900+ Producers & Presenters Anticipated to Attend Festival at New World Stages following NAMT Fall Conference.
October 23-24, 2025
The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) has revealed the roster of new musicals for their 37th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which is slated to take place on Thursday, October 23 and Friday, October 24, 2025, at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).
Betsy King Militello, Executive Director of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, stated, “Each year, the Festival of New Musicals reflects where our field is headed, and the 2025 cohort offers a thrilling glimpse into the future. These eight extraordinary shows and their brilliant creative teams are driving musical theatre forward today with a powerful blend of provocative ambition, innovative craft and profound heart. We’re proud to welcome these exceptional writers into our growing network of artists, producers and champions across the globe. Last year, we saw record-breaking attendance, and we expect this year to surpass even that—showing just how hungry the industry remains for new voices and powerful storytelling.”
Registration for industry members is now open at www.namt.org/festival. All industry members must select a professional affiliation (e.g. NAMT, the Broadway League, TCG, many more) to register. Industry members may upgrade their Festival passes for priority admission and access to supplemental events, including the Festival Closing Night Party, through a donation to NAMT. Free Industry Standby passes are available to industry members only and may provide seating at Festival presentations on a first come, first served basis as available after all other passholders have entered. The general public may also receive passes to the Festival through a donation to NAMT.
Now in its 37th year, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is an industry-only professional development event offering the chance to discover eight new musicals presented in 45-minute concert presentations over two days to hundreds of producers, presenters, artistic & executive directors, investors, donors, developers and creative administrators in Regional Theatre, Broadway, Music, Film & TV from all around the globe. As a non-profit organization, NAMT funds the Festival entirely through donations, sponsorships and contributions which underwrite all production costs.
The FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which was created to celebrate the new musicals that were being produced and presented around the country, has introduced musical theatre producers to 300 musicals and 575 writers from around the world. More than 85% have gone on to subsequent readings, workshops, productions and tours; been licensed; and/or recorded on cast albums as a direct result of the Festival. Past Festival shows include Come From Away, Lempicka, The Drowsy Chaperone, Lizard Boy, Teeth, Gun & Powder, King of Pangea, Benny & Joon, Darling Grenadine, Ordinary Days, It Shoulda Been You and Thoroughly Modern Millie, among many others.
FESTIVAL MUSICALS
This year, a committee of 23 theatre professionals selected eight new musicals out of 537 submissions. The musicals chosen for 37th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS are:
Alice Bliss (Book by Karen Hartman, Music by Jenny Giering, Lyrics by Adam Gwon, Based on Laura Harrington’s novel); FINN (Created by Chris Nee, Michael Kooman & Chris Dimond, Book and Lyrics by Chris Dimond & Chris Nee, Music by Michael Kooman); The King of Harlem (Book, Music & Lyrics by John-Michael Lyles & David Gomez); Love Is Dead (Book & Music by Brett Ryback, Book & Lyrics by Jeff Luppino-Esposito); PARTICLE (Book by Selda Sahin, Autumn Reeser & Derek Gregor, Music by Derek Gregor, Lyrics by Selda Sahin); ROJA (Book, Music & Lyrics by Jaime Lozano & Tommy Newman); Soft Magical Tofu Boy(s) (Book, Music & Lyrics by Kevin Wong); Wakeman (Book, Music & Lyrics by Jenn Grinels).
Creative Teams and casting for each musical, as well as further Festival programming details will be announced soon.
FINALISTS
20 musicals were selected as finalists for the 37th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS This season’s finalists also included:
Black Girl in Paris (Book & Lyrics by AriDy Nox, Music by Jacinth Greywoode); Black-Eyed Susan (Book, Music & Lyrics by Matthew McCollum, Book by Crystal Skillman); COAL (Book, Music & Lyrics by Nicholas Connors); Gravity: A New(tonian) Musical (Book by Jessia Hoffman, Lyrics by Weston Gaylord, Music by Joel Chapman & Matt Herrero, Dramaturgy/Story by Ken Savage); HALF MAN || HALF BULL (Written and Created by Phil Grainger, Oliver Tilney & Alexander Wright); Next Year in Connecticut! (Book & Lyrics by Sarah Rossman, Music by Sequoia Sellinger); Sunwatcher (Music by Tidtaya Sinutoke, Book & Lyrics by Isabella Dawis); The Carol of the Bells (Book, Music & Lyrics by Nevada Lozano); The Dark Lady (Music by Veronica Mansour, Book & Lyrics by Sophie Boyce); The Mountain Digby (Book & Lyrics by Cassie Ahiers, Anthony Lombard, John Lombard, Alex Kliner, Music by Brad Kemp); The Ramayan, A Trilogy of Concept Records (Book, Music & Lyrics by Manik Choksi); WIDOWS (Music & Lyrics by Kira Stone, Book by Matthew Greene).
FESTIVAL COMMITTEE
The 37th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is overseen by NAMT New Works Director Frankie Dailey. The Festival leadership team also includes Festival Producers Skye Cone Ivey, Joey Monda and Greg Kamp. The Festival Casting Director is Michael Cassara, CSA.
The 2025 Festival Committee is co-chaired by Matt Morrow of Center Repertory Company (CA) and Kathleen Wrinn of Syracuse University (NY) with Chair Emerita Sharon Fallon of Sharon Fallon Productions, Inc. (NY). The 2025 Festival Committee members include:
Elissa Adams, Theater Latté Da (MN); Michael Baxter, The Muny (MO); Dev Bondarin, Prospect Musicals (NY); Fred Carl, NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (NY); Anika Chapin, Signature Theatre (VA); Maggie-Kate Coleman, Director, Dramaturg, Writer (NY); Sonia Desai, Center Theatre Group (CA); Rick Edinger, Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama (PA); Michael Fling, Goodspeed Musicals (CT); Pablo Hernandez Basulto, The Public Theater (NY); Branden Huldeen, Barrington Stage Company (MA); Adam Immerwahr, Village Theatre (WA); Kian Kline-Chilton, Diversionary Theatre (CA); Tom Morrissey, Theatre Now New York (NY); Alexander Tom, Montclair State University (NJ); Liz Ulmer, Sony Music Publishing (NY); Emily Wells, Human Race Theatre Company (OH); Neen Williams-Teramachi, Independent Producer (WA); Samantha Estrella (Alumni Emerging Artist Programs Representative, Fest ‘23); and EllaRose Chary (Alumni Writer Representative, Fest ’21).
ABOUT NAMT
The National Alliance for Musical Theatre, founded in 1985, is a not-for-profit organization serving the musical theatre community. Its mission is to be a catalyst for nurturing musical theatre development, production, innovation and collaboration. Their 140 organizational members and 60 individual members, located throughout 31 states and six countries abroad, are some of the leading producers of musical theatre in the world and include theatres, presenting organizations, higher education programs and individual producers. In 2024, NAMT reached $1 million in awards to member organizations through NAMT granting programs including the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals and the Impact & Exploration Fund. Among the 300 musicals launched by NAMT’s Annual Festival of New Musicals are Come From Away, Lempicka, The Drowsy Chaperone, Lizard Boy, Teeth, Gun & Powder, King of Pangea, Benny & Joon, Darling Grenadine, Ordinary Days, It Shoulda Been You and Thoroughly Modern Millie, among many others, representing 575 writers. This year, 104 students from 27 states participated in the Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge for High School Students, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with NAMT. Discover more at namt.org.
NAMT thanks the following foundations, government agencies and organizations for their ongoing support of our programs: The Marleen and Kenny Alhadeff Charitable Fund, ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund, The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, BMI Foundation, Wendy Gillespie (Capdevilla Gillespie Foundation), The Giving Bee Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Hollywood Pantages, Lucille Lortel Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Ted Snowdon Foundation, and Anonymous donors.