Meet the Stars of NYMF: Chris Gleim of WHAT DO CRITICS KNOW?

New York Musical Theatre Festival is in full swing and BroadwayWorld has taken the time to sit down with some of the stars of this years NYMF musicals.

Like any great art form, musical theatre is shaped by the events and philosophies of the day. The strength and vitality of musical theatre lie in its ability to stay fresh and relevant. It was with that idea in mind, ten years ago, that the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) was created - to provide an effective platform to introduce new shows, new perspectives, and new blood into the musical theatre canon.

MEET THE STARS OF NYMF sits down with Chris Gleim of WHAT DO CRITICS KNOW?

What's your favorite thing about performing as part of NYMF?

One of my all-time favorite things is workshopping new shows. I love doing material that has no pre-conceived notions about it, and upon completion, the feeling of helping to create something and hopefully make it better. (My ultimate dream is to originate a character and then for the rest of the show's life, have the character described as "A Chris Gleim type" in the breakdown.)

Have you participated in NYMF before? If so, what's your favorite part and what drew you back to the festival?

"What Do Critics Know?" is my fourth NYMF show. (Previous: "Sophia's Fall" (2008), "Tess: A New Rock Opera" (2010), and "SASQUATCHED! The Musical" (2013)) What draws me back is that you're working with extremely creative, quick-thinking, and clever people. Everyone involved knows this isn't a cut-and-paste, re-staging of an old show. From the production team to the creative team - everyone is there to put out the best product they can with oftentimes minimal resources.

What other NYMF show are you most intrigued by or excited to see?

I'm a huge fan of the band, The Everyday Visuals, which is helmed by "POPE! An Epic Musical" writer Christopher Pappas. "Claudio Quest" is intriguing too, because anything that has the team of John Tartaglia, Gary Adler, Shannon Lewis, and the Puppet Kitchen behind it will probably be pretty awesome.

Tell us about your show/your character?

My show, "What Do Critics Know?" is about a musical theatre writer, Nathan Wood, who can't get a show to live beyond opening night on Broadway. It also doesn't help that he's the scourge of the New York theatre critics scene, who seem to delight in being responsible for show closings. A sympathetic friend of Nathan's (with questionable ties to the mob) blackmails the NY theatre critic elite into mounting a show themselves to see just how hard it is to "mount a production, and be judged before the whole world." Hilarity (and chaos) ensues as the critics battle it out with one another as to what actually makes "good" theatre.

My character, Nathan, wants nothing else but to write a Broadway hit, and to live on the Great White Way forever. His unrelenting ambition and absolute abhorrence for theatre critics results in his inability to receive feedback of any kind and stymies his creativity. It's only when he starts to get the help from a theatre critic, and look at his material through a critic's eye does he start to find success and artistic fulfillment.