Running through July 15, the O'Neill annually develops a handful of new musicals, with professional actors, directors, and music directors, which are then presented to the public in a series of performances on the Waterford, CT, campus.
Here's a look at the new musicals:
Unknown Soldier by Michael Friedman (composer and lyricist), Daniel Goldstein (lyricist and librettist) June 25, 26, 29 and July 1. Featuring Whitney Bashor, Erik Lochtefeld, Lindsay Mendez, Catherine Porter, Matthew Scott and Price Waldman. Laura Eason directs.
"In the romantic Unknown Soldier, a timeless search for lost love crosses two generations: Lucie Rabinowitz searches for the truth hidden in her grandmother Lucy's past while 80 year earlier Lucy searches for the love she thought stolen by the horrors of The Great War. The searches lead both women to the same lost young man, a fragile unknown soldier. This intimate musical examines the past and our memory, what we choose to forget and what we can't help remembering."
Son of a Gun by Don Chaffer (composer, lyricist and librettist) and Chris Cragin (librettist) July 2, 3, 6 and 8. Featuring Billy Brimblecom, Michael Castillejos, David Finch, Lori Fischer, Rebecca Hart, Van Hughes, Ryan Link and Skye Scott. Gabriel Barre directs. "Danderhauler Agamemnon Khrusty finally admits to himself and his girlfriend, Lucy that he is going to quit the family band. The confession proves untimely when the next day their father and band leader is diagnosed with aggressive tongue cancer, leaving Dan the responsibility of carrying on the family legacy. Packed with dueling cowboys, flaming vans, seduction, and one angelic host, Son of a Gun is a darkly comic bluegrass rock musical that tells the tale of this wildly eccentric Appalachian family."
The Shadow Sparrow by Keith Gordon (composer), Charlie Sohne (lyricist) and Anton Dudley (librettist) July 7, 10 and 14. Featuring Danny Binstock and Barbara Walsh. Joe Calarco directs.
"A woman in search of fame; a man in search of the mother he never knew; among the graves of Paris' famed Pére LaChaise Cemetery, each will discover their destiny. The Shadow Sparrow is a cabaret musical that reveals that sometimes those things we chase beyond ourselves may actually be found within."
Suprema by Daniel Zaitchik (composer and lyricist) and Jordan Harrison (lyricist and librettist) July 9, 10, 13 and 15. Featuring Heath Calvert, Jarrod Emick, Jamey Hood, Carl Kimbrough, Theresa McCarthy, Rachel Resheff, Price Waldman and Kate Wetherhead. May Adrales directs.
"What if you could hear the difference between a truth and a lie? What would it do to your home life? Suprema is a strange-but-true three-way love story about the creator of both Wonder Woman and the lie-detector test, and the two real women who inspired him."
In addition, Passing Strange musical collaborator Heidi Rodewald and librettist Donna DiNovelli (Little House on the Prairie) will be writers in residence this summer as they work on a new 1960's set musical Against You, freely based on Sophocles' Antigone.
Tickets are now on sale for this year's summer conferences, including the National Music Theater Conference, National Playwrights Conference public staged readings July 6-30 and Cabaret & Performance Conference presentations Aug. 3-13.
Phone (860) 443-1238 or visit www.theoneill.org.
The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center was founded in 1964 and is based in Waterford, CT. Programs at the Center include the Puppetry Conference, Playwrights Conference, Critics Institute, Music Theater Conference and the National Theater Institute. The Monte Cristo Cottage, O'Neill's childhood home, is also owned and operated by the group.
