NYMF Announces 18 Musicals for Next Link Project

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) is pleased to announce the first 18 new musicals selected for this year's fourth-annual New York Musical Theatre Festival, September 17 through October 7, 2007. The New York Musical Theatre Festival is a three-week celebration highlighting the next generation of musicals and the vibrant community of writers and artists working in musical theater today.  The 18 musicals announced today represent the slate of shows chosen from NYMF's open submissions process, called the Next Link Project.  Approximately 20 other new musicals – in addition to the Next Link selections -- will be announced later this summer.
 
Having presented 99 musicals in the past 3 years NYMF, in fact, will present its milestone 100th musical this fall prior to the start of this year's Festival.
 
"Of course, it is really interesting the patterns we see each year.  In 2007, there were a number of writers with individual takes on classic works – such as 'Emma,' 'Austentatious' and 'Sherlock Holmes, the Early Years' – and a number that wanted to step up and address really challenging, usual subjects – such as 'The Yellow Wood' with ADHD and 'The Boy in the Bathroom' with obsessive-compulsive disorder," said Kris Stewart, NYMF founder and Executive Director.  "We have such a broad range of works submitted to us, but even with 300 submissions, there are ideas each year that seem to speak to a number of different writers."
 
The 2007 Next Link Project Musicals are as follows:

The Angle of the Sun
Book and Lyrics by Rachel Lampert, Music by Larry Pressgrove.
The show is described in press materials as "A brilliant painter's life-long struggle to balance the fears, joys and conflicting passions of art and love"
 
Austentatious
Book by Matt Board, Jane Caplow, Kate Galvin, Luisa Hinchliff, and Joe Slabe,
Music and Lyrics by Matt Board and Joe Slabe
"The rehearsal woes and opening night shenanigans of the Central Riverdale Amateur Players (C.R.A.P.), an amateur theatre company mounting a stage adaptation of Pride and Prejudice."
 
The Boy in the Bathroom
Book by Michael Lluberes, Music by Joe Maloney, Lyrics by Michael Lluberes with additional lyrics by Joe Maloney
"Young man with obsessive-compulsive disorder sequesters himself in his bathroom until his feelings for a young girl force him to consider facing the world."
 
Emma
Book, Music and Lyrics by Joel Adlen.
"A new musical comedy inspired by the classic Jane Austen novel, about a determined young matchmaker who finally falls in love herself."
 
Gemini The Musical
Book by Albert Innaurato, Music by Charles Gilbert, Lyrics by Charles Gilbert and Albert Innaurato.
"A budding composer home from college on break gets a surprise visit from his girlfriend and her brother and confronts his sexuality with some help from his family, the neighbors and the ghost of Maria Callas.  Based on the 1977 play."
 
Going Down Swingin' (The Don Giovanni Radio Hour)
Book and Lyrics by Matt Boresi, Music by Peter Hilliard
"Cad radio actor tries to manipulate everyone around him and fails as the era of the radio play fades (loosely based on the opera Don Giovanni)."
 
Little Egypt
Book by Lynn Siefert, Music and Lyrics by Gregg Lee Henry.
"Three misfit couples experience the ups and downs of love in and around an International House of Pancakes in 1982 Illinois."
 
Look What A Wonder Jesus Has Done
Book, Music and Lyrics by Walter Robinson.
"A gospel folk opera about Denmark Vesey's failed slave and Free Negro rebellion in 1822 Charleston."
 
Love Sucks
Book by Stephen O'Rourke, Music by Brandon Patton, Lyrics by Brandon Patton and Stephen O'Rourke.
"Love's Labour Lost punk-rock style. All-girl group The Guttersnips and all-guy band The Molotovs swear off sex, fall in love, and battle each other for a record deal."
 
Mud Donahue & Son
Book by Jeff Hochhauser (based on Jack Donahue's Letters of a Hoofer to His Ma)
Music by Bob Johnston, Lyrics by Bob Johnston and Jeff Hochhauser.
"The true story of hoofer Jack Donahue, who left his opinionated mother at home in 1910 in search of fame on the vaudeville circuit."
 
Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood
Book, Music and Lyrics by Joan Cushing.
"Little Red Riding Hood gets a Cajun kick, set in the bayou and performed by a cast of animals (turtle, crayfish, frog, duck, cat, gator, etc.)."
 
Sherlock Holmes-The Early Years
Book by Kate Ferguson with additional material by Robbie Hudson,
Music by Jared M. Dembrowski, Lyrics by Susannah Pearse
"The legendary detective makes the acquaintance of his partner-to-be, his arch nemesis-to-be, his housekeeper-to-be, a handful of high-kicking Scotland Yard men and some very naughty orphans in this spoofical/romance/whodunit."
 
Such Good Friends
Book, Music and Lyrics by Noel Katz.
"Comedy writers/actors/friends working on an early TV show are faced with a McCarthy era witchhunt."
 
Sympathy Jones
Book by Brooke Pierce, Music and Lyrics by Masi Asare.
"Receptionist at a spy agency dreams of more and nabs her chance when a top-secret file is left on her desk in this Jane Bond adventure."
 
The Family Fiorelli (and how they stayed one)
Book and Lyrics by Fred Anthony Marco, Music by Alastair William King.
"An Italian-American family must overcome complicated (and often darkly funny) hardships related to their home life and vineyard."
 
The Yellow Wood
Book by Michelle Elliot, Music by Danny Larsen, Lyrics by Michelle Elliott and Danny Larsen.
"Teenager with attention deficit disorder goes without ritalin for a day and struggles to face who he is (with a little help from Robert Frost)."
 
Tully (in no particular order)
Book and additional lyrics by Joshua William Gelb,
Music and Lyrics by Stephanie Johnstone
"Stranded in the underworld with no memory of his past, Catullus must rely on his poetry to piece together the colorful, raucous, lurid and ultimately tragic life he has led."

War Brides
Book by Ronald Sproat, Music by Christopher Berg, Lyrics by Frank Evans.
British war brides fight government red tape to be reunited with their American GI husbands in the United States after WWII
 
Now in its fourth year, NYMF exists to provide a launching pad for emerging musical theatre writers, composers, lyricists and performers, and to bring a new generation of work to new and diverse audiences. Each year, 18 of the festival's selections are chosen by a jury of theater luminaries from open submissions to the Festival's Next Link Project. This year's seven-member jury includes Tony winners, actress Victoria Clark (Encores! Follies, The Light in the Piazza), actor B.D. Wong (M. Butterfly and "Law & Order: SVU"), librettist Rachel Sheinkin (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), producers Margo Lion and Adam Epstein (Hairspray), and Tony nominated director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw (Encores! Follies, The Drowsy Chaperone and Spamalot).  The Grand Jury's selections are made through a blind evaluation process, and the 18 musicals the panel chooses comprise more than half of the musicals presented during the Festival. 
 
In addition to The Next Link Project, the 2007 Festival will include almost twenty additional productions invited from around the world; a series of panels and seminars featuring industry leaders; numerous readings, concerts and cabaret performances; as well as an array of umbrella events co-presented with other musical theater organizations around the city.

Hailed as "the Sundance of Musical Theatre," NYMF is widely-regarded as an essential source for new material and talent discovery, The New York Musical Theatre Festival is the largest musical theatre event in America, and has presented over 90 musicals in its first three years – including the hit shows Altar Boyz, [title of show], and The Great American Trailer Park Musical.  In 2007, it will present its 100th musical production.
 
Memberships for the 2007 Festival are now on sale, and provide the best way for audiences to guarantee access to the hottest productions and their choice of performances.  Memberships combine charitable contributions to the Festival with valuable, flexible subscription packages. Members receive complimentary tickets and can book their seats a month before the general public; they also receive priority seating at the theater, as well as insider information, exclusive programming, and other benefits.
 
NYMF Platinum Membership $250 (includes a $100 tax-deductible donation) includes TEN complimentary tickets with guaranteed access to the shows you want!  First come-first serve seating at NYMF shows, before doors open for general admission and 2 complimentary tickets to a private reading during the festival.  Platinum members have access to purchase additional tickets during the exclusive members-only period for only $20 per ticket.  There is free entry to the NYMF Opening and Closing night celebrations.  Discount admission at all NYMF Partner Events.  Members-only discount at the official NYMF bar.  Invitation to select members-only events.  Platinum members receive acknowledgement on the NYMF website.
 
NYMF Gold Membership $100 (includes a $40 tax-deductible donation) includes FOUR complimentary tickets with guaranteed access to the shows you want!  First come-first serve seating at NYMF shows, before doors open for general admission.  There is free entry to the NYMF Opening and Closing night celebrations.  Discounted admission at all NYMF Partner Events.  Members-only discount at the official NYMF bar. Invitation to select members-only events.  Gold members receive acknowledgement on the NYMF website.
 
NYMF Silver Membership $60 (includes a $30 tax-deductible donation) includes TWO complimentary tickets with guaranteed access to the shows you want!  First come-first serve seating at NYMF shows, before doors open for general admission.  Members-only discount at the official NYMF bar.  Invitation to select members-only events.  Silver members receive Acknowledgement on the NYMF website. 
 
Visit www.nymf.org for more information on NYMF.