NMI will present six 15-minute musicals, two 40-minute musicals, and a couple dozen 5-minute musical shorts.
What has NMI been up to during lockdown? Well, six 15-minute musicals, two 40-minute musicals, and a couple dozen 5-minute musical shorts. They are releasing one video a week, beginning today!
They were all set to present the 15-minute musicals at the Broadwater Theatre this summer, but then the health COVID hit, so they pivoted, and shot some of them online using Zoom, and some in their studio in North Hollywood, with social distancing protocols in place for the ensemble cast of four.
Ironically, this year's theme was "Keep Your Distance."
The first 15-minute musical for you to see, beginning today, is A View From the Moon. Set in a tropical paradise, in which a Covid-stranded couple has run out of money, and an entitled Rich Woman thinks she can buy their gratitude and the affection of the hotel proprietor. This is a bittersweet, aching romance.
Book by Richard Holland, music by Ben Ginsberg, and lyrics by Stacey Weingarten
Directed by Scott Guy, music direction by Ron Barnett.There will be five other 15-minute musicals to see in the upcoming weeks. So, pull up a front row seat, and know you're saving $25 to see it online for free.
But, wait, that's not all.
NMI really has pivoted. In the coming weeks, they also going to be presenting to you two 40-minute musicals written specifically for the internet: United We Tweet by B.K. Wells and Jane Wong (about a clown who is the President of the United States), and Fly Fly Fly by Katie Brady (about a couple facing an empty-nest for the first time):
They also want to tease you with other upcoming musical webseries, including Tales from a Darkening Wood, set in a spooky forest, with musical stories told by mythical storytelling creatures; as well as The Devil's Dictionary, Slow Time with the Potato Face Blind Man, and The Last of Its Kind, a series of original musical theatre shorts.
It's a strange but exciting time at New Musicals Inc, as we explore the short-form online musical. Please visit them online for a new musical experiment every week. Free.
Link: http://nmi.org/online/
Videos