University of Oklahoma Workshops Neil Bartram and Brian Hill's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, Oct 2012

Composer/lyricist Neil Bartram and book writer Brian Hill, Drama Desk Nominated authors of Broadway's The Story of My Life, will workshop their newest musical Something Wicked This Way Comes, adapted from the novel by Ray Bradbury, with the Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre at the University of Oklahoma in October 2012.

Paul Christman, Director of the School of Musical Theatre says, "Brian and Neil are the perfect team to create a musical from Mr. Bradbury's coming-of-age story. We are thrilled that they are sharing their latest musical with our students."

Something Wicked This Way Comes is supported in part by the National Fund for NewMusicals, a program of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre www.namt.org, with funds contributed in honor of Kathy Evans and a grant from the Kerr Foundation, Inc. Bartram and Hill will be in residence on the OU campus for three weeks working with the cast of undergraduate musical theatre majors culminating in readings of the piece on October 25 and 26, 2012 in the Weitzenhoffer Theatre.

Neil Bartram (composer/lyricist) is the composer and lyricist of Broadway's The Story of My Life with book writer Brian Hill (four Drama Desk Award nominations including two forNeil - Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics). Their adaptation of CarloCollodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio was commissioned by Chicago Shakespeare Theater for their 2011 season. Neil and Brian's musical Not Wanted On The Voyage received a developmental production at Northwestern University's Barber Theatre as part of the American Music Theatre Project, and was part of Goodspeed Musicals' 2012 New Works Festival. Upcoming projects include Spin for Seoul Korea's OD Musical Company directed by Eric Schaeffer and an adaptation of Michel Tremblay's Les Belles-Soeurs, both with book writer Brian Hill. Neil's awards include a Jonathan Larson Foundation Award and a Dramatists Guild Fellowship. Cast albums include Somewhere in the World and The Story of My Life (PS Classics). Neil is a member of the Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, and is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Music Theatre Workshop.

Brian Hill (book writer) is an award-winning actor who now devotes his time to writing and directing. For the Stratford Shakespeare Festival he direcTed Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience and was associate director of Man of La Mancha and Fiddler on the Roof. He was associate director of the Canadian companies of Forever Plaid and the US national tours of Sunset Boulevard and The Sound of Music. For Disney Theatrical Productions he directed the reading of High School Musical 2, was resident director The Lion King on Broadway and associate director of The Little Mermaid on Broadway. With composer and lyricist Neil Bartram he has written the book for Not Wanted on the Voyage, The Nightingale and the Rose, Clara's Piano, Somewhere in the World, and The Adventures of Pinocchio, which was commissioned for the 2011 Chicago Shakespeare Theater season. Current Bartram and Hill projects include Spin with director Eric Schaeffer and musical adaptations of Michel Tremblay's groundbreaking play Les Belles-Soeurs. Brian is best known as the book writer for The Story of My Life, which premiered on Broadway in 2009, earned four Drama Desk Award nominations (outstanding musical, music and lyrics, and book), and now enjoys a healthy licensing life in theatres around the world.

The Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre (producer) is named for Tony and Oliver Award winner A. Max Weitzenhoffer, a leading independent producer and theatre owner for over 30 years on Broadway and the West End. Weitzenhoffer's gift of more than $5 million – the largest individual endowment of any musical theatre program in the country – puts the School at the forefront of musical theatre training in America. The unique degree program offers students conservatory style musical theatre training within a dynamic liberal arts university. Previous new works produced by the School include- Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon; Love, NY by Michael Ruby and Rob Rokicki; On Common Ground by David Austin (prod. w/ Lyric Theatre Oklahoma); Ethan Frome by Michael Ruby and Adam Gwon; Star of the Heart Land by Tom Stuart (prod. w/ Lyric Theatre Oklahoma); I Want My 80's Musical! by Tom Stuart (prod. w/ Lyric Theatre Oklahoma); Lily & Lily by Mark Bramble, Billy Stritch and Mark Waldrop(prod. w/ Goodspeed Musicals); The Great Unknown by Jim Wann and William Hauptman (prod. w/ Dodger Productions); Jack by Will Holt and Tom Sawyer (prod. w/ the Schubert Organization). For more information, visit musicaltheatre.ou.edu.

 

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