Musical Mondays Theater Lab, in residence at The Broadway Theater Institute, presents a staged reading of a new musical, Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class, 5 PM and 7 PM Nov. 4.

The new musical with book and lyrics by Kleban Award Winner Charles Leipart and music by Richard B. Evans was part of the Theater Building Chicago Festival of New Musicals last August. The new show was also included in the National Alliance of Musical Theatre's Conference in New York in September.

The show examines conspicuous consumption in 1900s New York and is a play within a play. Set on the stage of Fifth Avenue Vaudeville Theatre in November 1900, the framework of the musical is a discourse by Thorstein Veblen, who was a noted economist of the time. His theories of economics are ultimately disproved by a stage vaudeville troupe. The show's plot revolves around include stock scandals and leveraged buyouts.

The show, written for a cast of nine, will be performed in a shortened version, utilizing a cast of seven that includes Jonathan Ball, Joel Briel, Susan Derry, Steve Geyer, Amy Goldberger, Louisa Flaningam and Steve Sterner in the title role of Thorstein Veblen.

Musical Mondays artistic director, Gwen Arment directs. Musical director is veteran Broadway conductor Jack Lee (Grand Hotel). Song titles include "Greed is Good," "The Social Climbers Rag" and "You Go On."

The two presentations will be at the Broadway Theater Institute's Theater Arts Center, 210 West 50th Street, Second Floor. Admission is $15. For reservations, call (212) 956-5481, ext. 203.

— By Kenneth Jones