McCABE & MR. MESTEL

Primary Wave is singing the lullaby of Broadway after entering a partnership with Michael Barra’s Lively McCabe Entertainment to populate stage musicals with PW songs.

Lively McCabe will serve as executive producer of an '80s musical from Sandy Rustin that Primary Wave has in development.

The partners expect to release initial titles by late 2023, with the full slate out by the end of 2025. Other projects already in the works include Mystic Pizza, which features the music of Primary Wave artists Melissa Etheridge and Prince; What a Wonderful World, with holiday music from Regent & Jewel, Luther Vandross and Gerry Goffin; and an untitled new wave musical from Michael Kimmel boasting music from Devo, Culture Club and Naked Eyes.

“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,” said Natalia Nastaskin, chief content officer for Primary Wave Music. “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.”

PW COO Ramon Villa will join Nastaskin in overseeing the development of creative properties with Barra and the Lively McCabe team.

Beyond incorporating Primary Wave’s catalog into stage musicals, Lively McCabe will manage the licensing of those titles to regional, amateur and school theater programs.