Mills & Wyner Land Top Musical Theatre Honour

Musical theatre composers PETER MILLS and BARRY WYNER are set to collect the 2010 Kleban Prize for their outstanding work in the genre.

The accolade, established in 1988 in honour of A Chorus Line lyricist Edward Kleban, awards $100,000 (£62,500) to one lyricist and one librettist.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) will laud Mills - whose credits include Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge and The Pursuit of Persephone - for lyric writing; meanwhile Wyner, who wrote the music, lyrics and book for Calvin Berger, has won the prize for book writing.

Previous winners include Shrek the Musical’s David Lindsay Abaire, Parade’s Jason Robert Brown and Avenue Q’s Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez.

The awards will be handed out by ASCAP bosses on 21 June (10), reports Daily Variety.