30 Days of NYMF on BroadwayWorld Day 20: [title of show]

[title of show] and NYMF

By Hunter Bell

In the spring of 2004, my friend James forwarded me an e-mail about the New York Musical Theatre Festival. They were accepting submissions for their "Next Link" series, but there was one catch. The deadline was in three weeks. I forwarded the e-mail to my writing partner, composer/lyricist, Jeff Bowen, and asked if we should submit something. We came up with the idea to just write for three weeks and whatever we had down on paper we would submit. No joke. We found that the most interesting thing to write about was us trying to figure out what to write about. And… [title of show] was born. We squeaked our way into NYMF and had a blast. And, a year later we find ourselves with a revamped [tos] that follows our nutty journey. The downside is that the show is eighteen hours long and audiences must commit to three, six hour nights. I'm joking. It's a tight ninety minutes baby, which explores the highs and lows of creating an original musical. It's funny, sweet and has girl on girl action. But enough about what I think. Let's call Jeff and get his take on [tos] and NYMF.

Jeff Bowen: Hello?

Hunter Bell: What are you doing?

JB: Watching the Weather Channel…what are you doing?

HB: Watching Tootsie in Spanish. So Jeff, tell me about [tos].

JB: You know about the show. You wrote it with me.

HB: I know but we get to write a column for broadwayworld.com talking about [tos] and what NYMF has meant to us…

JB: Hang on, I'm getting another call.

(Hunter on hold)

JB: That was my mom. She won a plasma TV at Bingo.

HB: Awesome!

JB: So you want me to talk about [tos] to you like you don't know what it's about?

HB: I don't know. I just had this idea that our article could be like Interview magazine. You know…like when Tyra Banks would interview Twiggy.

JB: You are so gay.

HB: Well what would you say to people who are sick of the whole self-referential thing in musicals?

JB: I'd say listen to Dessa Rose. Thank God for Ahrens and Flaherty. They'll just write an honest show that doesn't wink at the audience.

HB: Good point. But I think our show has a lot of honesty and heart.

JB: True dat!

HB: What would you say to people who saw [tos] last year?

JB: If you loved it, we now rock even harder…and if you hated it…swing by just to make sure.

HB: I have $100. Should I see Spamalot or [tos]?

JB: I'd see [tos] 5 times. Twenty bucks at Ars Nova.

HB What shows are you going to see at NYMF this year?

JB: Bonnie and Clyde, because Heidi Blickenstaff is starring…and I think Plane Crazy. We met Suzy Conn last year and she's awesome.

HB: We didn't talk much about [tos] or what NYMF means to us.

JB: Not really. But don't you think it's interesting that [title of show] takes some of its article and promotes Plane Crazy?

HB: It's not un-interesting.

In between seeing Plane Crazy and other awesome shows at NYMF, come see [title of show] at Ars Nova. For dates and ticket info, rock www.titleofshow.com.

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