Two musicals have been given 1998 Richard Rodgers Development Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The winners are Little Women, a musicalization of Louisa May Alcott's novel of four sisters in Civil War-era New England, written by Allan Knee, Kim Oler and Alison Hubbard; and Summer, a musical adaptation by Erik Haagensen and Paul Schwartz of the Edith Wharton tale of a young woman's unsuccessful attempts to escape her small town life and find the man of her dreams.
The two works will be given staged readings at as-yet-unannounced NY theatres later in 1998.
The awards jury was chaired by Stephen Sondheim and included Lynn Ahrens, Jack Beeson, John Guare, John Kander, R.W.B. Lewis, Richard Maltby Jr., Terrence McNally, Francis Thorne and Robert Ward.
-- By Rebecca Paller
