The show, about three New York couples who are longtime pals, has been heard in various book-in-hand readings in Manhattan, including a spring 2004 presentation by CAP21, the New York City performing arts conservatory that also develops new plays. Composer Loesel and lyricist Burkell are Larson Award winners for their work together.
CAP21 artistic director Frank Ventura will direct "the fully staged workshop." He helmed an earlier reading in 2004.
"The cast will be off book, with people up and moving around," said lyricist-librettist Scott Burkell. "This is about getting it up on its feet. There's a lot of overlapping action and it seemed like the best thing to do — get some sort of intensive look at it."
The workshop is being presented with an eye toward CAP21 producing a full production in the coming year. Lynne Shankel is musical director.
Changes to the material continued after the spring 2004 presentation, and a reading of the freshened Act One was presented in October 2004. The latest cast includes Leslie Becker, Danyelle Bossardet, Scott Burkell, Zac Halley, Guy Lemonnier and Tia Speros.
Admission is $15. For ticket information call (212) 807-0202. CAP 21's Studio One is at 18 W. 18th Street, Sixth Floor.
The performance schedule is Mondays, Wednedays and Thursdays at 7 PM. Tuesdays and Fridays at 4 PM.
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The April 2004 presentation at CAP21 represented revisions since the last reading at CAP21 in April 2003. CAP21 has been associated with the project over the last several years.
Six of One has been seen in various readings over the past five years, including the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop in 2001. The writers won a Jonathan Larson Developmental Grant in 2000 for the show.
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Burkell, who is also an actor, previously said the idea for the show started as a way to use his talented friends who were not working.
Burkell and composer Loesel knew they wanted to write a "book show" with genuine, contemporary-sounding songs — not a "sung-through" piece. The show is set present-day Manhattan. The characters, except for young college-age character, are former college classmates, drifting into middle age. The writers said they wanted to create an ensemble work.
"People ask, 'Who is it about'? And we say, 'Whose story do you relate to most?'" Burkell previously told Playbill.com.
"It deals with issues of people who are trying to move into middle age and cannot mature," CAP21 literary director Eliza Ventura previously said. "It's a contemporary American problem, this obsession with youth. It's about moving into true relationships with your friends, your lovers, in your married life."
Visit www.cap21.org.
