The Broadway songwriting team that created Bye Bye Birdie and Applause, among many other projects, is at work on a musical adaptation of the 1924 Theodore Dreiser novel, An American Tragedy.

Strouse, who also composed Annie and Rags, told Playbill On-Line Aug. 12 that he is "about to make a deal with a producer," to present the new show, with an eye to Broadway.

Strouse said the musical will retain the title of Dreiser's novel about Clyde Griffiths, the son of a Midwestern preacher, who goes on the road seeking pleasure and success.

Strouse said the libretto was written by David Shaber, author of such screenplays as Nighthawks, Rollover, Last Embrace and Such Good Friends. Strouse said songs include "Whose Hat?" He gave no projected date for a Broadway opening.

Strouse and Adams are also at work on a stage musical adaptation of the Academy Award-winning 1955 film Marty, as a vehicle for "Seinfeld" star Jason Alexander. Aaron Sorkin, who took Broadway by storm with his 1990 sleeper hit A Few Good Men, is writing the book of Marty, which is aiming at a 1998-99 Broadway opening, Strouse said. --By Laura MacDonald