The Johnny Mercer Foundation
in association with
The American Music Theatre Project
at Northwestern University
Presents
The 3rd Annual
Johhny Mercer Songwriters Project
August 9 - 16, 2008

Following the success of last year's program, the Johnny Mercer American Songwriters Project returns to Northwestern for its third exciting year!

This weeklong program will feature some of America's most prominent songwriters and singers working in the tradition of the legendary Johnny Mercer. These guest artists will serve as faculty for a weeklong educational program including:

- Master Classes and Workshops
- Guest Artist Cabarets
- Student Songwriter Showcase

The week will culminate in a spectacular star studded Johnny Mercer tribute concert featuring our guest artists, student songwriters, and performers from the Northwestern Music Theatre program.

AMTP is currently seeking talented songwriters or writing teams, age 18-30, from all popular music genres to participate in the festival's workshops and master classes. Through the generosity of the Johnny Mercer Foundation there is no fee for this workshop for the 12 writers/writing teams selected, and some stipends will be offered to cover travel and boarding expenses. Last year's program included emerging songwriters from all over the country representing the worlds of music theatre, pop, folk and country.

Download a brochure (PDF).

Download an application.

2008 Master Teachers Include

Amanda McBroom has been called “...the greatest cabaret performer of her generation.”  Her name first came to the attention of the music public when Bette Midler’s version of McBrooms’s first song “The Rose” hit number one in 1979.  But it was McBroom’s own performance of this song at the 37th Golden Globe Awards (where it received “Best Original Song”), the Grammys and The Tonight Show that launched her career as a singer as well as a songwriter.  Her songs have been recorded by many notable artists such as Bette Midler, LeAnne Rimes, Barry Manilow and Judy Collins.  

Her love of and background in musical theatre compelled her to cre­ate a musical based on her songs.  Heartbeats made its debut in 1989 in Los Angeles and has enjoyed more than 15 regional theatre productions around the United States.  McBroom also is the lyricist of the new work, Dangerous Beauty, which the American Music Theatre Project will present in the summer of 2008.

Craig Carnelia is known primarily for his work as a songwriter in the theatre, having had four shows pro­duced on Broadway. Working with composer Marvin Hamlisch, he wrote the lyrics for Sweet Smell of Success, with book by John Guare, and Imaginary Friends with Nora Ephron.  Ham­lisch and Carnelia received Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations for their score for Sweet Smell of Success, and Carnelia received a Drama Desk nomination for his lyrics in Imaginary Friends.  

As both composer and lyricist, he wrote the score for the Broadway musical Is There Life After High School? and contributed four songs to Studs Terkel’s Working, for which he received his first Tony nomination.  Other honors include the Johnny Mercer Award as “Emerging Ameri­can Songwriter,” the first annual Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theater Award and the prestigious Kleban Award.  Carnelia also serves as a mentor to young writers through the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, the Dramatists Guild Musical Theatre Fellowship and the Eugene O’Neill Musical Theatre Conference.

Andrew Lippa wrote the book, music and lyrics for The Wild Party, which was given its world premiere in 2000 at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City and which won the Outer Critics Circle Award for best Off-Broadway musical of the season and the 2000 Drama Desk Award for best music.  Lippa also wrote the music for A Little Princess, which received its premiere in the summer of 2006 at Theatreworks in Palo Alto, California. 

In 1999, he contributed three new songs to the Broadway version of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown and created all new arrange­ments.  He wrote the music and co-wrote the book for john & jen, which played in New York City in 1995 at The Lamb’s Theater.  In the fall of 2006, his musical, Asphalt Beach, premiered as the third production of the American Music Theatre Project.  A graduate of the University of Michigan, Lippa is the resident artist at the Ars Nova theatre in New York City.

Lari White made her critically-acclaimed Broadway debut in the spring of 2006 in Ring of Fire, setting off a chain reaction of appearances that shows no sign of stopping.  She received rave reviews for her performance in the Marilyn and Alan Bergman Tribute with Mi­chael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall and returned to perform for the Bergmans in their Lincoln Center tribute in February.  Broadway By The Year® audiences have enjoyed her in the Jerome Kern Tribute and Broadway Originals, as well as TheBroadway Musicals of 1928 and TheBroadway Musicals of 1978.  She recently debuted with a week-long run at the Algonquin Oak Room, Manhattan’s legendary supper club that has served as a launching pad for talented musicians, including Harry Connick, Jr., Michael Feinstein, Diana Krall, Peter Cincotti and others. 

As a recording artist, White has earned three Grammys for best South­ern Gospel and a Gold Album.  She recently made music history as the first female producer of a male superstar by producing Toby Keith’s platinum album, White Trash with Money.  Her last studio album, the R&B-flavored Green Eyed Soul, was hailed by the London Times as “…the best soul album this year.”  Her film credits include Cast Away with Tom Hanks and the Lifetime Television Movie, No Regrets, with Kate Jackson and Janine Turner.