Nancy Opel and Joe DiPietro to Host NAMT Annual Songwriters Showcase, 10/12

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) announced today that Tony nominee Nancy Opel and Tony winner and NAMT alum Joe DiPietro (O. Henry's Lovers '98) will host the NAMT Songwriters Showcase as part of the 24th Annual Festival of New Musicals on Friday, October 12 from 1:20-2:30pm at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street). This year's Showcase will highlight shows that have received development support through NAMT's member theaters.

The Showcase will feature songs from the following new musicals: 

Amazing Grace (Book by Christopher Smith & Arthur Giron; Music & Lyrics by Christopher Smith) received a full production at Goodspeed Musicals this season. 

Careless Love (by Ryan Dunkin) received a full production at The Depot Theatre (Westport, NY) this season.

First Date (Book by Austin Winsberg; Music & Lyrics by Alan Zachary & Michael Weiner, both Festival Alumni for The Mystery of the Dancing Princesses in 2001, and Weiner for LiberTy Smith in 2000) had a workshop and full production at The 5th Avenue Theatre in co-production with A Contemporary Theatre. NAMT member Junkyard Dog Productions is attached as the commercial producer.

Fly By Night (Conceived by Kim Rosenstock; Written by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick & Kim Rosenstock), a recipient of a NAMT National Fund for New Musicals Writers ResidenCy Grant at TheatreWorks, was developed at American Musical Theatre Project at Northwestern University, received a workshop and production at TheatreWorks and has an upcoming full production at Dallas Theater Center.

Harmony, Kansas (Book & Lyrics by Bill Nelson; Music by Anna K. Jacobs), was a recipient of a NAMT National Fund for New Musicals Writers ResidenCy Grant and a Production Grant. It received a residency at Barrington Stage Company, a reading at Goodspeed Musicals as part of their Festival of New Artists and a world premiere at Diversionary Theatre this season.

The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes (Book & Lyrics by Christopher Dimond; Music by Michael Kooman, both Festival Alumni for Dani Girl, presented in 2011) received a residency at Goodspeed Musicals and The 5th Avenue Theatre, and a workshop at Trinity Repertory Company.

Who's Your Baghdaddy? (by Marshall Pailet & A.D. Penedo, both Festival Alumni for The Chocolate Tree in 2007) was presented at The DC Fringe Festival and in concert at Joe's Pub in New York by The New Musical Foundation.

Registration for the Festival, including the Songwriters Showcase, is free for Industry members and now open at www.namt.org/festival. Open registration closes on September 30 and any registrations received after that date will be subject to a late registration fee. A limited number of tickets will be made available to the public for free on a standby basis.

NAMT's 24th Annual Festival of New Musicals presented October 11 and 12 includes: Bleeding Love (Book by Jason Schafer, Music by Arthur Lafrentz Bacon, Lyrics by Harris Doran); Bonfire Night (Book, Music & Lyrics by Justin Levine); The Circus in Winter (Music & Lyrics by Ben Clark, Book by Beth Turcotte); Funked Up Fairy Tales (Book, Music & Lyrics by Kirsten Childs); Nobody Loves You (Book & Lyrics by Itamar Moses, Music by Gaby Alter); Sleeping Beauty Wakes (Book by Rachel Sheinkin, Music by Brendan Milburn, Lyrics by Valerie Vigoda); Southern Comfort (Book & Lyrics by Dan Collins, Music by Julianne Wick Davis); and Triangle (Book by Thomas Mizer, Curtis Moore and Joshua Scher, Lyrics by Thomas Mizer, Music by Curtis Moore).

Held in New York City every fall over two days, the annual Festival presents 45-minute staged readings of eight new musicals before an industry-only audience with the experience and resources to move the work forward.

For the ninth consecutive year NAMT's Festival of New Musicals will be presented at the premiere Off-Broadway facility New World Stages, located west of the Theatre District at 340 West 50th Street.

The 24th Annual Festival of New Musicals is overseen by NAMT's New Work Director and Festival Producing Director Branden Huldeen and General Manager Lisa Dozier. Alan Filderman is Casting Director for the Festival. Betsy King Militello is the Executive Director of NAMT.

In 1989 the Festival of New Musicals was created to provide a forum to celebrate the new musicals that were being produced and presented around the country. Since then, the Festival has introduced musical theatre producers to 270 musicals and 490 writers from around the world. More than 75% of these shows have gone on to subsequent productions and tours, been printed in publishers' catalogues, and recorded on cast albums.

Past Festival productions include Adam Gwon's Ordinary Days, Don McKellar, Bob Martin, Greg Morrison and Lisa Lambert's The Drowsy Chaperone; Richard Morris, Dick Scanlan and Jeanine Tesori's Thoroughly Modern Millie; Stephen Schwartz and John Caird's Children of Eden; Kirsten Childs' The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin; George Stiles and Anthony Drewes' Honk!; Jason Robert Brown's Songs for a New World; and Hunter Foster and David Kirshenbaum's Summer of '42.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre, founded in 1985, is a national service organization dedicated exclusively to musical theatre. Our mission is to advance musical theatre by nurturing the creation, development, production and presentation of new musicals. Our 150 members, located throughout 34 states and abroad, are some of the leading producers of musical theatre in the world, and include theatres, presenting organizations, higher education programs and individual producers.

The FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is funded entirely by contributions to the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, a not-for-profit organization, and is supported in part by a generous award from the National Endowment for the Arts and by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. For more information about NAMT, visit www.namt.org.

Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski

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