GROW A SHOW Musical Theatre Workshop Returns To The Lied Center!

Following the success of Grow a Show Musical Theatre Workshops at the Lied Center in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019, the Lied Center has once again been selected to host performances of two original musicals with potential Broadway trajectory, being presented in a staged reading format for a panel of industry experts. 

This year's panel of experts include Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award winning and nominated artists connected to some of the most popular stage and screen works in recent years. Writer Robert L. Freedman (Broadway: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, TV: ABC's Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella starring Brandy & Whitney Houston), Music director/producer Jason Michael Webb (Broadway: MJ the Musical, The Color Purple, Film: Respect, Music Supervisor: The Greatest Showman), and Producer Kevin Bannerman (Animated Films: Anastasia, Ice Age, The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) will offer feedback and advice to the musicals' creators, guiding them as they take their next steps toward full professional productions.

The Lincoln community is invited to attend these musical readings for FREE on September 9 and 10 at 7:30pm at the Lied Center! Tickets can be reserved in advance at liedcenter.org/growashow. 

On each of the two evenings of the workshop, audiences can expect to experience a reading of the first act of the selected show featuring local talent, followed by feedback and questions from the panel. Total time for each engagement is expected to be 90 minutes to 2 hours. 

Community auditions will be held on Sunday, August 18 for performers interested in being part of the workshop. More information on auditions can be found at liedcenter.org/growashow.

FREE tickets are available now for the two new musicals featured in this year's Grow a Show Workshop:

Tales From The Comic Book Crackdown

Book by Ben Dickow, Words and Music by Ray Hedgpeth

Directed by Hank Stratton

Public performance on Monday, September 9 at 7:30 PM on the Lied Mainstage

“Tales From the Comic Book Crackdown” is centered around the dramatic 1954 Senate hearings on comic books and juvenile delinquency, which were designed to bring down the comic book industry altogether. Bill Gaines, publisher of E.C. Comics, the most successful comic book publisher of that time with titles such as “Tales from the Crypt,” “The Vault of Horror,” and “Weird Science” was the only publisher who agreed to testify on behalf of comics. It nearly spelled the end of him and his company. And yet somehow, Bill managed to pull off the greatest twist ending in the history of comic books.

THE GOD MACHINE

A musical by Matthew McCollum

Directed by Ann Marie Pollard

Public performance on Tuesday, September 10 at 7:30 PM on the Lied Mainstage

Originally developed by Matthew McCollum and A.J. Bermudez

THE GOD MACHINE tells the (mostly) true story of an abolitionist preacher named John Murray Spear, who abandoned his church for Spiritualism and created one of the most bizarre scandals of the 19th century: a "mechanical messiah" that would, if successful, usher in a new era of peace and prosperity on earth. We follow the conception, construction, and ultimate destruction of this machine through the eyes of a follower whose name was deliberately removed from the record, and whose identity remains a mystery: the machine's Mother Mary. Set to a soundtrack that pulls from folk, old gospel hymns, and progressive rock, THE GOD MACHINE is a liturgical meditation on faith, progress, and our desperate search for a savior.

2024 Lied Center Grow a Show Musical Theatre Workshop Panelists: 

 

Robert L. Freedman

Freedman won the 2014 Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Book of a Musical for the Tony-winning Best Musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. With collaborator Steven Lutvak, Robert was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Score and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics. Robert is writing Book and Lyrics for the new musical, The Flamingo Kid, with Music by Scott Frankel, based on the Garry Marshall film, which had its pre-Broadway try-out in May 2019 at Hartford Stage in Connecticut, directed by Darko Tresnjak (A Gentleman's Guide, Anastasia) and choreographed by Denis Jones (Tootsie, Holiday Inn). Robert was nominated for the Writers Guild Award and two Emmy Awards as the writer and a producer of ABC's Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, the top-rated mini-series of the season and the winner of 5 Emmys, the Television Critics Association Award, the Broadcast Critics Association Award, a Producers Guild Award nominee, and a Golden Globe nominee for Best Television Movie or Miniseries. He was a finalist for the Humanitas Prize for his teleplay for Lifetime's What Makes A Family, a 2-hour drama based on a true story, starring Brooke Shields, Cherry Jones and Whoopi Goldberg, which won a GLAAD Award as Best Television Film of 2001. Robert was nominated for the Writers Guild Award for his teleplay for Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, starring Brandy, Whitney Houston, Whoopi Goldberg, Bernadette Peters, and Jason Alexander, which was seen by an estimated 60 million viewers on “The Wonderful World of Disney” on ABC-TV. A stage adaptation of his teleplay toured the country in a production starring Eartha Kitt. Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella had its highly acclaimed streaming premiere on Disney+ in February 2021.

Jason Michael Webb

Webb is an award-winning director, composer, lyricist, musical director, producer and arranger. Awards/Accolades: Special Tony Award Recipient (Choir Boy, 2019), 2x Drama Desk Winner (Choir Boy, 2019; MJ the Musical, 2022), 2x Tony Award Nominee (The Rose Tattoo, 2020; MJ the Musical, 2022), 2x Stellar Award Nominee, Dove Award winner (Declare Your Name, 2011). Music Director: MJ: The Musical (2021) (also co-Orchestrator/Arranger), The Color Purple (Tony- Emmy- and Grammy- winning Broadway revival, 2016), six-time Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle (2005-2013). Director: The Last Five Years (2021 film of the Jason Robert Brown musical), lauded by The New York Times as “inspiring”, “robust”, and “impressively freed by its physical and creative limitations.” Executive Music Producer: Respect (2021 MGM film about the life of Aretha Franklin, starring Jennifer Hudson) with pop music icons Stephen Bray and Harvey Mason, Jr. Composer/Arranger: “The Ms. Pat Show” (BET+, 2021-); Kenny Leon's Hamlet (Shakespeare in the Park, The Public Theater/PBS, 2023), Kenny Leon's Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park, The Public Theater/PBS, 2019), “Empire” (Fox), “Juanita” (Netflix), “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, featured at the 2013 inauguration of President Barack Obama. Various: Vocalist for national jingle for Smile Direct Club (2021), Associate Production Music Supervisor for The Greatest Showman (20th Century Fox, 2017); Associate Musical Director of Broadway shows including Berry Gordy's Motown: The Musical, Alan Menken's Leap of Faith and Jeanine Tesori's Violet (also Additional Arrangements).

Kevin Bannerman

Kevin joined Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1991, doing story development for THE LION KING, POCAHONTAS and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, among others. He also helped establish their New Songwriters Program.

For 20th Century Fox, Kevin oversaw all aspects of development and production for ANASTASIA, which won two Oscar nominations. Other projects he developed include ICE AGE, EVER AFTER, and PIPPIN. As an independent producer his credits include the film version of FOREVER PLAID.

More recently, Kevin developed five animated musical features for Amazon Studios, and he is currently developing an animated feature with director Kevin Lima. His latest project is as co-host of SQUASH AND STRETCH, a new podcast focused on feature animation, which will launch in August 2024.

Visit us at liedcenter.org.

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