New Musicals from Ty Defoe, Laurie Hochman, Nolan Doran & More Featured in New York Theatre Barn's New Works Series

New York Theatre Barn will host a free live stream of its award-winning New Works Series on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021 at 7PM EST, featuring excerpts from the new musicals The Lesson and Nothing To See Here. The live 1-hour presentation will also feature a conversation with the writers and creative team.

The new musical The Lesson has music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson Grant recipient Avi Amon and Nolan Doran (Head Over Heels) and book by Jonathan Larson Grant recipient Ty Defoe (Straight White Men). The Lesson is a fantastical reimagining of a chance encounter between a revolutionary Beethoven and a more-established Mozart, whose worlds - and hearts - collide in Vienna in 1787. The show is set in an alternate universe that melds the future and past into an entirely new, queer, fun, and political space. A hybrid of theater, film, concert, and dance party, The Lesson is a meditation on the purpose of artistic expression, the influence of family on who we are, and the control of information and ideas by the government. It's a lesson that will change their lives - and the world - forever. Featuring performances by Milo Alosi (Aladdin, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Bradley Dean (The Phantom of the Opera, Bat Out Of Hell) and Heath Saunders (The Great Comet, Alice By Heart).

Nothing To See Here, the new musical about the first major anti-Evolution court case, has book and music by Bryan Blaskie, and book and lyrics by Laurie Hochman. In the summer of 1925, the struggling town of Dayton, Tennessee hosted a trial that claimed national headlines and divided the country - the Scopes Monkey Trial. Nothing to See Here is the story of Frank Robinson, the man who built the trial as a publicity stunt to save his town, and May Robinson, his wife who longs to save her family and her father's church from falling apart in a seemingly Godless world. Of course, notorious reporter H.L. Mencken is there to spin their story - and to uncover what the truth behind the trial really is. Featuring performances by Jonathan Christopher (Hamilton) and Forest VanDyke (Choir Boy, Dog Man: The Musical)

The Lesson has been developed with New York Theatre Barn previously in its Choreography Lab and by a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship. Nothing To See Here was selected as a semi-finalist for the National Musical Theater Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and will participate in Rubber City Theatre's Incubator in 2021.

The 1-hour presentation will be available on New York Theatre Barn's YouTube channel and Broadway on Demand, and is hosted and produced by Associate Artistic Director Jen Sandler and Artistic Director Joe Barros. Now in its 14th season, the New Works Series has received support in part by the Innovation & Exploration Fund, a program of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. For more information, visit New York Theatre Barn's website: www.nytheatrebarn.org.

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