Wopat, Clark, Gets and Walsh Part of Festival of New Musicals Sept. 21-22

By Andrew Gans
and Kenneth Jones
September 12, 2003

Casting has been announced for the 15th Annual Festival of New Musicals.

Produced by the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, this year's festival will be held in Manhattan on Sept. 21 and 22. Eight new musicals will be presented over the two-day period, held at Off-Broadway's John Houseman and Douglas Fairbanks theatres.

The complete line-up follows:

•The Ambition Bird by Matthew Sheridan; starring Victoria Clark
•Ballad of Little Pinks by Alan Menken, Connie Grappo and Marion Adler; starring Frank Valstnik and Lee Wilkof
•Harold and Maude by Tom Jones and Joseph Thalken; starring Rita Gardner and Michael Arden
•Princesses by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, David Zippel and Matthew Wilder; starring Tom Wopat, Julie Halston and Jenny Fellner
•Sarah, Plain and Tall by Julia Jordan, Nell Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe and directed by Joe Calarco; starring Becca Ayers, Herndon Lackey and Debra Wiseman
•Swing Shift by David Armstrong, Michael Rafter and Mark Waldrop; starring Kim Huber and Judy McLane
•Two Queens, One Castle by Jevetta Steele, Thomas Jones II, William Hubbard and J.D. Steele; starring Jevetta Steele
•Was by Barry Kleinbort and Joseph Thalken; starring Malcolm Gets, Andrea Burns, Kirk McDonald, John Jellison, Barbara Walsh and Brooke Sunny Moriber

Tony nominee Mary Testa and Thoroughly Modern Millie's Christian Borle will host the Alliance's "Songwriter Showcase" on Sept. 21. That evening will feature works by Little Shop of Horrors' Hunter Foster and The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin's Kirsten Childs.

Since 1989, NAMT's Festival of New Musicals has introduced musical theatre producers to 131 musicals and 268 writers from around the world. Past Festival shows have included Tony Award-winning Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Children of Eden, Songs for a New World, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Summer of '42 and Honk!

The mission of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Festival of New Musicals is "to expand the musical theatre repertoire by encouraging the production of new musicals; present works that are diverse in ethnicity, subject matter, style, and concept; discover new work and new voices; and nurture creative writing teams."

The Festival is funded entirely by contributions to NAMT, a not-for-profit organization, and is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Admission is by invitation only to theatre producers.

For more information, visit www.namt.net.