Presented through Oct. 28, the Festival of New Musicals highlights eight new musicals currently in development. The weekend is attended by industry members from across the country and New York. Members of the public are also able to view highlights from the productions on a standby basis. Betsy King Militello serves as executive director of NAMT.
In addition to staging selections from new musicals, NAMT also offers a Songwriters Showcase at 1:30 PM on Oct. 27. Tony Award-nominated Addams Family composer Andrew Lippa hosts the concert that includes selections from Blood Magic by Ian Williams and Aaron Jafferis; February House by Gabriel Kahane and Seth Bockley; Love Kills by Kyle Jarrow; Next Thing You Know by Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham; Post Office by Melissa James Gibson and Michael Friedman; Saint Ex by Jenny Geiring and Sean Barry; and Snow by Sean Hartley. The writers will perform their own material.
Here's a look at the eight NAMT musicals and their casts:
The Julia Jordan-Adam Gwon musical Bernice Bobs Her Hair features Will Reynolds (Emma), Courtney Stokes, Derrick Trumbly, Kate Wetherhead (Legally Blonde), Brynn O’Malley (Sunday in the Park with George, Wicked), Steven Booth (Glory Days), Josh Breckenridge (The Scottsboro Boys), Olli Haaskivi (The Bardy Bunch), Olivia Oguma (Mamma Mia!), Casey Tuma (Annie) and Demi Fragale. Joe Calarco directs.
Tony nominee Liz Callaway (Baby, Merrily We Roll Along, Miss Saigon) headlines WATT?!? by David Javerbaum and Brendan Millburn. Steve Cosson directs a cast that also includes Ken Marks (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark), Trent Armand Kendall (Bat Boy), Emily Rossell, Pearl Sun (Next to Normal), John Treacy Egan (Sister Act, The Little Mermaid) and Ryan Duncan (Shrek, Altar Boys). David Rossmer and Dan Lipton's pop-rock musical notes to MariAnne features Stephen Bogardus (White Christmas), Santino Fontana (Importance of Being Earnest, Sons of the Prophet), Rachel Stern (Shrek), Will Erat (Catch Me If You Can), Vasthy Mompoint (Mary Poppins), Haley Bond (Saint Ex), Charlie Brady (Saint Ex/The Burnt Part Boys, South Pacific), Megan Lawrence (The Pajama Game, Hair) and Ken Triwush ("The Good Wife"). Jeremy Dobrish directs.
Chris Hoch (La Cage aux Folles), Kate Shindle (Wonderland, Legally Blonde), Rozi Baker (Mary Poppins, Shrek) and River Alexander (Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson) are part of Dani Gurl, by Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond. Scott Schwartz will direct.
The Dogs of Pripyat, by Leah Napolin, Aron Accurso and Jill Abramovitz, includes Tony nominee Kerry Butler (Catch Me If You Can, Xanadu), Erin Davie (A Little Night Music, Grey Gardens), William Ryall (Anything Goes), Eliseo Roman (In The Heights), Shannon Antalon (Caroline, or Change), Alex Brightman (Glory Days, Wicked), Gwen Hollander (See Rock City, Little Women), Hoch (La Cage) and Shindle (Wonderland). Peter Flynn directs.
The Joe Iconis rock musical Bloodsong of Love, directed by John Simpkins, has lined up Heath Calvert (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Rebecca Naomi Jones (American Idiot, Passing Strange), Carrie Cimma (Lizzie Borden), Jeremy Morse (Bloodsong of Love), Lance Rubin and Jason ‘SweetTooth’ Williams.
Kyle Dean Massey (Next to Normal, Lucky Guy), Joanna Glushak (Spring Awakening), Ken Cavett (SCKBSTD), Spencer Moses ("Boardwalk Empire") and Anika Larsen (Xanadu) will be part of the Peter Mills-Cara Reichel musical Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge. The presentation reunites cast members and musicians from the original New York production of the blue-grass musical, including Dan Sharkey, Matthew Dure, Michael Rosengarten, Dennis Michael Keefe and Melody Berger, under the direction of Gordon Greenberg.
Pregnancy Pact, by Gordon Leary and Julia Meinwald, features Stephanie Umoh (Ragtime), Phoebe Strole (Spring Awakening), Emma Hunton (Spring Awakening), Emily Walton (August: Osage County), Robi Hager (Spring Awakening), Krystina Alabado (American Idiot) and Ally Bonino. Mark Brokaw directs.
Musicals previously presented in NAMT's Festival of New Musicals include Vanities, Ordinary Days, Dangerous Beauty, Emma, The Gypsy King, The Story of My Life, Tinyard Hill, The Drowsy Chaperone, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Children of Eden, I Love You Because, Songs for A New World, Striking 12, Summer of '42, Ace, Children of Eden, Harold and Maude, Honk! and Meet John Doe.
New World Stages is located at 340 West 50th Street. A limited number of tickets will be made available to the public for free on a standby basis. Visit www.namt.org.
