The musicals were chosen from NYMF's open submissions process, which is titled the Next Link Project. The jury responsible for picking this year's slate of musicals included Victoria Clark, B.D. Wong, Rachel Sheinkin, Margo Lion, Adam Epstein and Casey Nicholaw. The shows will be presented at various Off-Broadway venues from Sept. 17-Oct. 7.
Approximately 20 other new musicals, which will be announced later this summer, will also be part of the fourth annual Festival.
The 2007 Next Link Project musicals follow:
The Angle of the Sun
Book and Lyrics by Rachel Lampert; Music by Larry Pressgrove.
"A brilliant painter's life-long struggle to balance the fears, joys and conflicting passions of art and love."
Austentatious
Book by Matt Board, Jane Caplow, Kate Galvin, Luisa Hinchliff, and Joe Slabe; Music and Lyrics by Matt Board and Joe Slabe
"The rehearsal woes and opening night shenanigans of the Central Riverdale Amateur Players (C.R.A.P.), an amateur theatre company mounting a stage adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. The Boy in the Bathroom
Book by Michael Lluberes, Music by Joe Maloney, Lyrics by Michael Lluberes with additional lyrics by Joe Maloney.
"Young man with obsessive-compulsive disorder sequesters himself in his bathroom until his feelings for a young girl force him to consider facing the world."
Emma
Book, Music and Lyrics by Joel Adlen
"A new musical comedy inspired by the classic Jane Austen novel, about a determined young matchmaker who finally falls in love herself."
Gemini The Musical
Book by Albert Innaurato, Music by Charles Gilbert, Lyrics by Charles Gilbert and Albert Innaurato.
"A budding composer home from college on break gets a surprise visit from his girlfriend and her brother and confronts his sexuality with some help from his family, the neighbors and the ghost of Maria Callas. Based on the 1977 play."
Going Down Swingin' (The Don Giovanni Radio Hour)
Book and Lyrics by Matt Boresi, Music by Peter Hilliard
"Cad radio actor tries to manipulate everyone around him and fails as the era of the radio play fades (loosely based on the opera Don Giovanni).
Little Egypt
Book by Lynn Siefert, Music and Lyrics by Gregg Lee Henry.
"Three misfit couples experience the ups and downs of love in and around an International House of Pancakes in 1982 Illinois."
Look What A Wonder Jesus Has Done
Book, Music and Lyrics by Walter Robinson.
"A gospel folk opera about Denmark Vesey's failed slave and Free Negro rebellion in 1822 Charleston."
Love Sucks
Book by Stephen O'Rourke, Music by Brandon Patton, Lyrics by Brandon Patton and Stephen O'Rourke.
"Love's Labour Lost punk-rock style. All-girl group The Guttersnips and all-guy band The Molotovs swear off sex, fall in love, and battle each other for a record deal."
Mud Donahue & Son
Book by Jeff Hochhauser (based on Jack Donahue's Letters of a Hoofer to His Ma), Music by Bob Johnston, Lyrics by Bob Johnston and Jeff Hochhauser.
"The true story of hoofer Jack Donahue, who left his opinionated mother at home in 1910 in search of fame on the vaudeville circuit."
Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood
Book, Music and Lyrics by Joan Cushing.
"Little Red Riding Hood gets a Cajun kick, set in the bayou and performed by a cast of animals (turtle, crayfish, frog, duck, cat, gator, etc.)."
Sherlock Holmes-The Early Years
Book by Kate Ferguson with additional material by Robbie Hudson, Music by Jared M. Dembrowski, Lyrics by Susannah Pearse
"The legendary detective makes the acquaintance of his partner-to-be, his arch nemesis-to-be, his housekeeper-to-be, a handful of high-kicking Scotland Yard men and some very naughty orphans in this spoofical/romance/whodunit."
Such Good Friends
Book, Music and Lyrics by Noel Katz.
"Comedy writers/actors/friends working on an early TV show are faced with a McCarthy era witchhunt."
Sympathy Jones
Book by Brooke Pierce, Music and Lyrics by Masi Asare.
"Receptionist at a spy agency dreams of more and nabs her chance when a top-secret file is left on her desk in this Jane Bond adventure."
The Family Fiorelli (and how they stayed one)
Book and Lyrics by Fred Anthony Marco, Music by Alastair William King.
"An Italian-American family must overcome complicated (and often darkly funny) hardships related to their home life and vineyard."
The Yellow Wood
Book by Michelle Elliot, Music by Danny Larsen, Lyrics by Michelle Elliott and Danny Larsen.
"Teenager with attention deficit disorder goes without ritalin for a day and struggles to face who he is (with a little help from Robert Frost)."
Tully (in no particular order)
Book and additional lyrics by Joshua William Gelb, Music and Lyrics by Stephanie Johnstone
"Stranded in the underworld with no memory of his past, Catullus must rely on his poetry to piece together the colorful, raucous, lurid and ultimately tragic life he has led."
War Brides
Book by Ronald Sproat, Music by Christopher Berg, Lyrics by Frank Evans.
"British war brides fight government red tape to be reunited with their American GI husbands in the United States after WWII"
The 2007 Festival also features "a series of panels and seminars featuring industry leaders; numerous readings, concerts and cabaret performances; as well as an array of umbrella events co-presented with other musical theater organizations around the city."
For ticket and membership information visit www.nymf.org.
