Cast of "Band Geeks" from the '09 Festival (Diane Sobolewski)
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The creators of three new musicals will get a chance to gauge audience reaction to their work this weekend (January 15- January 17) as Goodspeed Musicals hosts its Fifth Annual Festival of New Artists at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT.
Staged readings will be offered of the three musicals in collaboration with students from the Hartt School of the University of Hartford. Special seminar sessions will be offered on Saturday and a meet the writers session will be held on Sunday, along with a special Festival dinner. Another feature will be new artist cabarets in which performers, composers and guest speakers will be performing and sharing some of their new work, scheduled for both Friday and Saturday night.
It was at last year's Fourth Annual Festival of New Artists that Goodspeed offered a staged reading of a new musical called "Band Geeks," which will now have a fully-staged production at the Norma Terris Theater in Chester from May 13-June 6, 2010.
The Friday evening musical is called "Hello Out There," about three teens who creatively use the internet to make a fortune in the stock market, only to find themselves pursued by some angry investors and investigators from the SEC. The book and lyrics are by Eric Price with music by Frank Perry.
On Saturday evening, triple threat writer, composer and lyricist Joe Iconis, premieres a work called "ReWrite," itself a triple threat of three distinct musicals: "Nelson Rocks," a pop rock musical about a mixed-up high school student, "Miss Marzipan," about a high-class dinner party gone wild, and "The Process," about a writer trying to finish up his musical at the local Dunkin' Donuts.
The final new work, on Sunday afternoon, focuses on Abe Lincoln's grief following the death of his fiance and how he meets and romances the cultivated Mary Todd. "Lincoln in Love," features books and lyrics by Peter Kellogg and music by David Friedman.
All evening performances begin at 7:30 pm, with the Sunday matinee at 1 p.m., with tickets at $15 or $10 for students.
Starting Saturday morning through Saturday afternoon, a series of breakout sessions will be offered on a variety of musical topics. Author and Broadway historian Ted Chapin, head of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, will talk about the cultural environment at the time of the creation of the Broadway musical Follies, which he chronicled in his book, Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies. Broadway producer Sue Frost (Memphis) and former Goodspeed Associate Director will discuss investing in and developing new musicals. Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrick, creators of the off-Broadway success Dear Edwina, will discuss finding and adapting material for new musicals, while musical historian John Pike will discuss famous musical flops.
At 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, Tom Kitt (composer), Michael Grief (director) and David Stone (producer) will speak on their process in creating the hit musical Next to Normal and its gestation off-Broadway and in regional theater all the way to Broadway. This session, sponsored by the Noel Coward Foundation, is free and open to the public.
Other activities include the festival cabarets at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday evening, the festival dinner on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at the Gelston House, and the Meet the Writers reception on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. also at the Gelston House.
Interested theatergoers can purchase weekend packages that include all the events for $75 per person. For information, call the Goodspeed box office at 860.873.8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org.
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