The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) is underway, flooding New York City theatres with fresh, new talent that is sure to satisfy even the most finicky of theatregoers.
As NYMF approaches its 200th musical on October 6th, I spoke to Isaac Robert Hurwitz, NYMF's Executive Director and Producer, to get the skinny on how best to navigate the Festival.
Here are the Top 5 reasons to get your NYMF on this year!
#1: NYMF has a little something for everyone.
Whether you are a regular theatre-goer or someone who has never seen a professional show, the Festival is a great place to experiment with lots of different types of musical theatre. Hurwitz explains: “We include things that are more traditional musical theatre in scope but we also include things that are more avant-garde with musical styles that range from traditional Broadway to opera to rock to hip-hop. It’s a real opportunity for people to explore new things and we try to make it as easy as possible for people to see multiple shows in a day or a weekend.”
#2: It’s Musical Theatre “A la carte”
The NYMF website is very easy to navigate and lets you hand-pick elements of a show you're interested in (comedy, drama, political, satire, sci-fi and so on), and then delivers you shows you may be interested in. It's like a mail order spouse service but without the felony charges! (bada bum)
#3: It’s affordable.
Tickets for individual shows are just $20.
#4: You may be witnessing magic in the making!
Shows like [title of show], Next to Normal and Altar Boyz all got their start at NYMF. “Of the 176 shows that have premiered [at NYMF], over 50 of them have gone on to further production in theatres all around the country and around the world," say Hurwitz. "There are a lot of different trajectories for our shows. We create the opportunity for more people to have opportunities. It’s what the festival is all about.”
#5: 200 is the magic number.
As someone who works for a company that just turned 125, I know how important those “round numbers” can be. Hurwitz was happy to boast that the Festival will be debuting its 200th musical on October 6. Three shows—Academy, F#@king Up Everything, and The Happy Embalmer—are in the running to be crowned the “200th NYMF musical” each debuting at 8pm on October 6th. I guess whoever starts closest to curtain wins!
So if in the market for great theatre for the right price, check out a NYMF production. The festival runs through October 18th. Visit www.nymf.org for more info.
