Lively McCabe In the News
February 5, 2025 (Broadway News)
Allison Bressi Promoted to President of Lively McCabe Entertainment
Lively McCabe Entertainment has announced two personnel changes. Allison Bressi was appointed president and producer of the production and management company, while Kristi Hess joined the organization as creative development and management coordinator.
Bressi joined Lively McCabe in 2019 as vice president of theater. During her time with the company, Bressi oversaw the development of new musicals May We All, Joe Iconis’ Punk Rock Girl!, What a Wonderful World and Mystic Pizza, the latter which opened on Feb. 2 at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse. Bressi’s current and upcoming projects include developing stage adaptations of the films Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Can’t Hardly Wait…
June 22, 2024 (Deadline)
Can’t Hardly Wait Co-Writer & Director Deborah Kaplan Announces Musical Based On 1998 Teen Movie
The 1998 graduating class of Huntington Hillside High School is finally getting together for their 25th reunion, and it’s sure to be a big song and dance.
On Saturday, Can’t Hardly Wait co-writer/director Deborah Kaplan announced a stage musical in the works based on her and Harry Elfont‘s 1998 cult classic teen movie, which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Lauren Ambrose, Peter Facinelli, Seth Green and Charlie Korsmo.
May 1, 2024 (Playbill)
What a Wonderful World Holiday Revue Joins Music Theatre International Catalogue
Lively McCabe Entertainment and Music Theatre International have announced holiday jukebox musical What A Wonderful World has been added to the MTI catalogue, with Florida's Titusville Playhouse set to produce the show in late 2024. Information about licensing will be available in the coming months.
The musical features a book by Jeremy Desmon (Pump Up The Volume), and arrangements and orchestrations by Jesse Vargas (For The Record Live, Invincible - The Musical). Titusville Executive and Artistic Director Steven J. Heron will direct the company's production, with Spencer Crosswell serving as music director. The work was developed in collaboration with BMG and Primary Wave Music.
Set in mid-century New York City (and the North Pole), What A Wonderful World follows Santa and Mrs. Claus as they try to retire, but they must pass the baton to the new Santa. When the magic sleigh bells choose a young New York advertising executive for the position, he declines the offer, putting the North Pole (and the fate of Christmas) in jeopardy…
January 25, 2024 (Broadway World)
Review: Fun-Filled Musical Remake of Mystic Pizza Debuts at La Mirada Theatre
…such is the case with the enjoyable stage adaptation of Mystic Pizza, a surprisingly fun, thoroughly engaging new jukebox musical that combines lots of popular, easily-recognizable hit tunes from the 80's (and a few from the 90's) with stories created by writer Amy Holden Jones for the little-seen 1988 MGM film of the same name helmed by director Donald Petrie…
Thankfully, this admirable quality seems to have carried over to the film's stage adaptation as well, which is currently making its eye-popping, Broadway-caliber West Coast Premiere at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts for a limited engagement through February 11, 2024.
December 5, 2023 (Playbill)
Mystic Pizza Musical Will Get New Staging at California's La Mirada Theatre
The jukebox musical adaptation of the 1988 film Mystic Pizza has set a West Coast premiere for La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. Performances will begin January 19, 2024, with a January 20 opening night. The run will continue through February 11. Casey Hushion is back at the helm after staging the musical's 2021 world premiere at Ogunquit Playhouse, and she's brought her three leading ladies from that run as well: Krystina Alabado, Gianna Yanelli, and Kyra Kennedy…
November 6, 2023 (Variety)
Girls Just Want to Have Fun Musical in the Works Based on Sarah Jessica Parker’s 1985 Teen Comedy
A musical adaptation of Girls Just Want to Have Fun, the 1985 teen comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt, is in the works.
The stage show is based on the film’s screenplay by Amy Spies and features a score of 1980s chart-toppers, including the Cyndi Lauper hit that inspired the title. Girls Just Want to Have Fun tells the story of Janey, a high school gymnast whose strict Army colonel father instructs her to stay out of the spotlight. But when she moves to a new town and meets the bold and supportive Lynne, she disobeys her dad for the first time to enter a TV dance competition…
December 28, 2022 (Fortune)
Investors Are in a Race to Acquire Music Rights. Here’s Why They Should Be Looking To Broadway Instead in 2023
By Michael Barra
You may have heard the adage about Broadway: “You can make a killing; you just can’t make a living.” Of course there’s potential for blockbuster returns à la Hamilton—but it’s been often reported that barely 20% of productions return even their initial investment.
So why should you read any further?
Unlike productions, theatrical copyrights can offer investors consistent and predictable returns, similar to music publishing copyrights. And in the current environment of rising interest rates and sky-high music copyright valuations, the value-oriented investor in 2023 should be looking to the stage…
October 24, 2022 (Playbill)
More Jukebox Musicals Ahead: Primary Wave Music Partners With Lively McCabe Entertainment
Music publisher Primary Wave Music has partnered with the Michael Barra-led production company Lively McCabe Entertainment to produce and license new stage musicals featuring the work of Primary Wave's catalog of music, which includes songs by such artists as Prince, Bob Marley, Stevie Nicks, Whitney Houston, Def Leopard, Olivia Newton-John, and Boyz II Men, among others.
"From our first conversation with Michael, it was clear that he and his team have a clear, authentic, and commercially proven approach to integrating classic hits into contemporary stage musical IP," says Primary Wave Chief Content Officer Natalia Nastaskin. "This partnership with Lively McCabe is a natural for us because it taps into our central aim of creatively promoting and highlighting our catalog to new, younger audiences while also entertaining core fans and staying true to the legacies of our songwriters."
September 23, 2022 (American Theatre)
Clyde’s Is Most-Produced Play, and Lynn Nottage Most-Produced Playwright,
of 2022-23 Season
Order up! American Theatre’s most-produced plays and playwrights lists are back after a COVID hiatus, and at the top of both lists is Lynn Nottage, with her brand new sandwich-shop-as-purgatory comedy Clyde’s topping the Top 10 Most-Produced Plays List, and her Pulitzer winner Sweat not far behind….Even Clue (the #3 most produced show this year) is probably having something of a belated rise here: A favorite of community and high school theatres since 2018, it has only begun to be programmed at TCG member theatres, including some LORTs, in this past year.
September 8, 2022 (Playbill)
May We All: A New Country Musical Acquired By Music Theatre International for Licensing
Music Theatre International will handle licensing for May We All: A New Country Musical, which was recently staged at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center starring Heidi Blickenstaff, Lauren Pritchard, Brandon Ellis, and Matt Manuel.
May We All tells the story of small-town singer Jenna Coates, who finds herself falling from the heights of her music career and returning to her hometown. The new musical features songs from country artists Florida Georgia Line, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Dolly Parton, Little Big Town, Old Dominion, Brooks & Dunn, and Keith Urban, among others. The show also includes two original songs co-written by Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard…
June 16, 2022 (American Songwriter)
May We All: A New Country Musical Sees a Triumphant Debut at Nashville’s TPAC
Country fans were in for a treat Wednesday night (June 15) at Nashville’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center as a top-notch cast geared up for the opening night of May We All, a jukebox musical inspired by music from all the country greats.
Co-produced by Brian Kelley of Florida Georgia Line, alongside Lively McCabe Entertainment and BMG Music, the musical follows a fictitious town called Harmony, Tennessee—lovingly dubbed “the town that sings.”
As local sensation Jenna Coates leaves her cozy hometown for the bright lights of Nashville, her family and friends saw nothing but success for her. Despite her best efforts, Jenna never found her hit and returned home to Harmony without a record deal or dime to spare, only to discover her town is not the way she left it…
June 7, 2022 (Playbill)
The 10 Most-Produced High School Plays and Musicals of 2021–2022
The Educational Theatre Association has unveiled its list of the most-produced plays, musicals, and short plays in U.S. high schools during the 2021–2022 school year, the result of a survey that has been conducted annually since 1938…
The most produced play of the year was Clue—a title the work has held for three years—followed by Puffs, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and list mainstay Almost, Maine. Playwrights Don Zolidis and Jonathan Rand continue to dominate the most-produced short plays, with Rand's Check Please in the top spot as it was last year…
May 11, 2022 (Variety)
BMG Launches Punk Rock Girl, Its First Musical in the U.S.
BMG is ramping up its development of new stage musicals in both the U.S., with its first production “Punk Rock Girl!,” and in Germany, following the successful run of its first musical, “Ku’damm 56.”
“Punk Rock Girl!” is the debut developmental theatrical production from BMG in the U.S., in partnership with New York-based theatrical company Lively McCabe Entertainment. It features a score of songs written and made famous by female artists and female-fronted bands from the BMG catalog, including Blondie, Pink, Avril Lavigne, Pat Benatar and Sleater-Kinney, along with the title song, the Dead Milkmen’s 1988’s “Punk Rock Girl”…
April 13, 2022 (Playbill)
Heidi Blickenstaff to Star in World Premiere of May We All: A New Country Musical in Nashville
May We All: A New Country Musical has announced the cast for its previously announced world premiere production at Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville. Previews begin June 7 with an official opening night set for June 15 and a run continuing through July 17.
Featured in the company will be Bligh Voth, Patsy Detroit, Ryan Link, Lauren Pritchard, and Heidi Blickenstaff. The ensemble will include Miles Aubrey, Peri Barnhill, Gina de Pool, Chelsea Hough, Mary Kate Hughes, Ashlyn Inman, Josh Jordan, Calvin Malone, Noah Pelty, and Macy Watts…
March 15, 2022 (Music Row)
May We All: A New Country Musical Reveals First Round of Special Guests for This Summer
May We All: A New Country Musical, co-produced by Florida Georgia Line‘s Brian Kelley, has unveiled the first round of dates for its all-star rotating lineup of guest artists running from June 7-25. Another round of dates are expected to be announced in the coming weeks for guest artists including Kelley, Chris Ruediger, Cooper Alan, and Nick Fradiani, among others.
Stepping into the role of Bailey Stone, the multi-week roster slated to perform at Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville includes Alana Springsteen, Angie K, Alexandra Kay, Breland, Caleb Lee Hutchinson, Canaan Smith, Danielle Bradbery, Jamie O’Neal, Lainey Wilson, Lindsay Ell, LoCash, RaeLynn, Robyn Ottolini, Scarlett Burke, Sydney Sierota, Thomas Mac, Tigirlily, and Trent Harmon…
March 3, 2022 (Broadway World)
May We All: A New Country Musical Set to Premiere on June 15th in Nashville
Lively McCabe Entertainment (Executive Producer Michael Barra) and CuzBro Productions—the production company founded by Brian Kelley of the multi-platinum, award-winning duo Florida Georgia Line—will produce the world premiere of the highly-anticipated May We All: A New Country Musical. The musical will have its world premiere engagement at Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, TN June 7 – July 17, 2022 and feature songs from Brooks & Dunn, Chris Stapleton, Dolly Parton, Florida Georgia Line, Jessica Andrews, Johnny Cash, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Little Big Town, LOCASH, Loretta Lynn, Miranda Lambert, Old Dominion, Runaway June, Sara Evans, Tim McGRaw, Zac Brown Band, and will debut two original songs co-written by Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard. Opening night is set for June 15, 2022…
February 14, 2022 (Broadway World)
Lively McCabe Entertainment Acquires Broadway Theater Workshops
Lively McCabe Entertainment, the global theatrical production company based in Ridgewood, NJ has acquired Broadway Theater Workshops. In residence at the Inserra Theater at Saint Joseph Regional High School (40 Chestnut Ridge Road Montvale, New Jersey), Broadway Theater Workshops is a year-round training company working with children in grades 3-12 in developing their performance skills.
With Broadway performers as instructors, and offering private lessons, master classes, full-scale productions, and a robust summer camp program, BTW has become the premier youth performance program in the tri-county area over the past twenty years…
February 8, 2022 (The New York Times)
Clue Review: A Whodunit That Looks a Lot Like a Board Game
This Paper Mill Playhouse production is a welcome throwback to an era of physical comedy.
Clue, the campy 1985 film based on the popular board game, became a cult classic because of an all-star cast delivering delicious mile-a-minute quips. A new stage production, adapted by Sandy Rustin from Jonathan Lynn’s screenplay, with additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price…is a very fun, very silly 1950s-set whodunit that strikes some contemporary parallels on the way to its grand reveal…
December 30, 2021 (Broadway World)
Joe Iconis' PUNK ROCK GIRL Will Make Its World Premiere at the Argyle Theatre
Long Island's largest year-round professional theatrical venue, The Argyle Theatre (Mark and Dylan Perlman, Executive Producers & Managing Partners; Evan Pappas, Artistic Director), presents the World Premiere of PUNK ROCK GIRL with book and arrangements by Tony-nominated Long Island Composer Joe Iconis (Broadway's Be More Chill), arrangements and orchestrations by Rob Rokicki (Broadway's The Lightning Thief), directed and choreographed by Jennifer Werner (Worldwide Associate for Book Of Mormon), musical direction by Jennifer Peacock, and in partnership with Lively McCabe Entertainment. It will begin performances on January 20, in advance of its January 22 opening night and will run through February 27, 2022…
November 16, 2021 (Broadway World)
What a Wonderful World To Make World Premiere at Timber Lake Playhouse This December
Lively McCabe Entertainment announces that its new holiday-themed musical comedy What a Wonderful World, developed in partnership with BMG, will receive its World Premiere production at Timber Lake Playhouse (8215 Black Oak Road, Mt. Carroll, IL), running December 2–12, 2021, with tickets on sale now. Limited capacity tickets also available now for the 12/11 performance, which will be live-streamed nationally via Broadway on Demand.
The musical features a book by Jeremy Desmon, arrangement and orchestrations by Jesse Vargas, and is directed by TLP Artistic Director Paul Stancato…
October 26, 2021 (Playbill)
The 10 Most-Produced High School Plays and Musicals of 2020–2021
The Educational Theatre Association has unveiled its list of the most produced plays, musicals, and short plays in U.S. high schools during the 2020–2021 school year, the result of a survey that has been conducted annually since 1938.
The Addams Family again leads the musicals list, taking the top spot for the third year in a row ahead of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and The Theory of Relativity, both newly in the top 10. The stage adaptation of the film Clue was the top play after achieving the same in 2019–2020, followed by Almost, Maine and It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Playwrights Don Zolidis and Jonathan Rand continue to dominate the most-produced short plays, with Rand's Check Please again in the number one spot…
October 25, 2021 (Broadway World)
Tickets For World Premiere Country Musical May We All Go On Sale This Week
MAY WE ALL save the date for Summer 2022, as Brian Kelley and his production company CuzBro Productions, in partnership with Lively McCabe Entertainment (Executive Producer Michael Barra), welcome the highly-anticipated Country musical to Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) in Nashville.
Making its world premiere engagement June 7 - July 17, 2022, tickets for MAY WE ALL go on sale to the general public beginning at 10 a. m. CT on Friday, Oct. 29 via TPAC.org, by phone at 615-782-4040, and at the TPAC Box Office, 505 Deaderick St. in downtown Nashville…
August 24, 2021 (Playbill)
Krystina Alabado Will Star in Mystic Pizza Musical World Premiere
Broadway alum Krystina Alabado will star as Daisy in the musical adaptation of the 1988 film Mystic Pizza, making its world premiere this fall at Maine's Ogunquit Playhouse. Joining Alabado on stage is her former Mean Girls castmate Gianna Yanelli as Jojo and Waitress tour alum Kyra Kennedy as Kat.
Performances will run September 1–October 2 at the Playhouse’s open-air Leary Pavilion. As previously announced, the score is written by Melissa Etheridge with added pop hits from the ‘80s made famous by John Mellencamp, Debbie Gibson, Phil Collins and more…
July 30, 2021 (Billboard)
Country's Neon Lights Are Brighter On Broadway. Yes, THAT Broadway
When country artists talk about playing Broadway, they’ve typically referenced the barroom stages on Nashville’s Lower Broadway. But increasingly, the stages in the genre’s sights are theatrical venues that will lead to Broadway in NYC.
Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor is in discussions to present Hooten Holler at a regional theater in February 2022; Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley owns a production company developing May We All, a musical featuring over two dozen country hits that will premiere at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in June 2022…
June 3, 2021 (Playbill)
Cluedo Heads to the U.K. in 2022
Was it Professor Plum in the library with a wrench? U.K. audiences will find out whodunit in 2022 when the stage adaptation of Cluedo kicks off a nationwide tour at Churchill Theatre in Bromley January 24. The comedy is inspired by the board game and 1985 cult favorite movie known as Clue in North America.
Based on the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn, Cluedo is written by Sandy Rustin, featuring additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price. Mark Bell (The Play That Goes Wrong) directs and joins the writing team for the U.K. production…Cluedo is produced by Joshua Andrews and Stuart Galbraith of Kilimanjaro Theatricals, in collaboration with U.S. producing partners Work Light Productions, Lively McCabe Entertainment, and The Araca Group.
March 30, 2021 (Deadline)
Mystic Pizza Musical Sets Regional Staging With New Ingredients: Score Now Includes Songs By Cyndi Lauper, John Mellencamp, Bryan Adams & Other ’80s-’90s Hitmakers
The Mystic Pizza stage musical announced last year will get delivered this summer in a first production at the Playhouse in Ogunquit, ME, and the show will have some unexpected ingredients…
The changes, as well as the Ogunquit premiere, were announced Tuesday by Lively McCabe Entertainment executive producer Michael Barra, and Ogunquit Playhouse executive artistic director Bradford T. Kenney. Lively McCabe is also the producer behind Clue, based on the film and the Hasbro board game.
February 22, 2021 (Music Row)
May We All Musical Announces Nashville Residency for Summer 2022
May We All, the new musical from Florida Georgia Line member Brian Kelley‘s production company CuzBro Productions and Michael Barra’s Lively McCabe Entertainment, will world premiere in June 2022 in a special Nashville residency as part of Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Broadway at TPAC series. The production is being developed in partnership with BMG and will have a multi-week run at TPAC.
“TPAC is looking forward to welcoming everyone back to the theater again, and we can’t wait to share all the new and uplifting arts experiences we have in store for you next year,” says Jennifer Turner, TPAC President and CEO. “We’re delighted to host the world premiere engagement of May We All in the summer of 2022. It’s the perfect opportunity for fans of musical theater and fans of country music to unite here in Music City for this special presentation before the launch of a national tour.”
January 26, 2021 (Variety)
Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley Looks to Take Country Stage Musical May We All to the Big Screen
Florida Georgia Line member Brian Kelley’s plan to bring a country-music musical to life as a legit stage production is now extending to a movie version that is being developed simultaneously.
Kelley and his partners announced not just a film iteration of “May We All” — whose planned staging has been put off due to the pandemic — but the director who’s been tapped for a movie version: Andy Fickman, whose credits include directing and exec-producing CBS’ TV series “Kevin Can Wait” as well as a number of feature films and stage productions…
December 13, 2020 (Fortune)
When Broadway Comes Back: 5 Ways the Pandemic Will Transform the Live Theater Industry
by Michael Barra
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the global theater industry to a standstill. But 2020 is not the first time that the industry has faced an existential crisis…
In each instance the industry has mourned, innovated, and emerged stronger. Make no mistake: Global theater is hurting right now, with its darkest days still to come. Yet the challenges experienced over this year, and the pivots and adjustments they’ve triggered, allow us to infer what may lie around the corner…
October 5, 2020 (Broadway World)
MAY WE ALL, A New Country Musical, Will Premiere in Memphis' Playhouse on the Square
Playhouse on the Square, in partnership with super sponsor Dr. Thomas Ratliff, has collaborated with producers Lively McCabe Entertainment, music giants BMG, as well as Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley and his CuzBro Productions, to produce a new musical celebrating the genre of country music and capturing the American spirit. MAY WE ALL is a story of disappearing small-town America as seen through the hopeful eyes of its youth. Jenna Coates, a fledgling country singer, reluctantly comes home after a rough start in Nashville, ultimately to discover that her roots may take her a lot further than her dreams.…
July 30, 2020 (Playbill)
The Addams Family, Mamma Mia!, Beauty and the Beast Top List of Most-Produced Shows in 2019–2020 School Year
The Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) has released its annual list of the most produced plays, musicals, and short plays at middle and high schools in the United States, a list they have maintained since 1938. Reflecting the 2019-2020 school year, this year's survey also examined the impact of COVID-19 closures and cancellations on school theatre departments.
Topping the list of musicals for the second year in a row was The Addams Family, followed by Mammia Mia! and Beauty and the Beast. The most-produced full-length play was the newly available Clue, with school stalwart Almost, Maine coming in at number two and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream following…
June 24, 2020 (The Hollywood Reporter)
Stars in the House Recruits Drew Barrymore, Debra Messing and More to Honor Marlo Thomas' Free to Be … You and Me
Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley have recruited a star-studded lineup for a special episode of their Stars in the House pandemic series inspired by Marlo Thomas and Free to Be … You and Me, her iconic children's entertainment project that she conceived, created and produced.
The Free to Be…You and Me special is produced in association with the Free to Be Foundation and Free to Be Media, under advisement from Michael Barra of Lively McCabe Entertainment on behalf of the Free to Be Foundation…
February 28, 2020 (Playbill)
Joe Iconis Musical Punk Rock Girl Will Make World Premiere at Long Island’s Argyle Theatre
Punk Rock Girl, a new musical that features a book and co-arrangements by Be More Chill’s Tony-nominated Joe Iconis, will make its world premiere during the Argyle Theatre's 2020–2021 season. The musical, which features songs written and made famous by female artists and female-fronted bands like Pat Benatar, Bikini Kill, Blondie, Echosmith, Avril Lavigne, P!nk, TraLaLa, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, will be presented September 10–October 25 at the Long Island venue. With co-arrangements and orchestrations by Rob Rokicki, Punk Rock Girl follows 16-year-old Angela, struggling to belong and finding her tribe with the help of new friend Proxi and the world of punk music…
February 6, 2020 (Broadway World)
CLUE Starring John Treacy Egan Has Set the Record as the Highest Grossing Production in Cleveland Play House History
The Cleveland Play House (CPH) production of “Clue: A New Comedy” has set the record as the highest grossing production in CPH history, also breaking the single ticket sales record just two days after opening on January 31. The all new production continues at CPH through February 23, 2020, before launching a national tour in the fall of 2021…
October 16, 2019 (Variety)
Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley to Co-Produce Country Jukebox Musical
Brian Kelley, half of the country duo Florida Georgia Line, has signed on as a producer for “May We All,” a jukebox musical that will incorporate country hits by fellow stars of the genre like Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton and Dolly Parton as well as FGL’s own music… Says Brian Kelley, "I love building, love creating, love being surrounded by an amazing team, and have found endless inspiration in the fact that I can use my voice in any interest that I have. Forming CuzBro, and our new partnership with Lively McCabe, gives me a fresh and exciting creative channel. I couldn't be more thrilled to have this musical feature the songs of so many of my buddies and artists who've inspired me. Can't wait to bring this project to the stage and beyond."
September 6, 2019 (Theater Mania)
Joe Iconis’s Punk Rock Girl to Stream Industry Reading to Producers Across the Globe
It was announced today that an industry reading for the new jukebox musical Punk Rock Girl will be held in New York City on September 13. The reading will be privately streamed and available to be viewed by regional producers and industry executives across the globe. The cast for the reading will feature Emilie Battle, Alexandra Ferrara, Morgan Siobhan Green, A.J. Holmes, Lauren Marcus, Jeremy Morse, Brian Sears, Brooke Shapiro, Natalie Walker, and Jason SweetTooth Williams…
April 15, 2019 (Broadway World)
Lively McCabe Entertainment Expands New York Offices
Lively McCabe Entertainment Co-President Michael Barra proudly announces the expansion of their Columbus Circle office with the hiring of two key executives, Darnetha Lincoln M'Baye and Molly Israel Paul. Ms. M'Baye has joined the company as VP, Head of Music and will be responsible for managing the company's content partnerships with the major music publishers, as well as overseeing the packaging of all music intellectual property elements into the company's stage, film, and television development slates…
April 2, 2019 (Deadline Hollywood)
Luke Bryan, Billy Idol, Dolly Parton & Culture Club Songs Among Trove Inspiring Lively McCabe Stage Musicals
Lively McCabe Entertainment, a company that specializes in packaging and adapting iconic intellectual property into new stories for theater, film/TV, and book publishing, is teaming with licensing agency Theatrical Rights Worldwide and music powerhouse BMG on three stage works that could bring the songs of country stars like Luke Bryan and Kenny Chesney and ’80s New Wavers including Billy Idol and Devo to theaters by 2020…
January 22, 2019 (Entertainment Weekly)
Mystic Pizza to Become a Musical with Songs by Melissa Etheridge
Fire up that pizza oven — Mystic Pizza is getting the stage musical treatment.
On Tuesday, Lively McCabe Entertainment announced it is developing a musical stage adaptation of the 1988 romantic comedy Mystic Pizza. Gordon Greenberg (Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn) and Sas Goldberg (Significant Other) will pen the book, based on Amy Holden Jones’ story and characters…
December 17, 2018 (Deadline Hollywood)
‘Be More Chill’s Joe Iconis Developing ‘Punk Rock Girl’ Musical Featuring Blondie, Avril Lavigne, Pat Benatar Hits
Composer Joe Iconis, whose Off Broadway viral sensation Be More Chill is headed to Broadway in February, is developing a new stage musical called Punk Rock Girl featuring songs written or made famous by such female musicians or female-fronted bands as Avril Lavigne, Pink, Pat Benatar and Blondie.
The project was announced today by Lively McCabe Entertainment as a collaboration with BMG and R&H Theatricals. Iconis is writing the book and musical arrangements…
November 8, 2018 (The Hollywood Reporter)
Avril Lavigne and Richard Marx TV Shows? It Could Happen
Powerhouse publisher BMG has inked a deal with packaging company Lively McCabe Entertainment to tap its vast catalog for new projects for film, TV, stage and digital media.
Under the pact, Lively McCabe will have rights to the Bertelsmann-owned publisher's vast catalog to develop new projects for film, TV, stage and digital media. BMG, the fourth-largest music publisher, represents artists and songwriters including Avril Lavigne, Aerosmith, Blondie, Richard Marx, Public Enemy and Alice in Chains…
October 10, 2018
Free To Be Foundation Signs Global Publishing Deal with Warner/Chappell Music
Warner/Chappell Music (WCM), the music publishing arm of Warner Music Group, has signed an exclusive agreement with the Free to Be Foundation to administer the rights to the popular children’s classic Free To Be... You and Me, which was created by Emmy award-winning actress Marlo Thomas and co-produced with Carole Hart.
The Free To Be Foundation oversees the Free To Be…You And Me project as well as develops and markets educational products that challenge stereotypes, fight discrimination, and encourage individuality and the freedom to pursue one’s talents and dreams. The Free To Be Foundation was represented on this deal by Michael Barra of Lively McCabe Entertainment…
August 14, 2018
Lively McCabe To Manage Children's Classic FREE TO BE...YOU AND ME For Stage, Books, Etc.
Lively McCabe Entertainment is pleased to announce that it has signed the original classic children's property Free To Be . . . You and Me as a management client. The company will focus primarily on securing a new music administration agreement, the development of a new regional live stage musical, and the exploration of book publishing opportunities in the lead up to Free To Be's 50th anniversary in 2022
Free To Be . . . You and Me is a children's entertainment project conceived, created and executive-produced by Marlo Thomas in 1972. It was first an album with a mission to encourage post-1960s gender and racial equality...
August 7, 2018 (The Hollywood Reporter)
Plain White T's Song "Hey There Delilah" Is Being Turned Into a TV Series (Exclusive)
The Plain White T's No. 1 hit "Hey There Delilah" is being adapted into a scripted TV series.
The Grammy- and Tony-nominated band is teaming with Lively McCabe Entertainment and Primary Wave to develop a scripted romantic dramedy based on its chart-topping single about a long-distance relationship. Producers, including the band's frontman and songwriter Tom Higgenson as well as writer Jeremy Desmon, will be in L.A. pitching the potential series — described as a contemporary fairy tale that expands the story within the song — to multiple networks and studios this month...
July 31, 2018
Lively McCabe Entertainment Inks Deal with Round Hill Music to Mine Catalogue for Project Development
Lively McCabe Entertainment announces that it has inked a deal with Round Hill Music, a full-service, creative music company with a core focus on music publishing. The deal grants the company, recently launched by producer Michael Barra, access to Round Hill Music's catalogue of music and artists to package into new entertainment projects. Lively McCabe Entertainment will package and produce projects in which the music is instrumental to the storytelling -- as opposed to solely serving as the soundtrack. The projects will span across various media platforms, including the live stage, as well as television series, films, digital media, and book publishing.
Round Hill's artist roster includes Florida Georgia Line, Echosmith, The Offspring, American Authors, among many others...
July 24, 2018
Michael Barra Launches Lively McCabe Entertainment
Producer Michael Barra, who most recently served as President of Media & Entertainment at Broadway's The Araca Group (and was previously an exec at Disney), announces the official launch of Lively McCabe Entertainment. Co-founded with Katie Dietz, Lively McCabe Entertainment is an independent Production Company that will allow Barra to continue as a packager and producer of media intellectual properties for the live stage, as well as television series, films, digital media, and book publishing. Lively McCabe has now signed with Abrams Artists Agency, and will work closely with their Literary departments in Los Angeles and New York to package projects built around existing high profile Hollywood IP to which the company has secured rights. Lively McCabe and Mr. Barra are also represented by Adam Cooper at Jackoway Tyerman...
