The Fabulist, a new musical by David Spencer that tinges the life of Aesop with fantasy as well as fables, will receive a staged reading at the Village Theatre in Seattle, Washington on Saturday, August 6th at 7:30 PM. The show will be presented as part of the Village Theatre's Fifth Annual Festival of New Musicals.
The Fabulist, which is based
on a novel by John Vornholt,features music and lyrics by
Spencer and a book by Stephen Witkin. "How did Aesop get those fables anyway? A
mute slave is given the magical gift of voice and a world is forever changed.
Journey with the famous fabulist on his epic quest for freedom in this
inventive, witty, wonderfully tuneful musical. Aesop matches wits with the
Sphinx, disarms a tyrant king, falls for the Delphic oracle, and somehow
survives it all — armed only with his gift for a great
story," according to notes on the show.Spencer is the author of the recently-published book The Musical Theatre Writer's Survival Guide, "a first-of-its-kind book
that analyzes and explains the ingredients of creating the successful musical." He won a 2002 Richard Rodgers Development Award for The Fabulist, a 2000 Kleban lyrics award, and two Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Theatre
Foundation grants. He has been the lyricist-librettist for two musicals
with composer Alan Menken: Weird Romance and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. He made his professional debut in 1984 with the English adaptation of La Bohéme at the Public Theatre and has since written music and lyrics for Theatreworks/USA's TYA versions of ThePhantom of the Opera and Les Misérables.
"The
Village Theatre is a leading producer of Musical Theatre in the Pacific
Northwest that has enabled the development of over forty five new musicals." Many recent Village
Originals workshops and developmental productions began at the Festival.
For more information on The Musical Theatre Writer's Survival Guide visit: www.aislesay.com/NY-GUIDE.html or www.heinemanndrama.com. The latter link includes the complete serialization and a sneak peek at Spencer's Top 10 inside industry secrets in creating a successful musical. For
ticket information on The Fabulist, call The Village Theatre box office at (425) 392-2202 or
visit villagetheatre.org.