Stewart Talks NYMF and Spring Concert Series

One of the wonderful things about Fall in New York is the annual New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), which is entering its fourth year in the Big Apple . Having been hailed as "the Sundance for musical theatre," the Festival has premiered 99 new musicals since its inception in 2004.  This is a huge endeavor and the also s the largest musical theatre event in the world, with a slate of more than 30 full productions and some 100 special events, including readings, workshops, concerts, parties, seminars and master classes.  To their credit,  the Festival received the 2005 $100,000 Jujamcyn Theaters Prize for its "extraordinary contribution to the development of creative talent in the theater."

And there is something for everyone likes in theatre from hip hop and freestyle rap to dance musicals, from traditional musical comedies to edgy satires to epic dramas.   The festival allows audiences a chance to see some new cutting edge musicals which could spark the way for much needed revitatilization of the musical theatre genre. Today's audiences can provide tomorrow's writers with the necessary feedback and inspiration to creating the next generation of Broadway musical's best.

Recently, the NYMF announced the Grand Jury panelists, who will select 18 musicals to be featured in this year's festival.  The panelists include 5 Tony Award winners and a 2-time Tony nominee. The panel consists of 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 two-thirds of the musicals presented during the Festival. 

The judges will make their selections from an anticipated 400 candidates, submitted to NYMF through its annual open submissions program, the Next Link Project.  Important note: The deadline for submissions to NYMF's 2007 Next Link has been extended to March 8 – so, if you want to be considered, time is of the essence.

But wait, there's more exciting news! In an effort to make NYMF a year-round endeavor, they just announced its first-ever Spring Concert series, featuring 4 different shows from March through June – beginning with "More Unauthorized Musicology of Ben Folds" on Monday, March 26 at the Zipper Theatre (336 West 37th Street).   Jaclyn HubermanJaclyn Huberman, the first-ever winner of NYMF's 2006 "Broadway Idol" will perform an evening of songs on May 8 and 13 at Ars Nova Theatre (511 W. 54th Street).  Kicking off the Next Link Launch Weekend is the "Broadway Battle of the Bands" on Friday, May 18 (at a location tba), and "Undercover Showtunes" on Monday, June 18 at The Zipper Theatre.

So, Kris and I had a great conversation recently and we talked about the upcoming Festival and the history of the Festival.

TJ: Okay, so let's talk. How long, Kris, have you been involved with the Festival?

STEWART: I founded the Festival and it began in 2004.

TJ: And obviously, it was very successful.

STEWART: Oh, yeah. It's been a great endeavor!  In our first year, we were a bit unsure about whether people really wanted something like this. We wanted it to show that musical theater can be fresh and exciting and useful and independent-minded. There were a lot of writers out there who could not get their new material to the next level. One of the important things for us was that a lot of our peers wanting new musicals were getting caught in readings and presentations and not getting the chance at getting their work seen at the next level and we wanted to give them the opportunity. You don't really know what you have until you get the chance to get the work onto a rehearsal stage with actors, a director and a choreographer. Just reading it in front of an audience doesn't give a real sense of the actual work and what it could be in front of an audience.

TJ: So the theatre community has been very supportive of your efforts?

STEWART: Yes, absolutely!  Actually, we've been very fortunate. I think one of the reasons it's been so successful is there's such a mass of writers and performers and producers…it's such a commercial machine that happens here. All of these guys have a little shared interest in new works being done and shows being launched. Part of the problem is that individually or independently, none of these groups can do it themselves. It's hard to find the works that can really excite you and the developmental process can be very expensive.  In terms of the NYMF, we can present 34 musicals a year and not every show needs to be for every person.  We'll get from 350 to 470 some odd musicals in a year. If that same volume of shows was coming up on a producer's desk, it's incredibly time consuming to navigate them and look through them. Another important thing for us to have an open door for writers is to get material from all around the world submitted. We also give it a diligent and a really strong analysis of it so we can show that we stand behind the works that we select so that the performers and the producers will know that we have some really exciting works in the Festival.

TJ: Have you had a lot of submissions this year?

STEWART: I think we'll have between 350 and 400 again this year.

TJ: That's a lot of scripts to look through!

STEWART: It is!  Especially with musicals because reading a musical is not just sitting with a script on your lap. You're considering the score and the structure of the show. There's also technical questions to consider, the size of the work, the liability of the work….is it something new and unexpected….something we haven't seen before.  We make sure that all submitted works get seen by a couple of different people and all the work is looked at blind so none of the readers know who the people are that submitted the work.  This way everyone is given the same opportunity to have their works reviewed.  The process continues with more reviews of the works by more readers until the final jury gives their recommendations of 18 works. Typically, all 18 works will be invited to the festival.

TJ: And there's been some success with some of the works like Altar Boyz, The Big Voice: God or Merman?, Captain Louie, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Gutenberg! the Musical!, Shout! The Mod Musical and [title of show].

STEWART: Yeah, the shows have had the opportunity to launch themselves through the Festival and we're very excited about that,

TJ: Now, the Festival is scheduled from September 17^th through October 7^th?

STEWART: That's right! It's important that the writers know they still have a chance to get their work in and they can check out our website http://www.nymf.org for more details. The deadline in March 8^th. And now we are trying to keep things at NYMF going on a year round basis with events happening throughout the year.  That's the idea for the concerts we are sponsoring in the spring with BroadwayWorld.com.

TJ: So basically, if it's not ready for the March 8^th deadline, there is always next year.

STEWART: That's right!

Kris and I spoke a little bit more about the Spring Concert series, which promises to be some very exciting events in NYC.  I am including some information here on the current schedule of events to give you a taste of what you can look forward to beginning on March 26^th!!!:

·         "More Unauthorized Musicology of Ben Folds", the first in a series of concerts by the New York Musical Theatre Festival, will take place Monday, March 26 at the Zipper Theatre, 7pm.  Broadway and Off-Broadway's best take on the songs of pop sensation Ben Folds, whose offbeat cast of characters, biting lyrics and virtuosic melodies have rocked and touched the music world for over a decade.  General admission tickets are $50.  V.I.P. tickets with a post-show reception with the cast $90.

·         "Broadway Idol" is set for May 8 and 13.  NYMF's first-ever 'Broadway Idol' winner Jaclyn HubermanJaclyn Huberman will perform a solo concert at Ars Nova.  Tickets are $20.

·         "Broadway Battle of the Bands" will take place on Friday, May 18.  Many of musical theatre's most popular artists play in established bands in the NY area, and this May, NYMF's gonna round 'em up for a good old-fashioned play-off, high-school style.  It's a bang-up Bandapalooza blow-out – the perfect kickoff to NYMF's Next Link Launch Party Weekend (May 18 – 20), three days of networking, seminars and work sessions designed to help writers, directors and producers get their shows on the right track as they start down the road to NYMF 2007.

·         "Undercover Showtunes" is set for Wednesday, June 20, the Zipper Theatre).  'Eleanor Rigby' 'Captain Fantastic'  'Major Tom'  'Roxanne'.  Some of history's best showtunes didn't actually come from musicals.  This June, NYMF surveys the entire pop/rock canon and picks out an evening of its best characters, stories and storytellers, taken on by the best performers in New York.  Spanning the rich, poignant characters created by The Beatles, Elton JohnElton John & Bernie TaupinBernie Taupin, Joni Mitchell, Rufus WainwrightRufus Wainwright, Stephin Merritt, The Decemberists and dozens more.

Folks, this a great opportunity to see some Broadway performers showcasing a different side of their talents that you haven't seen before.  It's sure to bring out some amazing performances from some of Broadway's best! For tickets or more information on the NYMF Spring Concert Series, call (212) 352-3101 or click here. And, NYMF's 2007 Spring Concert Series is co-sponsored by www.BroadwayWorld.com and by amNewYork, as part of its "Artist Now" Series. 

Keep your eye out on BroadwayWorld.com for more information on this year's NYMF and for more events from them throughout the year or check out their website at www.nymf.org.  Special thanks to Kris StewartKris Stewart for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with me and hope to see you at one of the events! For now, ciao and remember folks, theatre is my life!

Photo of Kris Stewart by Ben Strothmann