The first evening, slated for 6:30 PM, will feature two new musical comedies currently in development in the BMI Lehman Engel Workshop.
Pinocchio of Chelsea featuring music by Mark Janas, with book and lyrics by Peter Napolitano, "reinvents the classic children's novel as a contemporary urban fantasy about a wooden teenager searching for a world where he truly belongs," press notes state.
The cast features Marcie Henderson (The People vs. Mona) as The Blues Fairy, Broadway veteran Andy Gale (Side Show, Rags) as Gepetto and Ricky Ashley (World Premiere of Jason Robert Brown's 13) as Pinocchio. Robert Bartley, who directed NYMF's The Family Fiorelli and both Broadway Backwards I & II, will direct the staged reading.
Also presented on the 19th will be The Masked Zinfandel, with music by Peter Yarin and book and lyrics by Justin Warner. "In the faraway, quasi-medieval kingdom of Helvetica, young Sam the Shoemaker replaces the town's hottest masked hero/outlaw/celebrity," according to press notes.
The cast of The Masked Zinfandel includes Craig Fols (Musical of Musicals), Ray Bokhour (Chicago) and Amy Zelcer. Nancy Robillard, who recently helmed A Yorkshire Fairie Tale Off-Broadway, directs. On Dec. 10 at 6:30 PM, the BMI Lehman Engel Workshop will host a 50-minute sample of the new musical In Living Color.
In Living Color has music by Fred Thaler with book and lyrics by Robert Yarnall. The work is described as "'Back to the Future' meets 'Leave it To Beaver' when two teenagers find themselves in the 1950's." Linda Burson will direct.
The Snapple Theatre Center is located in Manhattan at 210 West 50th Street, at the corner of Broadway. General admission tickets ($10) are available by calling (212) 989-6706 or by contacting [email protected].
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Founded by Lehman Engel in 1961, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, fully funded by the BMI foundation at no cost to its participants, was created in order to nurture the craft of musical theatre by providing new writers with a testing ground for their work under the guidance of experienced professionals within the industry.
Notable alumni and members include Maury Yeston (Titanic, Grand Hotel, Nine), Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid), Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q), Edward Kleban (A Chorus Line), Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once on This Island, Dessa Rose), Gerard Alessandrini (Forbidden Broadway) and Michael John LaChiusa (Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party).
