I just got back from two weekends of catching great Festival shows. First I was in Seattle to catch Vanities a new musical (Fest ’06) at The 5th Avenue and Iron Curtain (Fest ’09) at The Village Theatre. Then this past weekend I swung down to see Liberty Smith (Fest ’00) at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. All three productions were fantastic, inspiring and very worthy of future productions.
The Festival is just the first step in the process of getting great new musicals out into the field. The next steps rely on theatres seeing each other’s work, sharing work and spreading great musicals around the country. I know the economy is still rough but when you set your next budget, try to find money to include some travel for your key staff to see other work around the NAMT membership and maybe even find a little more to help host a NAMT member at your theatre during your next great project. No one wants a new musical to only have one production, and that can change with you taking one quick trip to a fellow NAMT member to see their great work!