NAMT Announces Dean, Ferland & More For 22nd Festival of New Musicals 10/21-22

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) has announced preliminary casting and final music directors for its 22nd Annual Festival of New Musicals taking place on Thursday, October 21 and Friday, October 22, 2010 at New World Stages in New York City. The Industry-only two-day event features 8 new musicals in 45-minute staged readings.

Bradley Dean (A Little Night Music), Danielle Ferland (Into the Woods) and Parker Pogue will lead the cast of BIG RED SUN and will be joined by Eric Anderson (South Pacific), Rachel Coloff (Fiddler on the Roof) and Michael Kostroff ("The Wire"). Mary Mitchell Campbell (The Addams Family) has joined the presentation as the Music Director.

THE BOWERY BOYS cast will be led by Curtis Holbrook (Xanadu) and Carrie Manolakos (Mamma Mia!) along with John Cudia (Phantom of the Opera), Kathy Voytko (Nine), Cullen R. Titmus (Avenue Q), Adam Kantor (Rent), Morgan Karr (Spring Awakening), Nate Lewellyn, Max Quinlan, and Andrew Redlawsk.

Terrence Mann (The Addams Family) and Stanley Bahorek (...Spelling Bee) will lead the cast of THE GIVER and will be joined by Vivienne Cleary, Carmen Ruby Flloyd (Avenue Q), Jaimie Kelton, Justin Keyes (Mary Poppins), Heather Matarazzo ("The Princess Diaries" movies), Mike Masters (Face The Music at Encores!) and Eliseo Roman (In The Heights).

Rachel deBenedet (Catch Me If You Can), Patti Murin (Xanadu), Christian Hoff (Tony Winner- Jersey Boys) and Nancy Opel (Tony Nominee- Urinetown) will star in HEARTBREAKERS along with Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Tony Nominee- Avenue Q), Kevin Ligon (Finian's Rainbow), T. Oliver Reid (Mary Poppins), Lisa Rothauser (The Producers) and Jason Michael Snow (South Pacific).

Jenny Fellner (Pal Joey, Wicked), Marie France Arcilla (Working) and Beth Malone (Ring of Fire) will join Carrie Cimma (reprising her Drama Desk-nominated role) in LIZZIE BORDEN.

Sally Mayes (Closer Than Ever), Nancy Anderson (Yank!) and Michael McGuirk (Sessions) will PLAY IT COOL once again, joined by Caesar Samayoa (Hot Feet) and Michael Buchanan (Cry Baby).

The cast of RED CLAY will include C. Kelly Wright (Dessa Rose at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley), Kenita R. Miller (Xanadu), J. Bernard Calloway (Memphis), William Jackson Harper (Ruined), Michael Genet (Fences), Herndon Lackey (Parade), Tyrick Wiltez Jones (Finian's Rainbow), Arbender Robinson (The Little Mermaid), Chauncey Bellamy and Marci Henderson. Aron Accurso has joined the presentation as the Music Director.

Barbara Walsh (Company), Matthew Hydzik (West Side Story), Lindsay Mendez (Everyday Rapture) and Jason "Sweettooth" Williams (Bloodsong of Love) will explore THE TROUBLE WITH DOUG. Greg Brown has joined the presentation as the Music Director.

Admission to the FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is open to all theatre industry professionals by registering at www.namt.org. Standby seating is available to the general public.

The 22nd annual Festival of New Musicals is overseen by Festival Artistic Director Branden Huldeen and General Manager Lisa Dozier. At NAMT's Festival, New York City's longest-running musical theatre festival, theatre producers from around the world gather for this industry-only event to discover 8 new musicals presented in 45-minute staged readings over two days. Since 1989, the Festival has presented over 230 musicals and 420 writers, and almost 80% of these shows have found subsequent productions, tours, licensing agreements, and/or cast albums as a direct result of the Festival. NAMT's Executive Director is Kathy Evans.

The NAMT Festival of New Musicals has a history filled with many successes. Festival highlights include the Tony Award-winners The Drowsy Chaperone and Thoroughly Modern Millie; off-Broadway successes such as last season's Vanities, A New Musical (Second Stage) and Ordinary Days (Roundabout Theatre Co.), See Rock City and Other Destinations produced this summer at the Transport Group, I Love You Because, Songs for A New World, Striking 12, Summer of '42; and regional hits like Ace, Children Of Eden, Dangerous Beauty (this season at Pasadena Playhouse), Jane Austin's Emma (which will be produced this season at The Old Globe), Harold and Maude, Honk!, Meet John Doe and Tinyard Hill.

The FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is funded entirely by contributions to the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, a not-for-profit organization, and is supported in part by a generous award from the National Endowment for the Arts and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State's 62 counties.

Photo Credit: BWW-Staff