ANMT Concert Reading Series to Open With EMERALD 2/06

A concert reading of EMERALD will take place on Monday, February 6 at 7:30pm at the Lonny Chapman Theatre on Burbank Blvd., and will feature members of the Academy Repertory Company; Noel Britton, Scott Guy, David Holmes, Tedd Szeto, and Peter Welkin, along with guest artists Jake Anthony, Adrian Bewley, Melisa Dunham, Courtney Freed, Christ Warren Gilbert, Randy Guiaya, Sean Hankinson, Shirley Hughes, Rebecca Johnson, Luke Kipp, Gia Mora, Veronica Frances Scheyving, StEwart Scott, Michael Tatlock, Gabrielle Wagner, Erika Whalen, and Jennifer Winkler. ARC Music Director Ross Kalling will be at the piano. Tickets are $10, and can be reserved by visiting www.anmt.org.

The people of the town of Ennismuck, West Ireland, have to face this reality when a mining corporation discovers gold in and around their town. The mining company wants the land and is willing to buy out all of the residents of the town to get it. But, at what cost? The decimation of the local landscape, as well as the loss of local legends and myths that make a small town what it is, and provide a legacy that gets handed down to the next generation?

This is the starting place for the new musical EMERALD, which continues the 2011-12 Concert Reading Series for the Academy for New Musical Theatre. Written by the British writing team of Chris Burgess (book and lyrics) and Denise Wright (music), it tells the story of Grace Maguire who abandons her life in Manhattan and purchases a dilapidated cottage (unbeknownst to her) in the secluded seaside town of Ennismuck, West Ireland. However, as soon as she arrives she clashes with the mining corporation that is buying up the local properties in order to extract the newly found gold. Grace Campaigns to save Ennismuck and can’t understand why the local inhabitants are so ho hum about their picturesque and charming little town. She gets off to a rocky start with a local artist, Mulcahy, who has been commissioned to create a statue that represents the town’s heritage but also attempts to make the mining company look like they care about the locals. Is Grace’s American fortitude enough to topple the mining company’s strangle hold on the town? Will the locals ever warm up to their new American neighbor, and will she eventually thaw Mulcahy’s frozen heart.

With songs like "Killala Bay", "Irish-American" and a retelling of the local metaphoric legend, "The Legend of the Black Pig", the piece has a distinctly Irish point of view. "Irish disdain for outsiders is well known," says concert producer and ANMT Artistic Director Elise Dewsberry, "but often only a front for a grand sense of pride and for passionately protecting their local color, characters, and heritage."

EMERALD won ANMT's 2011 Search for New Musicals contest, which provides for a workshop by the Academy Repertory Company, detailed feedback from the ANMT staff, and a concert reading of the work produced by ANMT. This concert will feature a new draft, based on the work which the writers have done since the April workshop.

 

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