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FROM THE ROAD: A weekend in Connecticut

For the past 4 winters, I have spent a January weekend in Connecticut catching a show at The Spirit of Broadway Theater and attending Goodspeed Musicals’ Festival of New Artists. It is one of my favorite annual excursions to see great new musicals and catch up with members and writers.

I started out my trip with a visit to see The Spirit of Broadway‘s production of the new musical The Boy in the Bathroom by Michael Lluberes and Joe Mahoney. This beautiful and touching production was directed by Brett Bernardini. The three-person show tells the story of a young man who chooses to live locked in the bathroom of his mother’s house while he finishes his dissertation. It is a quirky story rendered wonderfully in this production. The show is running through February 5.

It was then off to Goodspeed‘s 7th Festival of New Artists
in partnership with The Hartt School and Boston Conservatory. This year there were 3 staged readings of new musicals, 2 cabarets and a sneak peek at one of the new musicals Goodspeed will present this season. The readings this year were:
 
Harmony, Kansas by Anna K. Jacobs and Bill Nelson (a past recipient of a NAMT Writers Residency Grant at Barrington Stage Co.)
Not Wanted on the Voyage by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill (the writers of NAMT Fest ’07 show- The Story of My Life)
The Dogs of Pripyat (NAMT Fest ’11) by Jill Abramovitz, Aron Accurso and Leah Napolin.

Also in residency that weekend working on other shows were Jeremy Desmon (NAMT Fest ’04-The Girl in the Frame) and Jeff Thomson, NAMT Fest ’11 (Dani Girl) writers Michael Kooman and Chris Dimond, and the team of Marcy Heisler, Zina Goldrich and Hunter Bell working on The Great American Mousical which was the special sneak peek musical that weekend.

As you can see, there were a whole lot of NAMT connections throughout the weekend with Festival alumni involved throughout. I had seen previous incarnations of all of the shows and was really excited to see all of the great work the writers have done on them. All of the shows have grown so much, and I hope that they all find great futures across the membership.

Post-show evenings were spent in cabarets in which the uber-talented writers listed above would entertain us with other songs from shows they are working on. Goodspeed knows how to pack a weekend with the perfect amount of art, fun, music and cocktails!

I love my January trip to Connecticut each year. I get to chat with members, see work from alumni and other great writers, but, most of all, I get a chance to spend a great weekend immersed in a community of new musicals. Not a bad way to spend a cold winter weekend!

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So Long and Thanks for All the Tweets

The British sci-fi author and humorist Douglas Adams may seem an odd starting point for a National Alliance for Musical Theatre blog post (he never wrote a musical, as far as I know, though this is one of my all time favorite musical numbers ever filmed), but bear with me.  I’m reading The Salmon of Doubt, a posthumously published book of Adams’ miscellaneous writings. He was a technophile and a notorious early adopter, and in an article about how computers use “real world” models for their interfaces, he compares the web to a brochure:

What does a brochure prevent us from doing?

Well, first of all its job is to persuade people to buy what you have to sell, and do it by being as glossy and seductive as possible and only telling people what you want them to know. You can’t interrogate a brochure. Most corporate websites are like that. Take BMW for instance. Its website is gorgeous and whizzy and it won’t answer your questions. It won’t let you find out what other people’s experience of owning BMWs is like, what shortcomings any particular model might or might not have, how reliable they are, what they cost to run, what they’re like in the wet, or anything like that. In other words, anything you might actually want to know. You can email them, but your question or their answer – or anybody else’s answer – will not appear on the site….

Same with British Airways. It’ll tell you anything you like about British Airways flights except who else is flying those routes. So if you want to see what the choice is, you go instead to one of the scores of other sites that will tell you. Which is bad news for British Airways because they never get to find out what you were actually looking for, or how what they were offering stacked up against the competition. And because that is very valuable information they have to send out teams of people with clipboards to try to find out, despite the fact that everybody lies to people with clipboards.

Sounds familiar, right?  Adams wrote this in 1999.  More than a decade later we’re still having a version of this conversation about theatre marketing. Of course, while actual brochures haven’t changed much since the printing press, the web — or at least the technology behind it  —  has changed dramatically in just the last decade. I suspect that’s part of why we still struggle with this. Adams died in 2000 and never knew Twitter or Facebook or Yelp (I suspect he would have loved them), but later in the piece he does cite the still-new Amazon as a place that sells you a product and lets you review it and knows what you searched for but didn’t buy.  That’s worked out pretty well for them!

Social media has made it easier than ever for us to connect with our patrons and fans.  How many of us are opening up to these conversations, and how many are making a 140-character brochure?  And what, of course, do the patrons themselves want? Do they want to have a conversation with you, or do they just want to see a show? Do they want your website to be a basic brochure…or do they actually want (need?) a paper brochure? Adams made it sound so simple in 1999, and maybe it seemed then like it would be. But the 21st century has provided us with many moving targets, combining old art forms (Adams himself originally made his name in radio plays) with new technologies, older generations of audiences and staff with younger ones.
I don’t have an answer to any of this. I wonder if Adams would have. But I hope and believe we can find some answers  —  multiple ones, no doubt  —  together when we discuss marketing at the Spring Conference in March. We won’t have to speculate; we’ll have some of the top experts in musical theatre marketing in the room to share what’s worked and what hasn’t worked for them.  Just no one bring a clipboard so we know we’re getting the truth!
 
Adam Grosswirth
Membership Director

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Festival Show Update: BARNSTORMER

A catch-up with the writing team from Festival 2008 show Barnstormer, Douglas J. Cohen and Cheryl K. Davis. The show was one of our first National Fund for New Musicals Production Grant Recipients in 2009.
Before Amelia Earhart, there was Bessie Coleman—the first Black aviatrix who rose from the cotton fields of Texas and the barbershops of Chicago to finally conquer the skies of France. Her brief but dynamic life inspired the disenfranchised to pursue their dreams, including her own nephew who became a Tuskegee Airman.
After the Festival, you headed down to Red Mountain Theatre Co. (RMTC) for your first production. What was it like being down in Alabama for the show?
It was thrilling being in such an historic city. We had the chance to tour that city’s wonderful Civil Rights Institute. One of the last surviving major civil rights leader from the 50’s and 60’s, Reverend Shuttleworth, later attended a performance of Barnstormer.Our theater was only about four blocks away from the 16th Street Baptist church that was bombed in 1963, tragically killing four girls. An additional two blocks away was the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Artistic Director Keith Cromwell was kind enough to put us up during the production. He and his staff couldn’t have been more welcoming.
What did you learn about the show on its feet?
We wrote two new songs going into the production. When one of them didn’t comfortably fit our lead’s voice, we ended up rewriting the lyrics to “Grounded” and moving that song to a new spot in the show. We also had written a great deal of narrative for adult Arthur (Bessie’s nephew) but realized it wasn’t dramatic having him continually address the audience. Much of this new text was jettisoned, and ended up only using Arthur to bookend the piece. We also cut a song near and dear to our hearts that was sung by Bessie’s mother and sister-in-law at her funeral […] but we may have too been hasty cutting the elegy as it gave the audience a chance to mourn Bessie and understand the personal loss her family experienced.
While there, you actually created a couple of different versions of the show for RMTC’s use. What was it like cutting down the show (again) and presenting the different versions?
We created both a shortened version of the show for presentation to student audiences, and a one-woman version of the show for school touring purposes. We tried to use the process of creating these versions to re-focus and clarify Bessie’s through-line in the piece as a whole.
What changes were made after RMTC?
We didn’t have another chance to work on Barnstormer until Artistic Director/Producer Sheila Kay Davis optioned our musical for Off Broadway’s New Professional Theatre. We took this opportunity to implement a major change and introduce a love interest for Bessie. There isn’t much known about her personal life, but she was briefly married and did have some interests aside from aviation. We believe that revealing additional passions has humanized her. We wrote a new number for the couple, as well as a number in a Paris nightclub to open Act Two. It always seemed strange that Bessie travels all the way to France to learn how to fly, yet we barely introduced her and our audience to the celebrated Parisian culture. [Our director] felt strongly about hiring an integrated cast; previously Barnstormer had only been presented with an all African American cast. At the height of her career, Bessie would only fly at integrated airshows, so it made sense to incorporate white actors and characters into our show; this also helps us illustrate racial conflict more directly in earlier scenes. Lastly, we revisited the opening containing “Cotton and the Clouds,” and we believe the number at last ‘takes flight’ within the context of the show.
After this recent reading, what is on the horizon for Barnstormer?
The reading was very successful, and now Sheila is meeting with corporations, foundations, and individuals to help us bring our show to Off Broadway. She is also discussing it seriously with two respected regional theaters who have expressed interest in presenting Barnstormer prior to a New York engagement.

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New Work in Progress: Festival of New Artists at Goodspeed Musicals

An interview with Goodspeed Musicals’ Line Producer Donna Lynn Hilton about their 7th Annual Festival of New Artists happening January 13-15. The Festival is in partnership with fellow NAMT members The Hartt School and Boston Conservatory. The line-up includes readings of NAMT Festival Show The Dogs of Pripyat, Not Wanted on the Voyage from the NAMT alumni writers who wrote The Story of My Life, and Harmony, Kansas. There will also be late-night cabarets featuring NAMT alumni writers Jeremy Desmon, Michael Kooman and Chris Dimond. Plus special events all weekend!
What are the goals of the Festival of New Artists?
We have a number of goals for the festival…to provide a safe haven for very “young” musicals; to provide the opportunity for collaboration at a very early stage in the development of a new musical—for everyone involved—writers, directors, musical directors and performers; to provide young musical theatre performers the rare opportunity to participate in the creation of a new musical and its characters; and to give [these young musical theatre performers] access to the professional writers, directors, MDs and performers.
Having been at the Festival for the last 3 years, I have seen it really blossom. What additions do you have in store for us this year?
We haven’t expanded the programming of our festival weekend much this year but are very proud that, in addition to the 3 teams presenting their full musicals during the festival weekend, we are able to host 3 teams of writers for Festival Residencies and will feature the work of these teams in our Festival Cabarets. One of those teams will present a “sneak peek” at an exciting new musical being developed by Goodspeed and scheduled for the Norma Terris Theatre in 2012.
How did the collaboration with the Universities start and how does the students’ involvement shape the Festival?
The collaboration between the Hartt School (now in its 7th year) and with the Boston Conservatory (in its 2nd year) is a direct result of relationships begun and developed through our work with NAMT. Goodspeed wanted to provide another outlet for supporting new musical development in our quieter winter months and the universities were looking to expose their students to professional opportunities and training. It was a perfect match.
What is the Festival experience like for the writers?
The main focus of the first 11 days of the festival is on the writers, giving them the opportunity to hear their work read and encouraging them to respond to it with revision. The Festival presentations, while an important piece of the puzzle, are somewhat secondary from the writers’ perspective. Several years ago, in response to a similar question, one of our Festival writer said… “the presentation is our gift to Goodspeed for allowing us to be here for two weeks, to work on and rewrite our show.”
Goodspeed really provides a whole weekend experience filled with new musicals. What do you hope your patrons walk with when they leave the Festival weekend?
Several things – an appreciation for and understanding of the passion, hard work and commitment that go into developing a new musical; excitement about the talent that is entering the field today; and, of course, an acknowledgement of what a truly wonderful place East Haddam and Chester, CT and Goodspeed’s Artists Village are to develop and present musical theatre, established and new.
Why should your fellow members come to beautiful snowy East Haddam in January to catch the Festival?
You really won’t regret joining us…the synergy created by the art and artists on display will thrill you and inspire you as it has us each January for the past 7 years. In many ways, the Festival is the most exciting project we mount all year long.
For more information about Goodspeed Musicals’ Festival of New Artists, please visit www.goodspeed.org

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An Improved Look at our Festival History

As NAMT’s de facto webmaster, I’m lucky enough to get to poke around in programs and services that aren’t strictly “my department.”  We recently streamlined and revamped the Festival of New Musicals section of the site, including a pretty major overhaul of the Festival History, Photos and Success Stories (formerly three separate sections, now conveniently all in one place).
I’ve been at NAMT since 2008, so I’m very familiar with the 32 show we’ve presented while I’ve worked here, along with a handful from earlier in the 2000s.  But since 1989, the Festival has showcased 273 new musicals by 493 writers, and I’ve simply never had the opportunity before to spend quality time with the entire list. Wow! I knew the “big” titles of course, but there were lots of writers I hadn’t realized were alumni (my favorite tidbit: Angelo Badalamenti, composer of many film scores for David Lynch, was in the first year of the Festival, shortly after the Twin Peaks pilot was shot  —  I’m a TV nerd as well as a musical theatre nerd).  There are years when nearly every show went on to have a robust life, which make me very proud to be part of the NAMT team, even if I wasn’t here then.
Unfortunately, there are gaps in the post-Festival stories of these shows.  Through office moves, staff changes and the simple fact that hardly anyone had email in 1989 (and I’m betting those CompuServe addresses don’t work anymore), we’ve lost track of Alumni Writers from the early years, and they’ve lost track of us.  As part of this web redesign, we’re stepping up our efforts to reconnect with alumni and fill in the blanks.  If you happen to be an alumnus/a of the Festival (or know one), please click here to fill out an update form with your contact info, any updates on your show or other shows you’ve written.  Or you can email us at info@namt.org. We’d really love to hear from you — and let you know what we’re up to, too!
And whether you’re an alum or not, please do take a look at the Festival history.  I’m not bragging when I say it’s an impressive read.

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From the New Works Director: Thoughts about submitting shows to the Festival

Ask anyone who has sat on the Festival Committee over the past few years and s/he will tell you how hard it is to select the Festival each year. We get over 150 submissions, reduce them down to 20 shows and then determine the final 8 we present each year. After 4 years of working with the committee through this process, I have realized that the challenge is not finding 8 great shows to put in the Festival. The hard part is finding those 8 amazing shows that reflect the diversity that we believe is vital to the future of musical theatre. We want 8 shows that get stuck in our heads, that we can’t wait to tell people about, that excite us as theatre artists. And we want those shows to represent a wide array of styles, sizes, tones and themes.

Time to think about what you’ll submit! You do not need to be limited to the shows that your theatre is currently developing or recently produced.
What about that great show that was sent to you that you wish your theatre could do and that you know other theatres will love?
NAMT is the best way to share great shows with the entire industry!
What about your friend the commercial producer who is developing all of those exciting new musicals?
Maybe she has a show that could use NAMT’s help!
Remember that really great new musical you produced a few years ago that is now lost to the ages?
Track down the writers and send that in!

Our Festival is not just about the hottest, newest, freshest properties that no one has ever heard of. We want to present great musicals that will excite all of you and invigorate the field.So if you know of a show that is amazing and could use NAMT’s help, please track it down and submit it. The Festival can only be as great as the shows submitted to us, and with our amazing members and alumni, I know that we will have another exciting Festival in 2012!

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Give the gift of NAMT these Holidays!

The holidays are fast approaching and that means that a lot of us will start shopping online to save time. Did you know that there is a way for you to shop for just about anything online and have part of the proceeds go to NAMT to help fund our programs?

Buy anything from Amazon.com the NAMT Store and Amazon gives a portion of its proceeds to NAMT. You can find CDs and books from past NAMT Festival shows and other projects by our alumni! Recent additions include the CDs to Ordinary Days, A Little Princess and Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge.

But if you are looking for some non-musical theatre related items, you can still shop and benefit NAMT. Just click the Amazon.com logo in the upper right corner of the store and you can shop for anything Amazon sells through their site. We will see money every time you shop! Easy! I know I plan on using this trick for as much as my holiday shopping as possible.

You could also make a gift to NAMT in someone’s name as a holiday gift! A tax deductible gift!

So, time to get out that list and do some extra good with it! And don’t forget a Striking 12 CD for your New Year’s Party, a Songs for a New World CD for your high school diva and to give a donation to NAMT for that uncle who already has everything he could already want!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

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Festival Show Update: THE TROUBLE WITH DOUG

A catch up with the writing team from Festival 2010 show The Trouble With Doug, Will Aronson and Daniel Maté.
The Trouble With Doug is a modern comedic re-imagining of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, in which a happy, healthy 27-year-old man transforms—suddenly and inexplicably—into a giant slug. From this unlikely premise, a touching and universal story unfolds about a family dealing with change, and a young man facing the loss of everything he thought he was.
Doug was really well received at the Festival. What was it like presenting your show to industry at the Festival?
Our NAMT presentation was an exciting and rewarding experience from start to finish. It was a thrill, obviously, to have Victoria Clark as our director – we’d both long been fans of her performing work, and were delighted that she connected with the piece so effortlessly. With her help, we felt that we’d succeeded in arriving at a 45-minute version that delivered the heart and humor of the musical to the NAMT Members in attendance, and we were very gratified by the positive responses we received. People seemed to get and appreciate what we were going for, which, considering the musical’s somewhat unconventional subject matter, was both relieving and exciting.
Did anything change with the show after seeing at the Festival?
Yes. Trimming the show down to its essence for NAMT helped us identify what worked, and also helped us see where certain characters were not sufficiently fleshed out and where some of our plot devices needed fortifying, clarifying, or (in one case) replacing. A subsequent writers retreat at [NAMT member] Weston Playhouse in Vermont in April 2011 helped us solidify a list of planned changes and a general game plan for implementing them.
Doug was supposed to premiere at Florida Stage this season but unfortunately Florida Stage has closed. How has this sudden change affected your plans for developing Doug?
Well, it’s certainly confirmed for us that nothing can ever be counted on as certain in this industry, and that building relationships with as many organizations as possible is the way to go. We were pleased to re-meet many producers and artistic directors at this year’s NAMT Festival and begin some new conversations about the piece. While we were sad to lose the Florida production—and very sad to see a great regional company go down—we’re still confident that ‘Dougger’ will find himself a nice home before too long.
You just had a fantastic time in the UK working with NAMT member Royal & Derngate. What was it like to bring Doug across the pond?
The two weeks we spent at Royal & Derngate exceeded our greatest expectations. R&D provided us with accommodations, space to work, a wonderful cast, a top-notch music director, and the dramaturgical and directorial expertise of artistic director Laurie Sansom – and they basically said, “take whatever time you need to rewrite your show as you see fit.” Without a built-in “presentation” component, we were truly free to use the time to overhaul the show’s book and upgrade aspects of the score. By the end of the two weeks, we had a completely revised version of the musical, one that we feel heightens what was already compelling about it while addressing our concerns about plot and character. And working in a UK theatre environment was a fun change of pace. Among other discoveries, we found that our story can speak to people in a different cultural context.
What are you hoping to happen next with Doug?
We feel great about the new script we returned with from England, and are ideally looking for a production track at a regional, UK, or New York theatre. Having been through several readings and workshops, we feel that the arc of show is finally in the shape we’ve always wanted it to be, and that adding in the physical element will help us take it to the next level. So we’re hoping that someone will believe in the piece strongly enough to take that sort of plunge with it.
In the best of all worlds, in two years, what will be the status of Doug?
At the risk of sounding evasive, we don’t have a single defined destination in mind. There are so many logistical factors that go into producing musicals, most of which are beyond our comprehension. Obviously, as its creators, we entertain dreams of our piece reaching a very large audience, and having a long life on many, many stages. But our main and immediate hope, no matter the scale, scope, or trajectory of production(s), is that Doug will find its core audience, who will connect with it and love it as much as we do— an aspiration we feel is equal parts lofty and modest, and hopefully just right.
For more information about The Trouble With Doug, please email thetroublewithdoug@gmail.com.

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New Work in Progress: GIANT at Dallas Theater Center

As Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson’s Giant prepares for its co-production in Dallas and New York, we thought it would be a good time to chat with Dallas Theater Center’s Artistic Director Kevin Moriarity about Giant (recipient of a National Fund for New Musicals production grant). Giant will be presented at Dallas Theater Center (DTC) this January-February and will then at The Public Theater in their next season.
How did Giant find its way to DTC?
In 2009, I went to Signature Theatre in Washington DC to see their premiere of Giant. Despite being three acts and four hours long, it was one of the most thrilling scores and moving stories I had experienced in years. I immediately reached out to the musical’s writers, Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson, to learn what future they envisioned for their show. Simultaneously, I mentioned to Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater, how much I loved the material. He had also seen it and shared my passion for the piece. We decided to propose to Michael John and Sybille a collaboration between our two theaters, which would provide them with time and resources to continue to develop the material, leading to full productions in Dallas and New York.
Other than the obvious Texan connection, why is Giant a good fit for DTC at this time?
First and foremost, it’s a sweeping, emotionally moving story, filled with passionate characters and a breathtaking score. Equally importantly, it directly addresses themes that have been at the heart of our identities as Texans, and, by extension, the fundamental challenges and hopes for all of us in America today. The musical depicts the sweeping power of history, as men transition from cattle ranchers to oil barons, the powerful changes in relationships that people experience within their families over the course of their lives, and the blending of many distinct cultures that is at the center of our American identity. It’s a large, epic story, with a big heart and clear eyes—that sounds like Texas to me!
You will be presenting this as a co-production with The Public Theater. How has this enhanced the experience of working on the show knowing that it will have that crucial next step after the DTC run?
This collaboration has been essential for the development of this piece. By combining our resources, we have been able to provide the writers with an extended period of time to continue to develop their work, a unified producerial vision, and a consistent dramaturgical response. Over time, and with a deep commitment to the work that extends from Dallas to New York, you build a deeper, more meaningful artistic dialogue and a greater sense of honesty and trust for everyone involved. It’s also important for us, as we develop new plays and musicals at DTC, that the work we believe in so passionately is able to continue to engage with audiences beyond our community. Being able to work toward a culminating vision that extends even past the run of the show in Dallas has been wonderful for everyone.
Giant very much lived up to its name when in DC. What have the writers done since DC to the show to prepare it for its next steps?
It’s still giant – but it’s now shorter than it was in DC (in Dallas the show will be 2 acts and 3 hours long). When the Public and DTC began the process two years ago, we reached out to Michael Greif to join the project as the director. He’s been a vital collaborator, bringing his fresh insights and clear vision to the process. Michael John and Sybille have added and changed elements of the score and the script, ranging from deepening their explorations of some of the characters to new ideas about structure. The piece has more clarity and speed, but still retains its gloriously epic, romantic quality.
How will the show change from DTC to the Public Theater?
The writers and creative team will continue to develop the piece, not just until opening night in Dallas, but then in the months afterwards before the production in New York. Though the physical production, orchestrations, story and characters will remain consistent, the creators will be able to continue to refine and explore their vision in between the two productions. Even after months of workshops and readings, nothing is more clarifying and inspiring than experiencing a new musical with an audience. All of us will learn a great deal from the audiences in Dallas, which will then continue to inspire the creative team when they move on to the next leg of the journey at the Public.
What can people expect to experience when they come down to see Giant at DTC?
A large cast, a beautiful physical production, a ravishing score, and a musical that is grappling with large themes and ideas. It’s an important piece with a big heart.
For more information about Giant at Dallas Theater Center, please visit www.dallastheatercenter.org.

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National Alliance for Musical Theatre Receives $60,000 Grant

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded a $60,000 Art Works grant to the National Alliance for Musical Theatre to support NAMT’s Fall Conference and 24th Annual Festival of New Musicals taking place in the fall of 2012. This significant contribution supports core components of NAMT’s mission including nurturing the development and production of new musicals as well as providing educational and informational resources to our 150 members.
Executive Director Betsy King Militello stated, “The NEA’s support is so crucial to the work we do in the field of musical theatre for both the industry and the artists. We are honored by and grateful for this Art Works grant.”

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NAMT festival sets slate: Javerbaum, Iconis and Gwon on tap

New offerings from former “Daily Show” head scribe David Javerbaum, Adam Gwon and Joe Iconis are among the eight works on tap for the Festival of New Musicals, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s annual industry showcase of developing tuners.
As in prior years, the tuners will be performed in 45-minute segs to an audience of NAMT members including producers, presenters and other industry types.

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The Spring Conference...already!

The Fall Conference is barely over, and I’m already at work on the Spring Conference! I actually have been since June, when I traveled to two cities selected by the members as possible locations (on both trips I did double duty, attending a conference in one and visiting members in another). A lot goes into finding the right location for the conferences, both in New York and elsewhere. Hotels are great because they’re all-in-one: Attendees can stay there, and facilities, catering and audio-visual services are all packaged together. Many factors are considered, taking into account the diversity of our membership. It’s important to find a place where everyone will be comfortable and well taken care of, and is also affordable to all of the members. We also strive to keep NAMT’s own costs down, so that we can pass those savings on to you in the lowest possible registration fees. And with all the time we spend in the conference room, it can’t just be any old space. You’d be surprised how few hotels have event spaces with windows! It’s important for me to make these trips to see the venues in person, try the food, and spend the night in the hotel when possible (it’s worth noting that this doesn’t cost NAMT anything, since the hotels are after our business and treat me pretty well!)
For the city, we survey the members periodically to see where you’re interested in going. It’s better for me if we have a member in town. Some host at their venues, but even if not, having local knowledge is extremely helpful.
The 2012 Spring Conference will be held on March 22-24 in Seattle, WA. We have an amazing rate at the beautiful W Hotel, which I think you’ll all like very much, and we’ll also spend time at the 5th Avenue Theatre and Village Theatre. Save the date and watch for details in the coming weeks!

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Fall Conference 2011 - Inspiration in Tough Times

In addition to the Festival of New Musicals, NAMT held our annual Fall Conference for our members and invited guests last weekend.  Since it takes place in conjunction with the Festival, the Fall Conference typically focuses on new works.  This year we decided to take a more holistic approach, looking at the overall health and future of the art form and the industry.

We couldn’t have asked for a better start than the keynote speech by legendary director and producer Harold Prince.  Hal spoke passionately about his long career and the state of the field today, with particular focus on what he sees as a lack of mentoring opportunities for young producers and artists, and a lack of singular “creative producers” in a world where making theatre has become prohibitively expensive and making a living as an artist seems next to impossible.  That sounds dour but it wasn’t!  I think the attendees were inspired by the challenge to support young artists and create work with passion – something at which most NAMT members already excel.

From there we heard from a wide variety of educators about how they are working to train exactly the next generation that Hal spoke about nurturing.  We spoke about young musical theatre writers who have never heard of Sondheim (!), who are coming to the field with stories to tell and all sorts of musical styles in their backgrounds.  Plus actors, directors and more, and how we’re preparing them to enter the industry with new works and classics alike.

The last panel of the day was a challenging one, addressing the issues of racial diversity (or lack thereof) in musical theatre.  This hour-long session could easily have been twice as long, as the issues ranged so widely, including color-blind casting (“I prefer non-traditional, color-specific casting,” said Ralph Remington of the NEA, meaning a conscious choice made to change a character’s race), diversity of stories being told, and audience outreach to different communities. It was a great discussion that barely scratched the surface, but challenged attendees to think about these issues and how we can serve the art, and our communities – both artistic and in the audience.

Day two began with an unexpected bonus: Ralph Remington from the NEA talked with us about changes at the NEA and the current state of federal funding for the arts.  As anyone following the news will have guessed, it wasn’t the best news we heard this day!  But it was a great opportunity for NAMT members to gain insight into the granting process and have a dialogue about the challenges they face and the goals of the NEA.

Segueing nicely, four NAMT members shared stories and case studies of how they’ve been able to keep costs down during the recession without sacrificing the quality their audiences expect.  Attendees came away with adaptable, scalable ideas they could use in their own theatres. 

The next panel looked at the challenges of recording new shows for promotion or sale, especially regional productions.  Cast albums are essential to getting new shows “out there” to potential new fans and producers, but they’re expensive to make and rarely make much money back. Fortunately our panel included people who are passionate and committed to preserving new shows, including Sh-K-Boom Records founder Kurt Deutsch, and the Grammys’ Elizabeth Healy, who made sure we knew that any cast album can be submitted for a Grammy Award, not just Broadway shows, and that without submissions the category could be in danger.

Next up was a continuation of last year’s session on continued life for new works – the challenges of getting second productions and beyond.  A lot has changed in the last twenty years or so.  How does a new work enter the canon, especially if it doesn’t go through Broadway first?  There were no easy answers, but the NAMT members seem to be leading the charge to keep the new works pipeline going.

After lunch and some small group discussions, we came back together to end the conference with a session on new looks at classic works, and how NAMT member theatres are adapting classics to fit their spaces and budgets, and to appeal to new audiences, with the support of the licensers and estates.

It was a very inspiring and information-filled two days, only slightly hampered by unseasonal snow!  I personally always find our conferences very energizing, as I love seeing our members and hearing about all the great theatre happening around the country.  It’s encouraging to see members sharing ideas and resources, taking techniques that are scalable and adaptable to organizations of all different sizes.

NAMT conferences are open to members and invited guests only.  The next one will be held on March 22-24, 2012 in Seattle and will be about marketing. I hope to see you there!

Photos by David T. Cole

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Introducing this year's writers....Part 2

Yesterday, you got to meet the 4 of the writing teams and now it is time to meet the other 4 teams! These are the teams who will present their work on October 27 and 28 at New World Stages on Stage 3 as part of our 23rd Annual Festival of New Musicals.
Don’t forget to register before Sunday!

BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR
Book & Lyrics by Julia Jordan, Music & Lyrics by Adam Gwon
Directed by Joe Calarco, Music Direction by Andy Einhorn



THE DOGS OF PRIPYAT
Book by Jill Abramovitz & Leah Napolin
Music by Aron Accurso, Lyrics by Jill Abramovitz
Directed by Peter Flynn, Music Direction by Brad Haak



GOLDEN BOY OF THE BLUE RIDGE
Book by Peter Mills & Cara Reichel
Music & Lyrics by Peter Mills
Based on “The Playboy of the Western World” by J.M. Synge
Directed by Gordon Greenberg, Music Direction by Eli Zoller



NOTES TO MARIANNE
by Dan Lipton & David Rossmer
Directed by Jeremy Dobrish, Music Direction by Chris Fenwick

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Introducing this year's writers...Pt. 1

The Festival is only a week away! Time to meet this year’s writers…a some are returning writers, some are a newbies to the NAMT Festival, but all of their shows are NEW!  

In Part 1, we will introduce you to the writers and the shows that will take place on Stage 2 of New World Stages at the 23rd Annual Festival of New Musicals this October 27 and 28.  Don’t forget to register before registration closes on Sunday!  

DANI GIRL
Book & Lyrics by Christopher Dimond, Music by Michael Kooman
Directed by Scott Schwartz, Music Direction by Andy Einhorn

BLOODSONG OF LOVE
by Joe Iconis
Directed by John Simpkins, Music Direction by Brian Usifer

PREGNANCY PACT
Book & Lyrics by Gordon Leary, Music by Julia Meinwald
Directed by Mark Brokaw, Music Direction by Rich Silverstein
(warning: Like the show, this video contains strong language)

WATT?!?
Book & Lyrics by David Javerbaum, Music by Brendan Milburn
Directed by Steve Cosson, Music Direction by Zachary Dietz

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The Festival is almost here!

It is fall in NYC and that means it is time for our annual Festival of New Musicals! (Have you registered yet?) Even on my fourth one, things still excite me every day about the Festival. We have such an amazing group of shows and writers for you all to enjoy this year. I know that as you learn more about these writers and their shows, you, too, will feel the rising anticipation and energy. To help share the excitement, I’ve prepared two new pre-Festival features this year.
First, if you go to the Festival page on our website, you will notice that you can now click links to read about the development history, the show synopsis, and, new this year, “5 Things You Should Know” for each show. This new section is filled with 5 factoids the writing teams want you to know about the show before you see it. They range from what they need next, to staging desires, to contextual background info.
Second, for NAMT members and alumni writers only, you can see 3-minute interviews with each of the writing teams. 4 of the 8 show videos are currently up on the website and the other 4 will be up next week, just as soon as we can get them scheduled, shot and edited! You get a chance to hear from the writers, put a face to a name and learn more about the shows. You will need to log in to access them. If you need your log-in information, please contact Kimberly (kimberly@namt.org).
Demos are being pressed, casts are being cast, the program is being proofed…and you are the last piece of the puzzle. Visit the Festival page, be inspired by our writers’ videos and don’t forget to register now for our 23rd Annual Festival of New Musicals!

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FROM THE ROAD: Chicagoland

When the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, IL (about 40 minutes north of Chicago) announced that they would be presenting the world premiere of For The Boys, it was quickly added to my list of destinations as I had not yet had a chance to visit them. The show uses songs from the WWII era and has a book by Aaron Thielen (co-creator of The Bowery Boys from our 2010 Festival) based on the Bette Midler-James Caan film. It is always great to make that first trip to a NAMT member and finally see their artistic home. I really enjoyed the show and the audience thoroughly embraced it! The Marriott is in the round so I know that they are now looking for a proscenium theatre for the next step. Terry James, Marriott Theatre’s Executive Producer, and his team are working closely with the USO on the production, which is a brilliant partnership. The show is a love letter to the USO!

 
I then took the train down to catch the evening production of Murder For Two at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. The show is by Kellan Blair and Joe Kinosian, whom I met last summer at Northwestern University and ASCAP’s Mercer Project. Chicago Shakes’ Creative Producer, Rick Boynton, and I met beforehand and he said the show was doing very well and keeps on extending. That is because the show was a laugh riot and brilliantly done! With only two actors and piano, it is a tour-de-force murder mystery in 90 minutes. One actor is the detective and one actor is everyone else. The audience went crazy during it! Rick and his team did an amazing job and I know that this is a show that will be around for a long time.

 

Both shows are running until October 16, so there is plenty of time to plan your trip to the Greater Chicago area to catch these two exciting new musicals!

Branden Huldeen
New Works Director

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More Sub Rights News

Our friends at the National New Play Network announced this summer that they have eliminated subsidiary rights from their commissions. This affects not just NNPN, but their member theatres, who agree to forgo future rights on plays receiving NNPN funds. This was a big topic at last year’s NAMT Fall Conference, in a great discussion about how to balance the income of writers and the income of theatres — especially smaller ones — that spend money on developing a new work and depend on future return. (At the conference, John Weidman argued that we shouldn’t be talking about rights at all, but rather “subsidiary participation in an author’s revenues.” If you missed it, NAMT members can view video highlights of this panel here.)
For NNPN’s Rolling World Premiere program, member theatres will get sub rights only after the playwright’s income has reached a certain amount— a “bonanza clause.” As NNPN puts it, “Bonanza Clauses have become frequent compromises between playwrights who deserve to make a living and theaters which want to be compensated for the future success of a play if it goes Boom, so to speak.”
This is an interesting issue and one that I’m sure we’ll continue discussions for a long time (including at this year’s Fall Conference), as all of us who are passionate about new works strive to find a balance between the needs of artists and the needs or producers. We need both to create new musicals!

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FROM THE ROAD: VT and CT - Hurricane Irene Edition!

Like the postman, I will brave all weather for the sake of musical theatre and NAMT, but thankfully Irene held off long enough so I could swing by the Weston Playhouse Theatre Co., in Weston, VT and see the opening night of the world premiere of Saint Ex, by Sean Barry and Jenny Giering (Festival Alumna from Princess Caraboo). The Weston Playhouse received a $15,000 grant from our National Fund for New Musicals for this production, so I was honored to represent NAMT on opening night. It was a beautiful production of a sweeping and touching musical about the life of the man who wrote The Little Prince, directed by Kent Nicholson. Resident Producing Director Steve Stettler and his team did a wonderful job of nurturing this show and bringing it to life. The night was capped off with the late-night cabaret performance downstairs from some of the cast and staff entertaining the elated crowd.

After a quick stop by the Vermont Country Store for cheese and maple syrup, it was off to see the matinee of The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown at Goodspeed Musicals. I was
supposed to see the evening performance but with Irene in Virginia, I thought it would be best to catch an earlier show so I could get home and avoid the hurricane. Sam Brown is by Brian Lowdermilk and Kait Kerrigan and is about a young woman on the morning of her first day of college who can’t decide between school and finally doing what she wants. It was a great production and the small audience, of those willing to brave a storm for art, loved it!

Sadly, the actualities of the storm started to set in after that show. It was supposed to be Sam Brown’s third-to-last show, but because of Irene…it became their last show during the performance. They had a great run but it was sad to hear that they and the audience would be deprived of the final two performances.

After Irene passed, the effects of the storm really hit home when I heard that the Weston was flooded, halting their production of Saint-Ex until the theatre was cleaned up and what was able to be saved was salvaged. As the photos on their Facebook page started to come in, it became clear that while flood was horrible, the Weston staff, volunteers and actors were resilient and wouldn’t let a little water and mud get in their way. By the end of the week, the show was back up (modified to embrace some necessary changes); an amazing feat! And I know that, storm or not, Saint Ex will fly again at many theatres around the country!

Branden Huldeen
New Works Director

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FROM THE ROAD: Pacific Northwest Tour- Part 2: Seattle/Issaquah

Portland was just a warm-up for the next few days in Seattle and Issaquah for the Village Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals. But before Issaquah, there was an exciting pit stop to spend a night in the W hotel in Seattle,our home for the Spring 2012 Conference. Adam has chosen very well and the hotel was amazing. I can’t wait for the conference (and that hotel!). Look at the photo of the lobby to the right…beautiful and comfortable!
This was my 2nd time at the Village Festival, the first being for the 2009 New Works Summit, and they never disappoint. Under the leadership of Steve Tomkins and Robb Hunt, the Village is one of the leaders in new musical development. This year, their Festival felt very “NAMT” all around. They presented staged readings of:
The Giver and Lizzie Borden from our 2010 Festival, Hello! My Baby by two Festival Alumnae (Georgia Stitt and Cheri Steinkellner), Sundays at Tiffany’s with book and lyrics by Festival Alumna Susan DiLallo, and Trails. They also presented a breathtakingly beautiful production ofCloaked by Danny Larsen and Michelle Elliott, who also wrote The Yellow Wood from our 2008 Festival. The whole Festival was fantastic and it was amazing to see so many of our alumni all in one beautiful place! Also at the Festival were Greg Schaffert from 321 Theatrical Management, Laura Little from Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre, and David Ira Goldstein from Arizona Theatre Company, who did a great job directing The Giver.
It was a perfect NAMT trip filled with new musicals and our amazing alumni and members. This is why we should all travel around to see each other’s work…you expand your horizons, get to see a different part of the country, and be inspired!

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Weston Playhouse gets $60,000 for world-premiere musical

By Andrew Gans, VermontBiz.com

The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company has received a $45,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and a $15,000 grant from the National Alliance for Musical Theatre in support of its 2011 world-premiere musical production of Saint-Ex.  These grants are the latest show of support for Weston’s New Works program which began in 2007.
“We are pleased and honored to receive these latest grants, particularly in a 75th anniversary year,” commented WPTC Producing Director Steve Stettler.  “This is the first grant that we have received from NAMT and while we have received NEA funding every year since 2001, this is the largest grant in that ten year history.  It is a real testament to the part that Weston is playing in the development of new work.”

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FROM THE ROAD: Pacific Northwest Tour- Part 1:Portland

Some trips are quick little excursions to see a new musical and visit a couple members.But every once in a while, the stars align and I get the opportunity to see a lot of everything in a short period of time.In my recent trip to Portland and Seattle, I was able to see 4 members, 6 shows, 11 Festival alumni; all while enjoying 3 planes, 2 rental cars (which included a free upgrade from a compact to a new mustang!), and 1 train. These are my favorite trips, even though they are quite exhausting.Nothing makes me happier at NAMT than getting out to support our members’ new musicals and seeing them in action on their home turf.
Up first was Tigard, OR (just outside Portland) to catch the world premiere of Ripper at The Broadway Rose Theatre. Ripper was in our 2009 Festival of New Musicals and is written by Duane Nelsen. Luck would have it that when I was out there, Duane was back in town to see the show so I got to have dinner with him and Sharon Maroney, Producing Artistic Director of The Broadway Rose, pre-show. The dinner gave us a chance not only to catch-up but also to talk about the process for both Duane and Sharon. This was Broadway Rose’s first large-scale new musical and world premiere—a bold and brave undertaking since Ripper is not a small show. If you want to start producing new work, definitely call Sharon (listed in your Little Black Book) as her company learned a lot in its first go-around.The production was really great and fully realized…what more could any writer ask?The production was not only educational for the theatre but also for Duane who was able to learn so much about his show that he was not able to glean before from just readings.Now, Duane is ready to work on the script while looking for the next-step production, and Broadway Rose can start the hunt for their next new musical, both wiser from the experience!
 
The next morning, it was off to Portland’s Union Station to take a train up the coast to Seattle and Issaquah, WA for the next stop on my Pacific Northwest Tour…

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Duane Nelson Musical Thriller Ripper Begins World Premiere at Broadway Rose Theatre

Abe Reybold directs Ripper, which will officially open Aug. 4. Performances continue through Aug. 21. Ripper has book, music and lyrics by Nelsen.
Nelsen’s musical received a 2007 reading starring Davis Gaines and Annie Golden, and was presented as part of the 2009 National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals.
Nelsen loosely based his script on the Jack the Ripper tale, according to the Broadway Rose. “Neighbors, friends, and lovers are all suspects. Some are driven to find the truth. Others stop at nothing to obscure the facts and manipulate the situation to their own advantage. From the reporter who covers the story and the magician who runs the brothel, to the police and, of course, the prostitutes, an intricate plot unfolds that interweaves magic and mayhem, the lively nightlife of the music halls, and the ever-present danger of a killer lurking in the shadows.”

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What do YOU want to know about this year's Festival?

Every year the Festival Committee strives to select the eight most diverse and exciting musicals out there, and this year they have topped themselves. Over the last three Festivals, we have been working hard to improve the member experience at the Festival. From bigger signs to a reconceived program, we want all of you who come to the Festival to have a great time and enjoy the shows.

This year, we are at it again…now focusing on providing you with more information about the show before you even get to the Festival. Over the next couple of months, I will be adding more content to the Festival website, including cast size, band size, future productions already lined up, facts you should know about the show, and (hopefully) even members-only introductory videos from the writers talking about their show. I want everyone to see every show, but I know that that is not always possible so I want to give you more tools to know which shows would be more suited to your tastes and needs.

I would love any thoughts you have about this…what would be helpful for you to know about these shows before you come to the Festival? Email me your thoughts at branden@namt.org. I can’t wait to share this bold and exciting Festival with you in October!

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