Blackwell, Eikenberry, Jenkins, Blumenkrantz and More Read New Dan Savage-Based Musical The Kid

By Ernio Hernandez
23 Sep 2009

Susan Blackwell
Susan Blackwell

The New Group will present a Sept. 24 industry reading of the new musical The Kid — which will be seen later in the troupe's Off-Broadway season — at Playwrights Horizons.

The New Group artistic director Scott Elliott will direct the invite-only reading and Dominick Amendum handles musical direction. The new work, based on Dan Savage's book "The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant," features music by Andy Monroe, a book by Michael Zam and lyrics by Jack Lechner.

The cast of The Kid reading will include P.J. Benjamin, Susan Blackwell, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Matt DeAngelis, Trent Dawson, Luke Dow, Jill Eikenberry, Jeannine Frumess, Jeff Hiller, Capathia Jenkins, Brooke Sunny Moriber and Lucas Steele.

The musical, according to notes, "is based on the true story of what happened when sex columnist Dan Savage and his boyfriend decided to create a family. Step one: Convince an adoption agency and homeless teenage mom that two gay men are the perfect parents for her child. Step two: Convince themselves."

A full production of The Kid will be the third show in The New Group's season, following the upcoming world premiere of Kenneth Lonergan's The Starry Messenger (featuring Matthew Broderick, Kieran Culkin, Jonathan Hadary, Catalina Sandino Moreno, J. Smith-Cameron and more) and the Ethan Hawke-directed revival of Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind.

The authors of The Kid garnered the 2009 BMI Foundation Jerry Bock Award for Best New Musical. The tuner marks The New Group's first musical theatre venture since co-producing Avenue Q.

Tickets to the new season of The New Group at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenue), are available by calling (212) 279-4200. For more information, visit TheNewGroup.org.