17th Annual Festival of New Musicals
2005

Overview
September 25 - 26
Dodger Stages 340 W 50th Street, New York, NY
The 17th Annual Festival of New Musicals was held in New York City at Dodger Stages, 340 W. 50th Street on Sunday, September 25 and Monday, September 26, 2005 for an invited audience of NAMT members and other theatre industry professionals.
Musicals
Ace
Director
Steven Minning
Music Director
David Kreppel
Cast
Jeff Binder, Scott Coulter, Struan Erlenborn, Tristan Gaebler, Lisa Howard, Cheyenne Jackson, Molly Kallins, Adam Monley, Christiane Noll, Joe Ricci and Tally Sessions
Genre & Style:
Synopsis
In Saint Louis, in 1952, a troubled 10 year-old boy named Billy Lucas receives the gift of a model airplane from his foster parents. The plane unlocks a door to a mystical world of dreams and visitations. With an “Ace” fighter pilot as his guide, Billy embarks on a series of heroic and haunting World War I and World War II adventures, revealing his own true identity, the secrets of his past, and the key to his future. Mixing humor and heart, this musical chronicles the tragedy and transcendence of three generations of an American family.
Princess Caraboo (fka Caraboo, Princess Of Javasu)
Director
Will Frears
Music Director
John Semorian
Cast
Alexandra Carlson, Kerri Jill Garbis, Celia Keenan Bolger, Andrew Lippa, Steven Pasquale, Richard Silverstein, Robin Skye, Price Waldman, Sally Wilfert and Michael Winther
Synopsis
Mary Baker didn’t want to be a maid. But it was 1817 in England, and she was nobody, so what choice did she have? Go to America. And that journey is where we find her, on the dock in Bristol – she’s put on a turban and is speaking a made up language. She soon attracts the attention of a smooth talking Irishman who “translates” for her, and an American patron. Mary Baker realizes they want a princess, and she becomes one, Princess Caraboo. Based on a true story, Mary Baker manages to fool the scientists who are sent to examine her, and convince the nobles who gather to celebrate her. It’s about a girl who didn’t want to stay where she was put, in her place, in her time. It’s about a girl who wanted more. And got it.
The Funkentine Rapture
Director
Lee Summers
Cast
Shango Amin, Adrian Bailey, Shoshana Bean, Aisha DeHass, Cary Gant, Dion Graham, Montalbon Paulo, Billy Porter, Anika Noni Rose, Lawrence Stallings, Joy Styles, Marty Thomas, Jeffery Thompson, Richard Vida and Lillias White
Genre & Style:
Synopsis
The soaring ’70s. Platform shoes, skyhigh ‘fros, and a beat to take you even higher. When an aspiring funkmaster reaches for the stars, he’s caught in an uproarious battle between good and evil, funk and disco, Kentucky fried and Harlem’s catfish surprise. Can he win the girl, gain the gig, and rescue the recipe from heinous hands?
I Love You Because
Cast
Farah Alvin, David Austin, Matt Castle, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Colin Hanlon and Daniel Kutner
Genre & Style:
Synopsis
Set in New York City, I Love You Because follows Austin Bennet, a young greeting card writer whose life is turned upside down when he finds his girlfriend in bed with another man. Forced back out into the treacherous New York dating scene, Austin meets Marcy, whose spontaneity is matched only by her ability to drive him insane. A comedy that explores the rules and nuances of dating because sometimes love is learning how to love someone, not in spite of their differences, but because of them.
A Little Princess
Director
Susan Schulman
Cast
Sean Attebury, Ken Barnett, Will Chase, Maya Days, Katherine Doherty, Melissa Dye, Jill Geddes, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Sarah Hyland, Macy Ladner, Mackenzie Mauzy, Julia Murney, Jesse Nager, Sophie Oda, Dennis Stowe and Tracy Walsh
Genre & Style:
Synopsis
A Little Princess is the story of a little girl with a great big imagination. Separated from her father and the open-hearted Africans who have helped him raise her, young Sara Crewe is sent to boarding school in London. When things go badly for her there, her imaginative powers come to the rescue helping to transform a drab institution into a place of magic and mystery. As the girl wins the affection of the other boarders she draws the ire of Miss Minchin, the dour headmistress; Sara is made a servant to the institution when her father is reported dead, and his fortune seized. Sara counters all Miss Minchin’s best efforts to degrade her with the grace and virtue of a little princess.
Meet John Doe
Director
Joe Calarco
Cast
Donna-Lynne Champlin, Victoire Charles, Jed Cohen, Ron DeStefano, Brooke Ferris, Melissa Hart, Danette Holden, Dennis Holland, Amy Justman, Mary Jo McConnell, Guy Paul, Peter Roman, Michael Rupert, Mark Sanders, Graham Stevens and Greg Stone
Genre & Style:
Synopsis
Based on the classic Frank Capra film, this jazz-driven show tells the story of greed, lies, ideals and a media battle for the heart of the American people. When newspaper reporter Ann Mitchell loses her job at the height of the Great Depression, she uses her last column to print a phony letter from a “John Doe” who plans to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge to protest the state of the society. Ann never imagines her prank will spark a nationwide movement, leaving her and the country, forever changed.
Party Come Here
Director
Lonny Price
Music Director
Vadim Feichtner
Cast
Fyvush Finkel, Hunter Foster, Marcy Harriell, Megan Hilty, Kaitlin Hopkins and Terrence Mann
Genre & Style:
Synopsis
A nervous groom, a statue of Christ, and a 500-year-old Jewish caveman converge to make miracles happen during a tropical storm on one magical night in Rio. Part farce, part fable, Party Come Here tells the story of a collision of cultures as tantalizing as the sexiest city in the world. Mistaken identity, spirituality, hope, family, sex – all set to irresistible Latin rhythms. From the author of Modern Orthodox and the composer of Summer of ’42, this is an outrageous, original, outlandish, oddball, optimistic, ohmigod, one-of-a-kind show.
River's End
Director
Lee Sankowich
Music Director
Jana Zielonka
Cast
Matt Farnsworth, Morgan James, Jodie Langel, Scott Mikita and Phyllis Sommerville
Synopsis
River’s End is based on the true story of Glen and Bessie Hyde, a daredevil couple who vanished on their honeymoon to the Grand Canyon in 1928, while attempting to run the entire length of the Colorado River in a boat they built themselves. River’s End weaves together two completely different scenarios of what might have happened to the couple, with two pairs of actors playing Glen and Bessie Hyde.
Songwriters Showcase
THE COSMOPOLITAN by Lance Horne, Lorin Latarro and Josh Rhodes
LOVE JERRY by Megan Gogerty
PIECE by Scott Alan and Tara Smith
SPRING AWAKENING by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik
THE UNAUTHORIZED AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SAMANTHA BROWN by Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk
VANISHING POINT by Liv Cummins and Rob Hartmann
Writers & Artists
Cheryl Coons
Book & Lyrics, River's End
Cheryl Coons is the Chicago Regional Representative for the Dramatists Guild. She has written lyrics and/or book for more than a dozen original musicals, including River’s End (ASCAP Foundation Harold Arlen Musical Theatre Award, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, Theatre for the American Musical Award), At Wit’s End (Carbonell Award), Sylvia’s Real Good Advice (Joseph Jefferson Award), Female Problems (After Dark Award), and Phantom of the Country Opera, published by Music Theater International. Her work has appeared on the stages of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Northlight Theatre, the Marriott Theatre at Lincolnshire, Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, Florida Stage and Marin Theatre Company. Her original musicals have been developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Music Theater Conference, and she is a two-time participant in the ASCAP workshops in Los Angeles and Chicago. She has had two projects featured in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s annual Festival of New Musicals, and her musical River’s End was a featured selection at the New York Music Theatre Festival, where it was honored with the Theatre for the American Musical Award. Cheryl appeared at Carnegie Hall, singing her original songs in an evening sponsored by ASCAP and hosted by Michael Feinstein. She has served as an animateur for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Chicago Voices program, a mentor/instructor for the Writing the Musical Class at Northwestern University, and an instructor of musical theatre writing at Columbia College Chicago. She designed and taught a curriculum for musical theatre writing for Chicago Dramatists, where she has been a Resident Playwright since 2008, as well as a series of musical theatre writing and appreciation classes and for Porchlight Music Theatre. She is a Program Manager and Teaching Artist with Storycatchers Theatre, working with incarcerated youth at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center.
Ryan Cunningham
Book & Lyrics, I Love You Because
Ryan Cunningham is a Jonathan Larson Award winner, a two-time MAC Award nominee for Best Song, and a Drama Desk nominee for Outstanding Lyrics. His two musicals with Joshua Salzman, I Love You Because and Next Thing You Know, have been produced in New York and London and have been translated into six languages and mounted around the world. Their new musical, The Legend of New York, has been workshopped at Millikin University, NYU and Northwestern. With Charles Antin, he has written the plays Half-Married and Television’s Greatest Playwright. As an advertising creative director he has worked on the campaigns for some of Broadway’s biggest hits including Wicked, Jersey Boys and Matilda. He lives in Chicago with his wife and son.
Andrew Gerle
Book & Music, Meet John Doe
Composer, playwright and pianist Andrew Gerle won the 2012 Kleban Award for outstanding librettist for his show GLORYANA, which also won a 2011 Richard Rodgers Award. He has also won three other Rodgers Awards for THE TUTOR (book and lyrics by Maryrose Wood). With lyricist Eddie Sugarman, he won a Jonathan Larson Award for their show, MEET JOHN DOE (NAMT 2005, cast album on Broadway Records), and he received the first Burton Lane Fellowship for Young Composers from the Theater Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. As a musical director, he has worked on dozens of Off-Broadway, regional and touring productions, and was heard as the “hands” of Coalhouse Walker, Jr., in the recent Tony Award-winning revival of Ragtime. He is the author of The Enraged Accompanist’s Guide to the Perfect Audition, and is on the faculty of Yale University, where he teaches musical theater performance and songwriting.
Jenny Giering
Music, Princess Caraboo (fka Caraboo, Princess Of Javasu)
Jenny Giering’s current musical commissions include Summerland (book by Sean Barry & Laura Eason, lyrics by Sean Barry, directed by Amanda Dehnert) for Chicago Shakespeare Theater; and Alice Bliss (book by Laura Harrington, lyrics by Adam Gwon, directed by Mark Brokaw) for Playwrights Horizons. Her other scores include The Mistress Cycle (produced at Apple Tree Theater, New York Musical Theater Festival); Crossing Brooklyn (commissioned and produced by The Boston Music Theater Project, also produced by The Transport Group; Kleban Award for best libretto); Alice Unwrapped (commissioned by Premieres, Inc. and produced at the Zipper Theater with Jennifer Damiano); Saint-Ex (2011 World Premiere at The Weston Playhouse Theater Company, Weston VT, Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, ASCAP/Dreamworks Musical Theater Workshop, Sundance’s White Oak Workshop). Her incidental scores include The Tempest (Shakespeare Theater, directed by Ethan McSweeney), As You Like It (Chicago Shakespeare Theater, directed by Gary Griffin). More info at: www.jennygiering.com
Richard Oberacker
Book & Lyrics & Music, Ace
Richard Oberacker is currently the conductor of Cirque Du Soleil’s Ka in Las Vegas. His musicals as composer and co-author include The Gospel According to Fishman (Signature Theatre), Dracula (Cincinnati Conservatory), In That Valley (NAMT Fest ‘99), Journey to the West (NYMF), Ace (NAMT Fest ‘05, The Old Globe, Cincinnati Playhouse, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Signature Theatre) and The Parenting Project (Cincinnati Fringe Festival, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati). Theater scores include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peter Pan and The Trojan Women, as well as new works for the Nevada Ballet Theatre.
Joshua Salzman
Music, I Love You Because
Joshua Salzman is a Jonathan Larson Award winner and a two-time MAC Award nominee for Best Song. His two musicals with Ryan Cunningham, I Love You Because and Next Thing You Know, have been produced in New York and London and have been translated into six languages and mounted around the world. Their new musical, The Legend of New York, has been workshopped at Millikin University, NYU and Northwestern. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two daughters.
Lee Summers
Book & Director & Lyrics & Music, The Funkentine Rapture
Lee Summers has directed productions regionally and in numerous New York venues, most recently On Kentucky Avenue at CUNY’s Aaron Davis Hall (2018). As a writer/composer, his works include Ella, First Lady of Song, conceived and directed by Maurice Hines starring Freda Payne (Delaware Theatre 2018); The Bayard Rustin Musical, songs recently premiered at Lincoln Center; conceiver/co-librettist/co-composer-lyricist/lead producer of Off-Broadway’s From My Hometown (8 AUDELCO Nominations); co-librettist/lyricist/composer, The Funkentine Rapture, for NAMT starring Billy Porter; lyricist/librettist for Pangaea, 2017 Bingham Theatre Competition winner/ Marymount production, 2018. His Broadway debut was in the Original Dreamgirls, reprising for the 20th Anniversary performance/recording with Audra McDonald and others. TV and film roles include ”Blue Bloods,” “Boardwalk Empire” and “Malcolm X.” Summers, former adjunct professor for Motlow College, presently works at NRDC. He is an alum of Tennessee State University, BA from SUNY/ESC and MFA from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts.
Robert Taylor
Book & Lyrics, Ace
Robert Taylor is a graduate of Holland’s Royal Conservatory, Union College, the University of Bonn and Princeton. He has taught foreign languages and ornithology in New York, English and music in China, served as music critic for the Albany Times Union, founded and directed several non-profits, worked as a freelance musician and writer in Manhattan and a translator in Europe and Asia. As lyricist and co-author, his musicals include Ace (NAMT Fest ‘05, Cincinnati Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, The Old Globe, Signature Theatre), Journey to the West (NYMF) and The Parenting Project (Cincinnati Fringe Festival, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati).