Back to the 11th Annual Festival of New Musicals

Summer Of '42

1999 Festival

For More Information Contact

Dramatists Play Service


Number of Acts: 2
Number of Principals (Male): 5
Number of Principals (Female): 4
Total Cast Size: 9
Orchestra Breakdown:

2 keyboards, reeds, percussion

Genre & Style:


Search Set & Costume Registry


Synopsis

This new musical explores the exhilaration and pain of first love. Hermie (age 15) and his friends spend the summer of 1942 together on a New England island, where Hermie meets Dorothy, a young bride whose husband has been shipped off to serve in the war. Although he tries to ignore his feelings for her by dating other girls, Hermie falls for Dorothy, a love she cannot return. However, when Dorothy’s husband is killed in battle, she fills the void briefly with Hermie’s affection. By summer’s end, however, they all must go their own way, and Hermie’s first love becomes nothing but a memory.

Festival Successes

Off Broadway at Variety Arts Theater, York Theater Company (NY).  Many regional productions. York Concert Recording on Jay Records. Nominated for a 2001 Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Best Off Broadway Musical. Licensed by Dramatists Play Service.