ANMT Announces '11 Search for New Musicals Winners

The Academy for New Musical Theatre has completed all the readings and evaluations for the 2011 Search for New Musicals, and we are thrilled to announce the winners.

First Prize goes to Emerald, book & lyrics by Chris Burgess, music by Denise Wright. Second Prize goes to TWO new musicals: Life After Life, book by Tracey Langran Corea, lyrics by Thaddeus Corea and Tracey Corea, music by Thaddeus Corea; and The Spirit of River City by Randolph Hobler. Third prize goes to Silas Marner, by Cathy Elliott.

In Emerald, American Grace Maguire moves to the idyllic seaside town of Ennismuck, West Ireland, where she clashes with a mining corporation, starts a volatile relationship with a local, and finds out some startling truths about her Irish heritage. This new musical will receive a workshop with the Academy Repertory Company in May of 2011, and a concert reading as part of the 2011-12 Concert Reading Series at the Colony Theatre in Burbank.

Life After Life is a modern rock musical about a group of loved ones who confront a past that binds them together in this life and the afterlife. The Spirit of River City tells the fanciful story of an elder Meredith Willson who decides to travel from heaven back to Mason City, 1928, to debate with his younger self, right some past wrongs, and lay the groundwork for writing his famous musical The Music Man. Each of these new musicals will receive an ANMT staff table reading and feedback session in May of 2011.

Silas Marner is based on George Eliot's third novel, Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, first published in 1861, which tells the story of a reclusive weaver who becomes the unlikely guardian of an abandoned child. This piece will receive an ANMT Video Analysis.

ANMT is committed to an ongoing search to find and nurture promising new musical theatre. If you've written a musical, and you would like some honest, constructive, detailed feedback on how to make your musical better, you can submit your musical to ANMT for dramaturgical feedback at levels from evaluation to analysis to table reading to workshop to concert reading.

British writers Chris Burgess and Denise Wright won second prize in the 2010 ANMT Search with the previous draft of their new musical Emerald. Their response to ANMT's ongoing dramaturgical feedback on the piece is "Thank you SO MUCH for your absolutely fantastic analysis of Emerald. What a great opportunity we now have to strengthen and clarify the piece. If only life were like this, and you got a second and third shot at it! ... You have an eagle eye and a pitch perfect ear and we treasure your insights and suggestions. A big thank you yet again from across the pond. We really wouldn't be where we are with this show without you."

Many other writers have been enthusiastic about the feedback they have received by submitting to ANMT's Search, saying "The real value of this service is in its rarity: from genuine industry professionals who have the clarity and vision to provide feedback with no bias or agenda and which asks the right questions and suggestions to enable YOU to genuinely UNDERSTAND how to make your work a better piece of musical theatre - the long term benefits of which are incalculable!" (Michael Dresser); "ANMT offers something unique: an in-depth, thoughtful, honest appraisal of a work in progress. They deliver enormous value for a relatively small financial investment. I recommend the Search to any writer developing a new work for the musical stage." (Stephen Telfer); and "Thanks for the honest evaluation. That's not easy to come by and the level of detail you provided far exceeded my expectations so I feel I got more than my money's worth." (S.D. Williams).

All musicals submitted (at any level) to ANMT by DECEMBER 15 of 2011 will be automatically entered in the Search for New Musicals for next season.

Winners will be announced by next March 15 following the annual deadline. The winner of the Search receives a workshop with the Academy Repertory Company, detailed feedback from the ANMT staff, and a concert reading in Los Angeles.

For more information on the Search, visit www.anmt.org

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