Betsy King Militello serves as executive director of NAMT, which presents the 23rd annual Festival of New Musicals Oct. 27-28 at New World Stages. Eight new musicals in development will be highlighted during the event.
The Julia Jordan-Adam Gwon musical Bernice Bobs Her Hair will feature 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!) and Casey Tuma (Annie). Joe Calarco will direct.
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.
Chris Hoch (La Cage aux Folles), Kate Shindle (Wonderland, Legally Blonde), Rozi Baker (Mary Poppins, Shrek) and River Alexander (Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson) will be 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, will feature Erin Davie (A Little Night Music, Grey Gardens), William Ryall (Anything Goes), Eliseo Roman (In The Heights), Shannon Antalon (Caroline, or Change), Kerry Butler (Catch Me If You Can, Xanadu), Alex Brightman (Glory Days, Wicked), as well as Hoch (La Cage) and Shindle (Wonderland). Peter Flynn will direct. 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 will reunite 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.
David Rossmer and Dan Lipton's pop-rock musical notes to MariAnne will feature 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) and Ken Triwush ("The Good Wife"). Jeremy Dobrish will direct.
Pregnancy Pact, by Gordon Leary and Julia Meinwald, will feature 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 will direct.
Liz Callaway (Baby, Merrily We Roll Along, Miss Saigon) will headline 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 and Pearl Sun (Next to Normal).
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. Registration for industry members is free and now open through Oct. 23 at www.namt.org.
