Mistress Cycle, Orphan Train, Monica! The Musical Win Places in 2005 NY Musical Theatre Fest

By Kenneth Jones
24 May 2005

The New York Musical Theatre Festival has announced the 18 jury-selected musicals that will be part of the Next Link Project of the fest, to be held Sept. 12-Oct. 2 in midtown Manhattan.

"After reviewing almost 400 scripts — nearly double last year's submissions — the NYMF selection committee has chosen a fresh, diverse collection of new musicals to be presented," according to the May 24 announcement.

The Next Link works are production-ready scripts that will receive full stagings for a handful of performances in repertory in the hope that NYMF is "the next link" to a wider regional or commercial life.

Some of the projects may already have commercial producers attached. NYMF does not produce or fund the shows; that burden is on the creators or their producers.

In 2005, the second year of the festival, NYMF will also boast "more than 100 invited shows, concerts, and other special events still to be announced."

This year's Next Link jury included Rob Ashford (Tony winning choreographer for Thoroughly Modern Millie), Thomas Cott (former artistic director of Musical Theater Works), Joanna Gleason (Tony-winning actress of Into the Woods), Kevin McCollum (producer of Avenue Q and Rent), Susan H. Schulman (director of Broadway's Little Women, The Secret Garden) and Jack Viertel (Jujamcyn Theaters' creative director, and the artistic director of Encores!).

NYMF's 2005 Next Link Project selections include:

  • The Banger's Flopera by Kirk Wood Bromley and John Gideon
  • But I'm A Cheerleader by Andy Abrams and Bill Augustin
  • Don Imbroglio by Matt Beresi and Peter Hilliard
  • Isabelle and the Pretty-Ugly Spell by Steven Feisher and Joan Ross Sorkin
  • It Came From Beyond by Cornell Christianson, Stephen Michael Schwartz and Marman Thalheimer
  • Ivory Joe Cole by Kelly Ward and Michael Tavera and Steven Santoro
  • The Mistress Cycle by Beth Blatt and Jenny Giering
  • Monica! The Musical by Adam Blau, Daniel Blau, & Tracie Potochnik
  • No Boundaries by Liz Oliver
  • Orphan Train by L.E. McCullough, Michael Barry Greer and Doug Katsaros
  • Plane Crazy by Suzy Conn
  • The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World by Joy Gregory, John Langs and Gunnar Madsen
  • Tom Jones by Paul Leigh, George Stiles, Daniel D. Brambilla and Vera Guerin
  • Uncle Jed's Barbershop by David Wohl, Kenneth Grimes and Susan Einhorn
  • The Unknown by Janet Allard, Jean Randich, and Shane Rettig
  • Wild Women of Planet Wongo by Steve Mackes, David Ogrin and Ben Budick
  • Yank! by David and Joseph Zellnik
  • You Might As Well Live by Norman Mathews and Dorothy Parker

    For more information, visit www.nymf.org.

    *

    Altar Boyz, Stephen Schwartz's Captain Louie, Title of Show, SHOUT! and The Great American Trailer Park Musical went on to commercial productions (or are currently in the pre-production for runs) following exposure in the 2004 NYMF.