Conan Doyle Estate Backs NYMF's New Sherlock Holmes Musical MY DEAR WATSON

MY DEAR WATSON, a Sherlock Holmes musical, is an official selection of the 2017 New York Musical Festival. The production will be funded in part by The Conan Doyle Estate, the family estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories from 1887 to 1927.

MY DEAR WATSON was written by Jami-Leigh Bartschi, an Orlando area composer. The production begins Tuesday, July 11th at Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street) and will continue through Sunday, July 16th. nymf.org/mydearwatson.

MY DEAR WATSON is set in the original period of the late nineteenth century. It combines quotes, characters, and plot elements of several original Conan Doyle stories, including A Study In Scarlet, The Valley of Fear, The Three Garridebs and The Final Problem, all tied together in an original way. This allows the audience to be taken from Holmes and Watson's initial introduction to the final showdown with Moriarty in just 100 minutes.

Mainstreet Musicals finds the work to be "crisp, clean, period, very much in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels...interesting, clever, and faithful to the original source." They elaborate with "The familiar source material and clever lyrics and music deserve to be appreciated and supported along the journey towards full realization in the performance."

Conan Doyle Estate director, Richard Boyle, says of the collaboration, "The Conan Doyle Estate's main aim is to have the voice of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle heard by modern audiences. I am sure my great uncle would have been delighted that his family, through the Conan Doyle Estate, is supporting My Dear Watson. His passion for innovation and the arts is beautifully represented by Jami-Leigh Bartschi."

Writer Jami-Leigh Bartschi is a music educator, playwright, and composer, originally from Milford, Conneticut. She holds a Bachelor Arts degree in Music, and a Master's degree in Liberal Studies from Rollins College. She has been recognized as Teacher of the Year, and she has accompanied and musically directed numerous productions, including West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Cinderella, among others. She lives with her husband in Longwood, Florida.

Director John DiDonna, a 25-year veteran or Orlando theater, successfully helmed the show's professional debut at theLowdnes Shakespeare Center last year. Several of his original Central Florida cast members will be joining the New York performance. DiDonna's company, Empty Spaces, is known for the eclectic perennial favorite Phantasmagoria and many other productions, both familiar and original. DiDonna and Empty Spaces are deeply involved in Florida theater events, including The Red Chair Affair, the Orlando Fringer Festival, and the Orlando Shakespeare Festival Intern Program.

The cast of MY DEAR WATSON features Liz Curtis, Justin Mousseau, Kyle Stone, John DiDonna, Jason Blackwater, and Jackson McLaskey.

The musical was written and composed by Jami-Leigh Bartschi. The Assistant Director is Jaz Zepatos. Piano and violin accompaniment are provided by Pati Sayers and Eri Park, respectively.

Performances of MY DEAR WATSON are 7/11 at 8PM, 7/13 at 9PM, 7/14 at 1PM, 7/15 at 5PM, 7/16 at 1PM. Tickets for MY DEAR WATSON are available at the New York Musical Festival. Direct Link to purchase tickets: www.nymf.org/festival/2017-events/my-dear-watson. The NYMF PASS is another way to experience the New York Musical Festival. To purchase a pass, visit www.nymf.org/festival/tickets. The running time is approx. 100 minutes.

The New York Musical Festival nurtures the creation, production, and public presentation of stylistically, thematically, and culturally diverse new musicals to ensure the future vitality of musical theater.

Now in its fourteenth year, the Festival is the premier musical theater event in the world. The preeminent site for launching new musicals and discovering new talent, the Festival provides an affordable platform for artists to mount professional productions that reach their peers, industry leaders, and musical theater fans. More than 90 Festival shows have gone on to productions on and Off-Broadway, in regional theaters in all 50 states, and in more than 24 countries worldwide. Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2013, NYMF received a special Drama Desk Award in recognition of its work "creating and nurturing new musical theater, ensuring the future of this essential art form."

NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. 2017 NYMF is sponsored by The City of New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, PRG, TheaterMania, Clear Channel Outdoor and the Village Voice, and is supported, in part, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

The NYMF PASS is a great way to experience The New York Musical Festival. Witha NYMF PASS, you can get into the theater before individual ticket holders. Passes also offer the exclusive ability to book tickets before they go on sale to the public. Individual tickets on sale now.

The 2017 New York Musical Festival will take place July 10 - August 6. For more information, visit www.nymf.org.

The Conan Doyle Estate is run and managed by the family of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The familymanage the literary, merchandising, and advertising rights in Conan Doyle's works and characters. The Estate owns United States copyrights in the works still under copyright protection and also own U.S. trademark and common law rights in the name and image of Sherlock Holmes and other Conan Doyle characters.

Conan Doyle was a man of many talents who led an extraordinary life. As well as being a prolific and highly successful author, he was a physician, and adventurer, a sportsman and a campaigner on a wide range of issues. For more of his life and for years after his death in 1930, his name and exploits were known around the world.

For more information, visit www.conandoyleestate.org.