\'Natasha\' and \'Kid Who Would Be Pope\' Win Prestigious Musical Theater Prizes

The musicals “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812,” by Dave Malloy, and “The Kid Who Would Be Pope,” by Tom and Jack Megan, are the winners of the 2013 Richard Rodgers Awards for Musical Theater. The prizes, announced this week by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, are intended to help talented composers and playwrights get work produced in New York City.

The academy decided that because “Natasha” had been produced and prominently reviewed in New York, with a run last October and November at Ars Nova Theater, the $60,000 award would go to the theater retroactively. The awards jury happened to start considering applications right after “Natasha” received its first production, Virginia Dajani, executive director of the Academy, explained on Wednesday.

“It was complicated for us,” Ms.Dajani said. “We decided Ars Nova had invested so much n the production we’d give the money to Ars Nova so that they can in the future produce some other work, not necessarily ours. This also allows Mr. Malloy credit for having won.”

“Natasha” is an electro-pop opera with a libretto based on a portion of the novel “War and Peace.” Mr. Malloy, whose previous work includes “Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage” and “Three Pianos,” and the director, Rachel Chavkin, turned the theater into a kind of Russian nightclub, packed with tables each bearing a bottle of icy vodka and a portrait of Napoleon hanging over the bar.

“I’m thrilled,” Mr. Malloy said Wednesday of his award. He had applied two times before. “Each time, I got that thin envelope,” he said. Since the Ars Nova run, Howard Kagan, a commercial producer, has come aboard. Said Mr. Malloy: “The show! is at an interesting point in its life: we are in between the initial production and the transfer.”

“The Kid Who Would Be Pope,” with book, music and lyrics by the brothers Tom and Jack Megan, is the tale of an 11-year-old boy who tries to become Pope so he can marry a nun he loves. It was among the fledgling productions showcased at the New York Musical Theater Festival in 2011.

Since 1980, 74 works have received the Rodgers prize, including Jonathan Larson’s “Rent” and “Grey Gardens,” by Scott Frankel, Michael Korie and Doug Wright.