiasm, razz-ma-tazz and.. marinated-in-kosher-pickle comedy” — Sun Sentinel
“A Rollicking Borchst Belt schtick fest.” — Sun Sentinel
The early 1960’s. Saturday Night. The Catskills. It’s a snowy winter Saturday night and the stars who are booked — Judy Garland, Alan King and the Nicholas Brothers — are stuck in a snowdrift. When the stars do not show up to entertain the packed house at the brand new nightclub at the greatest hotel in the Jewish Alps, the owner and founder, Jennie Grossinger enlists her family to tell the story of how it all happened. A hilarious, tuneful and ultimately moving 6 character musical about the rise of the Borscht Belt and the hotel that came to symbolize it all: Grossinger’s! And on the personal side, author Stephen Cole said, “Jennie decides to put on a show about how she made Grossinger’s the great resort it was. As the improvised musical progresses, Jennie learns some hard truths about herself.”
- Length: 90-100 mins.
- Cast Size: 4 men, 2 women
Stephen Cole is an award-winning musical theatre writer whose shows have been recorded, published, and produced from New York City to London to the Middle East and Australia and Edinburgh, Scotland. His off-Broadway musical AFTER THE FAIR (music by Matthew Ward; winner of 5 Dallas Theatre Awards for its world premiere including Best New Play or Musical) was nominated for the Outer Critic’s Circle Award for Best Musical and was subsequently produced in London to great acclaim. The original cast CD featuring Tony winner Michele Pawk won several awards. The 20th Anniversary concert version was a sell out success on December 21, 2017 at Urban Stages. SATURDAY NIGHT AT GROSSINGER’S (music by Claibe Richardson) has had successful runs in Dallas (Starring Gavin MacLeod and Ruta Lee), LA and Florida (starring Barbara Minkus and Barry Pearl). Broadway legend Chita Rivera toured in his show CASPER (music by Matthew Ward…this also played Australia and had a new world premiere at the Cincinnati Children’s Theatre in October 2019 to rapturous reviews) and Hal Linden and Dee Hoty starred in the world premiere of his musical adaptation of DODSWORTH (music by Jeffrey Saver). DODSWORTH has subsequently been workshopped with John Cullum and Christine Ebersole. Stephen has been represented off Broadway with the hilarious PIANO BAR at the Triad. In 2005 Stephen and composer David Krane were commissioned to write the first American musical to premiere in the Middle East and the result was ASPIRE, which was produced in Qatar. Their amazing and hilarious cross-cultural experiences resulted in yet another musical about the creation of the show entitled THE ROAD TO QATAR! which was produced to rave reviews at the Lyric Stage winning Best New Play or Musical from the Dallas-Ft. Worth Drama Critics Forum. THE ROAD TO QATAR! had a successful Off-Broadway run at the York Theatre Company and was recorded by Jay Records. In 2012, Qatar! was presented as part of London’s Landor Theatre Page to Stage Festival and in August of 2013 played at the Edinburgh International Festival garnering 5 and 4 star reviews and nominations as Best Music, Lyrics, Book and Best Musical of the Festival. The show is published and licensed by Josef Weinberger Ltd. in London. Krane and Cole also wrote a short movie musical entitled THE WHEEL GOES ROUND that was accepted and shown at five International Film Festivals including The Big Apple Film Festival in NYC. Saver and Cole’s musical TIME AFTER TIME had its world premiere in Feb. 2010 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse under the direction of Gabriel Barre and was subsequently produced in Connecticut under the direction of the late Kevin Gray. Other produced shows include two family musicals commissioned by Walden Media: MERLIN’S APPRENTICE (Music by Matthew Ward) and ROCK ODYSSEY (Music and Lyrics by Billy Straus). ROCK ODYSSEY has just completed an unprecedented ten year run at the Adrienne Arscht Center in Miami . Stephen is also a published author with four books to his credit including THAT BOOK ABOUT THAT GIRL and I COULD HAVE SUNG ALL NIGHT, the Marni Nixon story, NOEL COWARD and Charles Strouse’s memoir PUT ON A HAPPY FACE.
Born Claiborne Foster Richardson in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1929, he studied at Louisiana State University. His songwriting career began in the early 1950s with material he contributed to revues staged in New York City by Ben Bagley and Julius Monk. In 1964, he composed The Brightest Show on Earth for the World’s Fair held in what is now Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Richardson’s first and most notable Broadway theatre score was for the 1971 adaptation of Truman Capote’s The Grass Harp. Although the production closed a week after opening night, it has developed a cult following among musical theatre aficionados and is still produced in all types of theatres today. Other Broadway credits include incidental music for the 1978 revival of The Royal Family with Rosemary Harris and Eva Le Gallienne, the 1980 revival of The Philadelphia Story with Blythe Danner, and the original play The Curse of an Aching Heart with Faye Dunaway in 1982. Several of Richardson’s other scores, including Lola (with a book and lyrics by Kenward Elmslie, his collaborator on The Grass Harp), Bodoni County and Congo Square (with books and lyrics by Frank Gagliano), and The Night of the Hunter and Saturday Night at Grossinger’s (with books and lyrics by Stephen Cole) have been recorded and received off-Broadway and regional theatre productions. Richardson also composed jingles for television and radio commercials as well as scores for industrial shows and sponsored films. Three months before his death in New York City, his final composition, a suite based on The Grass Harp, was performed by Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
Interested in this and more? Contact Michael at:
www.cmichaelperry.com www.premieretheatricallicensing.com www.leicesterbaytheatricals.com 801-550-7741
