The 4th Annual Florida Festival of New Musicals Announces Its Winning Selections and Event Details for June 2021
The Festival has been created to advance and elevate the original American art form of musical theatre by fostering the development of new musicals.
By: A.A. Cristi Apr. 01, 2021
Excitement is in the air as The Winter Park Playhouse announces the six winning selections for the 4th annual Florida Fesival of New Musicals now scheduled for June 24 - 27, 2021. The Festival, which showcases new musical theatre works, is one of very few in the nation and certainly the only one of its kind in the Southeast region.
The Festival has been created to advance and elevate the original American art form of musical theatre by fostering the development of new musicals and the artistic growth of writers and composers.
Submissions were accepted from writers and composers both nationally and internationally. With a total of 40 new musicals submitted for this event, up from 29 musicals tendered the year before, The Playhouse has steadily increased its submissions every year since the Festival's inception in 2017, which is an indicator of The Florida Festival of New Musicals growth and reputation.
The 4-day event will showcase six brand new, never-before-produced musical works and will bring together writers and composers with patrons, artists, press, producers and directors. The first act of each selected musical will be fully read and sung concert-style, without staging, by varying casts of professional actors and musicians. Audiences will have the unique and exciting opportunity to see musicals in the early stages of development.
The six featured musicals will be:
The Golden Door
Book by Michelle Van Doeren and Andrew Swensen
Lyrics by Andrew Swensen
Music by Scott Anderson (Pittsburgh, PA)
The Golden Door tells the story of hope and courage as we face injustice, and the story of preserving dreams and ideals as we confront painful realities. It follows five young people traveling from Europe to Ellis Island in 1903, and the story of a contemporary Arab-American girl reading the diary of the protagonist 100 years later. The Golden Door explores how dreams lift us one person at a time and how cruelties wound us one person at a time, teaching us that great dreams require great courage.
The Lost Girl
Music & Book by Ben Bonnema (New York, NY)
Lyrics & Book by Arianna Rose (Miami Beach, FL)
Set in 1909 London against the backdrop of the Suffragette Movement, The Lost Girl is about integrating our past into our present and deciding who we want to be moving forward. Shaken by the death of her husband, Wendy tells her daughter Jane the Neverland stories as escapism. But each sibling begins to experience strange and vivid memories, forcing the question-could it all be real? With a lush orchestral score, The Lost Girl is an unapologetically feminist piece about reclaiming the right to have adventures at any age.
Love, Always
Book by Bill Connington
Music and Lyrics by Michael Cooper (New York, NY)
Two actors play twenty-two roles in this romantic musical that travels backwards over the course of 100 years. Relationships may change, but the most important thing is Love - always.
Tangled Webbs
Book and Lyrics by Gary Brumburgh
Music by Ron Creager (Gallatin, TN)
Tangled Webbs is a zany, light-hearted musical spoof of daytime soap operas set during TV's early heyday. The story takes place in the conservative, fictional town of Willowcrest during the "Camelot" summer of 1963. The saga centers around the virtuous, much-admired Webb family -- their friends, their foes, their fate.
What Have They Done with Lolana Lamour?
Book & Lyrics by Bryan Leys
Music by Mary Feinsinger (New York, NY)
Welcome to Beverly Hills where con-women, gangsters and scoundrels meet up in the grand foyer of the mansion owned by screen legend Lolana Lamour. When a desperate real estate agent comes calling, she triggers a series of wild events involving the movie star's wacky maid, her officious personal assistant, a visiting burglar and a frozen corpse All this is complicated by the arrival of three New Jersey gangsters looking to meet the star. Plots and counterplots are hatched resulting in competing Lolana Lamours, screwball romantics, and a runaway wheelchair. What have they done with Lolana Lamour? You'll find out!
Zack Hill and The Rocket Blaster Man Adventure
Book by Werner Treischman
Music & Lyric by Thomas Tierney (New York, NY)
Based on the Comic Strip Zack Hill by John Deering and John Newcombe
Zack Hill follows the struggles of Zack, a 9-year-old boy who yearns for a normal home. Jan, his widowed mother, runs a boarding house full of eccentric characters - Mrs. Belmont, a cranky older woman who menaces Zack with a hairbrush; Mr. Grumbine, an ominous hermit; and Vince and Carl, bachelor pals with polar-opposite personalities. When Jan is confronted with a financial crisis that may force her to sell the house, Zack is determined to "Save the Day." Even though his solution backfires, Zack finds his dream of home was closer than he thought.
The Florida Festival of New Musicals will be held at The Winter Park Playhouse June 24 - 27, 2021. Ticket price is $10 per show and a 6 show "Festival Fun Pack" is $50. The address is 711 Orange Avenue Winter Park, FL 32789.
All tickets will go on sale in April of 2021. To purchase tickets and get more information call the box office 407-645-0145 or visit online at www.winterparkplayhouse.org.
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