Curtain Goes Up Again for NY Musical Theatre Festival

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Parent Category: Other Festivals

Category: Theater

Published on Tuesday, 20 September 2011 05:00

Written by L E Shannon

The 8th annual New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) 2011 is taking place September 26 - October 16, 2011 at several venues in Manhattan, New York City.

New York Musical Theatre Festival is the largest annual musical theatre event in America and is widely regarded as the essential source for new material and talent discovery. NYMF provides a launching pad for the next generation of musicals and their creators to ensure the continued vitality of one of America's greatest art forms.

Only 30 new musicals are selected to perform during the three-week festival, so one can be sure they are among the very best. Some of them are:

Date of a Lifetime
Book and Lyrics by Carl Kissin
Music by Robert Baumgartner Jr.
Directed by Jeremy Dobrish
With Farah Alvin, Jamie LaVerdiere
During a speed date, both parties fantasize about what life might be like with that person.

This piece began as a 3-minute monologue and is now a full-length musical comedy. It is currently 25 times longer than when it began.  At this rate, by next year it will have a running time of approximately 31 hours.

The Big Bank
Presented by The Seligmann Brothers
Directed By David Glenn Armstrong
With Klea Blackhurst, Carly Rose Sonenclar, Stacey Todd Holt
This musical about foreclosure was originally written 16 years ago, more on a dare than anything else. Today it can be the musical of our time.

Central Avenue Breakdown
by Kevin Ray and Josh Sohn
Directed by Christopher Windom
With Albert Christmas, Rodrick Covington, Jennie L. Harney, Josh Tower, Rebecca LaChance
A wonderful tale of two brothers during the LA Jazz Renaissance trying to make a name for themselves.

The Brain That Wouldn't Die! In 3D!!!
Book and Lyrics by T. Sivak and E. Gelman
Music by T. Sivak
Directed by Tim Drucker
With Stephen R. Buntrock, Kathy Voytko, Jamie Jackson, Brian Charles Rooney, Taryn Darr, Liz Baltes
It’s 1961 and Dr. Dick Cuttingham will go to any lengths to further science -- even Murder!

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, A Musical
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Lindsay Warren Baker and Amanda Jacobs
Directed by Igor Goldin
With Jacque Carnahan, Darren Bluestone, Doug Carpenter, Patricia Noonan, Donna Lynne Champlin
Another take on the timeless English classic, again with music.

Madame X - The Musical
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Gerard Alessandrini and Robert Hetzel
Directed by Gerard Alessandrini
A take on Douglas Sirk films and the ever-durable genre of the altruistic, self sacrificing mother.

The Kid Who Would Be Pope
Book, Music and Lyrics by Tom Megan and Jack Megan
Directed by Gabriel Barre
With Eric Anderson, Kyle Brenn, Leah Greenhaus, Matthew Gumley
A charming musical comedy about first loves, youthful obsession, and the search for miracles.

Outlaws: The Ballad of Billy the Kid
Book by Perry Liu, Joe Calarco and Alastair William King
Music by Alastair William King and Perry Liu
Lyrics by Perry Liu
Conceived by Alastair William King and Perry Liu
Directed and Choreographed by Jenn Rapp
With Corey Boardman, Isabel Santiago, David Murgittroyd, Justin Gregory Lopez, Travis McClung
The saga one of the Wild West’s most infamous outlaws, set to an edgy rock score.

Special Events:

Ms. Se Jung Kook and her collaborators bring together Eastern and Western song forms performed on the electone – an unusual triple-keyboard digital instrument capable of mimicking an entire orchestra!

Blanche: The Bittersweet Life of a Wild Prairie Dame
Book and Lyrics by Onalea Gilbertson
Music by Onalea Gilbertson, Jonathan Lewis and Morag Northey
Directed by Rachel Avery
With Onalea Gilbertson
An oral history set to music of a 93-year-old woman who survived the Great Depression, the Second World War and tragic lost love.

Gatsby: The Songs in Concert
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Music by Lee Pockriss
Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh
Directed by Ben West
With Matt Cavenaugh, Autumn Hurlbert, Jenny Powers, Megan Sikora, Max von Essen
This world premiere concert of Gatsby features the rich, jazz-infused score written for F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic Roaring '20s novel. The unproduced musical adaptation was announced to open on Broadway in 1970 but never happened.

Tempest Toss'd
Conceived by Sarah Rosenberg and Luis Reyes Cardenas
Adaptation by Sarah Rosenberg
Music and Lyrics by Eric Luke and William Shakespeare
Directed by Sarah Rosenberg
The students of Los Angeles’s PUC schools present a musical adaptation of The Tempest in an interactive adventure that mixes Frankie and Annette-style beach party songs with the Bard’s original text.

The Developmental Series is for works in progress, and one of them is:

Matchmaker Matchmaker I'm Willing To Settle
Book by Kelvin Moon Loh and Nikki MacCallum
Music and Lyrics by Brandon James Gwinn
Directed by Allegra Libonati
"Nikki plunges into the matrix of the world wild web to emerge as a guru of the do’s and don’ts of Internet Dating. Armed with an antiquated guide to matchmaking (passed down from her dear old bubbe) and the enlisted help of three modern day Cyber Yentas (Match.com Guy, JDate Guy and OK Cupid), Nikki shares her "sure-fire" strategy to nab the near impossible: One Good Date.  Although all the dating stories are TRUE, the USERnames have been changed to protect the innocent."

Seminars are:

• High Fidelity or Artistic Liberty: Putting History on Stage – Moderator: Michael A. Kerker (Director of Musical Theatre, ASCAP)
• And The World Goes 'Round: The Globalization of Musical Theatre – Moderator: Peter Filichia (TheaterMania, The Newark Star-Ledger)
• Gay Today: Queer Themes in Contemporary Musicals – Moderator: Mark Blankenship (Editor-in-chief, TDF Stages)

In addition, NYMF again partners with the Paley Center to present a weekend of television musical screenings, which will run in conjunction with the Festival.

Peter Pan (1960)
This was the Broadway production staged and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with music and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and Moose Charlap, and additional music and lyrics by Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It starred Mary Martin in the role -- second only to Nellie in South Pacific -- that she was most noted for; Cyril Ritchard co-starred.

Hallmark Hall of Fame: Peter Pan (1976)
This television adaptation of the J.M. Barrie tale includes music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, and stars Mia Farrow and Danny Kaye. Directed by Dwight Hemion and choreographed by Michael Kidd, and featuring Virginia McKenna, Paula Kelly and John Gielgud.

Cinderella (1957)
The only collaboration for television by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, this 1957 telecast is a bona fide classic. Starring Julie Andrews, with Edie Adams, Kaye Ballard, Alice Ghostley, Ilka Chase, Jon Cypher, Dorothy Stickney and Howard Lindsay. Directed by Ralph Nelson and choreographed by Jonathan Lucas.

Cindy (1978)
This original musical version of Cinderella with songs by Stan Daniels is set in 1943 Harlem. With Charlaine Woodard (in the title role), Clifton Davis (as "Joe Prince"), Mae Mercer, Nell Carter, Alaina Reed and Clevant Derricks. Directed by William A. Graham and choreographed by Donald McKayle.

Since its inception in 2004, The New York Musical Theatre Festival has premiered more than 250 new musicals -- more than 70 of which have gone on to award-winning productions in New York, in regional theaters in almost every state, and in 16 countries worldwide.

This year will no doubt be no different.

For more information go to www.nymf.org.

New York Musical Theatre Festival
September 26 - October 16, 2011

47th Street Theatre
304 W 47th Street
New York City

McGinn/Cazale Theatre
2162 Broadway
New York City

New World Stages
340 W. 50th Street
New York City

Signature Theatre
The Peter Norton Space
555 W 42nd Street
New York City

The Theater at St. Clements
423 W. 46th Street
New York City

TBG Theater
312 W. 36th Street
New York City

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