30 DAYS OF NYMF: Day 4 Flambe Dreams

Book and Lyrics by Matthew Hardy
Music by Randy Klein

From left to right: Matthew Hardy (bookwriter/lyricist) West Hyler (director) Brian Gillespie (Asst. Director) Actors Jarrod Spector, Kevin B McGlynn, Catherine Cox and Jillian Louis
As I write this we are less than 24 hours away from premiering "Flambé Dreams" in NYMF 2012. My journey with the show began two and a half years ago when my wife and I were asked to co-direct a reading of a new musical by Matthew Hardy and Randy Klein. She was visibly pregnant at the time and this is partly how I know the timing so well - I simply take our son's age and add a couple months. We fell in love with Matthew and Randy’s utterly ridiculous show about a man who dreams of becoming a great Maitre D'… like his father who was killed in a freak flaming bananas foster accident. Two years of reading, rewrites, workshops, rewrites, more readings, and more rewrites have finally culminated in tomorrow’s production. During that time great new songs have been written and beloved songs have been cut. Characters have been born, and characters have died and “Flambé Dreams” has worked its way into my heart. Two years ago I loved how funny the show was. And now, though it’s still a hilarious show, the hero's dream of becoming a great Maitre d' doesn't seem so ridiculous to me anymore. I don't think it's any more ridiculous than a dream to be a director. Or an actor. Or a writer with a show premiering in the New York Musical Theater Festival. Every dream, no matter how ridiculous it may sound to someone else, is deeply serious to the dreamer. That's what I love about "Flambé Dreams", that at its core it believes that every dream is important and every dreamer deserving. Tomorrow, for us, that dream becomes a reality.

- West Hyler (Director of Flambé Dreams)

To buy tickets or to learn more about Flambé Dreams go to www.nymf.org/flambedreams or call 212-352-3101