West Chester University Professor of Music Theory and Composition Robert Maggio was recently named one of the winners of the 2024 Richard Rodgers Studio Production Award for a musical he has worked on for more than a decade.

The award is presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an honor society of artists, composers, and writers, that annually distributes more than $1.2 million in awards to foster interest in the arts. The Richard Rodgers Awards, specifically endowed by acclaimed composer Rodgers in 1978, supports musical theater by subsidizing productions in New York City for emerging composers and writers.

Maggio’s musical, Far From the Tree, is a collaborative effort between Maggio (music), Justin Warner (libretto), and Kristin Maloney (lyrics). Inspired by Andrew Solomon’s nonfiction book of the same name, the musical explores the challenges and triumphs of parents raising children who are profoundly different from themselves. The musical follows three sets of parents who are raising a child who is deaf, a child who is transgender, and a child who is autistic.

“The focus is on the parents,” Maggio said. “It’s about how the parents find a way to understand and love their child despite the extreme differences between parent and child.”

The road to this stage of production has ebbed and flowed throughout the last decade. It started with Maggio and Maloney coming off of a stalled project when they read Solomon’s book. They secured rights to adapt it into a musical and brought in Warner to structure the narrative. The three had met at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop nearly 20 years ago.

Director Michael Greif, known for Broadway successes like Rent and Dear Evan Hansen, joined the project in 2017. That same year Far From the Tree was workshopped in Martha’s Vineyard, and again in 2019 in New York City — then the COVID-19 pandemic brought the performing arts industry to a halt. 

The trio continued working on the musical and applying for grants.

“The Rodgers award represents new momentum in getting the musical in front of an audience,” Maggio said. “If you learn anything from working on musicals, it’s patience. This breathes new life into the development of the project.”

Coincidentally, MusiCoLab, an organization that showcases new musical theatre work in Philadelphia, is presenting a 30-minute excerpt of Far From the Tree on Sunday, Apr. 14, and Monday, Apr. 15. Tickets can be purchased online.  

Learn more about West Chester University, the largest member of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education, comprising 10 state-owned universities within the Commonwealth of PA. Founded in 1871, West Chester University is a comprehensive public institution offering a diverse range of more than 180 academic opportunities in 40 fields of study across undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels.