 
The 21st annual Festival of New Musicals was held in New York City on Monday, October 19 and Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street) for a select audience of NAMT members, producers and other musical theatre industry professionals.
NAMT’s Festival is the premiere industry event, which brings together theatre industry leaders to discover eight new musicals in 45-minute staged readings. According to American Theatre Magazine, “It’s an industry-only event, and it happens for only two days, but it makes a major impact in the world of musical theatre.”
 BAND GEEKS!
Book by Tommy Newman and Gordon Greenberg
Lyrics by Gaby Alter and Tommy Newman
Music by Mark Allen, Gaby Alter and Tommy Newman
Concept by Tommy Newman
Band Geeks! is a high-stepping tribute to high school marching bands and misfits everywhere. With just nine members and dwindling funds, the Cuyahoga High Marching Beavers are close to extinction. When a troubled athlete is relegated to their ranks, Elliott, the tuba-playing band captain and Laura, his best friend, must find a way to unite the band, overcome their pride and embrace their inner geek.
 FACTORY GIRLS
By Creighton Irons and Sean Mahoney
At the dawn of the American Industrial Revolution in 1844, Sarah Bagley leaves her New Hampshire farm to work, socialize, and write with thousands of young women in the growing textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts. When conditions deteriorate, Sarah risks everything they have gained to fight the “soulless corporation.”
 HOSTAGE SONG
Book by Clay McLeod Chapman
Music and Lyrics by Kyle Jarrow
Bound and blindfolded in a war-torn country, two hostages take refuge in music, memory and each other in this new indie-rock musical. But the further into their fantasy world the two of them reach, the more the space between reality and escape blurs.
 HOW CAN YOU RUN WITH A SHELL ON YOUR BACK?
By Michael Mahler and Alan Schmuckler
After-school detention becomes an adventure when a stranger shows six students the power of a good story. The Tortoise and the Hare, The Ant and the Grasshopper, Androcles and the Lion… Aesop's timeless fables take an entertaining turn in this new musical that reveals universal truths through simple, appealing, age-old allegories.
 IRON CURTAIN
Book by Susan DiLallo
Music by Stephen Weiner
Lyrics by Peter Mills
New York, 1954: madcap farce about two hapless songwriters kidnapped by the KGB, brought to Moscow, and forced to “fix” a Communist Propaganda musical. Filled with divas and dominatrixes, secrets and spies, mishaps and misdirects as our heroes desperately try to get back home.
 IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU
Book and Lyrics by Brian Hargrove
Music by Barbara Anselmi
Additional Lyrics by Jill Abramovitz, Carla Rose Arnone, Michael Cooper, Ernie Lijoi and Will Randall
In a world where nothing is what it seems - religions collide, plots are hatched, pacts are made, and secrets exposed - hope is found when you least expect it. Is it Iran? Is it Iraq? No, it’s just the Steinberg Wedding. Come see the truth unveiled.
 MEMORY IS THE MOTHER OF ALL WISDOM
Book and Lyrics by Sara Cooper
Music by Zach Redler
A two-person comic tragedy about the troubled relationship of a woman who has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and her estranged daughter who moves back home to take care of her.
 RIPPER
By Duane Nelsen
In this Victorian thriller, the PennyWise Music Hall is home to an illusionist who saws women in half while real murders are taking place on the streets outside. Reporter Chester Talbot sets out to unravel the story, but what he sees may not be what it seems.
Final Casting and Directors Press Release - 10/12/09 (PDF)
Festival Announcement Press Release - 6/29/09 (PDF)
If you are interested in finding out more information about these shows, please contact info@namt.org.
The Festival of New Musicals is supported in part by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
We are very pleased to thank the following sponsors of the 21st Annual Festival of New Musicals. For information on becoming a sponsor, please visit the Sponsorship section of our website.
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
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