Video: See Santino Fontana, Talia Suskauer, More Honor the 2026 Kleban Prize Recipients

Broadway stars perform songs by this year's winners, Eric Price and Phillip Christian Smith.

February 16, 2026 By Logan Culwell-Block

The Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre was handed out at a private event February 2 at ASCAP in NYC. But now, Playbill has an exclusive look at the reception, which featured Broadway stars performing the songs of this year's winners, Eric Price and librettist Phillip Christian Smith. Watch above.

The event featured performances from Tony winner Santino Fontana (Tootsie), Talia Suskauer (Wicked), Muriam Murithi (Titus Andronicus), Vaibu Mohan (Sati: Goddess Incarnate at Gibney Dance) and more. The event was emceed by Tony winners and Kleban board members Richard Maltby, Jr. (Ain’t Misbehavin’, Baby, Miss Saigon) and Maury Yeston (Titanic, Nine, Grand Hotel).

Lyricist Price and Smith were previously named the honor's recipients. Each will receive a $100,000 award paid over two years via The Kleban Foundation. The honor, named for late Chorus Line lyricist Edward Kleban, was established in 1988 via Kleban's will as a way of supporting early-career theatre writers. This year's award is the 36th since its inception.

The winners were selected by a panel comprised of theatre artists. This recent panel included Eden Espinosa (Lempicka, Wicked), Amber Gray (Hadestown, Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812), and Anne Kauffman (The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, Mary Jane).

See photos from the reception below.

Past winners include Shaina Taub, Lisa Kron, Robert L. Freedman, Steven Lutvak, David Lindsay-Abaire, Jason Robert Brown, John Bucchino, Gretchen Cryer, Michael Korie, Jeff Marx, Robert Lopez, Michael John LaChiusa, Glenn Slater, and John Weidman.

Visit NewDramatists.org.