Music Theatre International has added the portfolio of Lively McCabe's Hits Musicals Collection to its licensing catalogue. The titles are all jukebox musicals built on the song catalogue of Primary Wave Music, a partnership that began in 2022.
At launch, the collection includes The Santa Switch, from book writer Jeremy Desmon and arranger-orchestrator Jesse Vargas, and featuring classic Christmas songs like "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and "A Holly Jolly Christmas" along with popular songs like "What a Wonderful World" and "Breakaway"; Always Something There..., a satire of '80s teen movies from book writer Sandy Rustin and arranger-orchestrator Geoffrey Ko, and featuring '80s hits made famous by artists like Madonna, Whitney Houston, Culture Club, Naked Eyes, The Go Go's, and Tiffany; and Stuck in the 90s, from Clarissa Explains It All creator Mitchell Kriegman and Neena Beber (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and arranger-orchestrator Vargas, and featuring a score of '90s hits made famous by artists like Christina Aguilera, NSYNC, The Cranberries, and Ace of Base.
Also included are two movie adaptations. 1985's Girls Just Want to Have Fun is currently in development from book writers Lauren Marcus and M. Dickson and arranger-orchestrator Georgia Stitt, featuring songs from the movie and '80s hits made famous by artists like Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis and the News, Olivia Newton-John, and Culture Club. Can't Hardly Wait is in development from book writer Sinead Daly and arranger-orchestrator Vargas.
鈥淢TI is thrilled with our partnership with Lively McCabe Entertainment,鈥� says MTI Chief Operating Officer and Director of Development and Education John Prignano in a statement. 鈥淭hese exciting new shows feature some of the most recognizable songs of all time, and we cannot wait to bring The Hits Musicals Collection to theatres and schools across the country.鈥�
鈥淚've had the pleasure of working with Drew [Cohen] and John and the entire team at MTI going back nearly 15 years, and we couldn't be happier to partner with them on this collection of new musicals," adds Lively McCabe Founder and Chairman Michael Barra. "Bringing our development partners at Primary Wave into this collection at MTI feels like a match made in heaven.鈥�
鈥淐o-producing a slate of musicals with the prolific team at Lively McCabe has enabled us to incorporate our extraordinary music library into a fun and evergreen collection of family entertainment,鈥� concludes Primary Wave Chief Content Officer Natalia Nastaskin. 鈥淗aving the expertise of MTI to bring these musicals to the world is an undeniable path towards extending the legacies of iconic and legendary songs."
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