New Children's Musical THE GRUNCH Available for Licensing to Schools and Youth Theaters

After a sold-out New York City premiere this past summer, Beat by Beat Press announced today that its original children's musical The Grunch is now available for licensing. Beginning today schools and community theaters can request a free perusal script and apply for production rights at www.bbbpress.com.

The Grunch adds to Beat by Beat's growing catalogue of original, contemporary children's musicals written for elementary/middle school age performers. In a market saturated by fairy-tale and Disney adaptations, The Grunch offers a refreshing option for schools and theaters looking to bring new musical theatre to their communities.

Inspired by "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", The Grunch tells the story of Rudy Grunch, a grumpy 6th grader who always feels like an outsider. When the entire school buzzes with excitement for the annual school musical, he comes up with a perfect plan to ruin it for everyone; he'll steal the sets, costumes and lights the night before it opens. But will the spirit of theatre prevail?

"As a kid my favorite thing in the world was to hang out with my drama friends," says Denver Casado, one of the writers. "This show was inspired by that sense of community that magically forms when working together to put on a show."

The Grunch had three workshop productions over the past year in preparation for its release. The most recent performance took place this past July at the Children's Musical Theatre Festival in Manhattan, presented by The Broadway Workshop.

The Grunch is 60-minutes long and features more than 20 speaking and singing solos. Like every Beat by Beat musical, the majority of characters are gender-neutral allowing it to be performed by a variety of drama groups. The score includes styles from contemporary musical theatre, pop, and big broadway - every song can be listened to for free online.

Beat by Beat has attracted thousands of theaters to its unique online publishing platform. Available for free, its ePerusals let directors instantly read and listen to entire shows in a single multimedia PDF file.

After purchasing a show, customers receive an all-in-one production kit. The kit includes a director's guide with tips from casting to costumes, professionally orchestrated accompaniment tracks the actors can perform to, and the freedom to copy scripts and video record without worries of copyright infringement.

The Grunch is written by Denver Casado & Betina Hershey, with additional material by Brian Dawson. Reed Elementary, in San Jose, CA and Reagan Elementary, in Clovis, CA, will be the first to present the newly licensed version of The Grunch this fall.

For more information visit www.bbbpress.com or become a fan on Facebook.

Beat by Beat Press is a new online publisher of fresh, contemporary children?s musicals for elementary and middle-school age performers. The musical plays were created by a team of professional playwrights and educators in New York City. Since launching in 2011, Beat by Beat has quickly become the #1 resource for schools and theaters looking for unique musicals outside the typical "fairy-tale" catalogue. These children's shows are packaged into online production kits for teachers and directors to easily produce. Beat by Beat is headquartered in New York, NY.

Check out a preview of the show below!

Photo Credit: Monica Simoes