Musical Theater Showcase By MusiCoLab Set for This Month

The original work of six local musical theater writing teams will be presented in the twelfth installment of MusiCoLab's Showcase Series, at the Proscenium Theater at The Drake in Philadelphia, on Monday, November 25th, 2024 at 7 PM.  

MusiCoLab is a non-profit organization that supports musical theater and artists who write musicals in the greater Philadelphia area. Since 2018, MusiCoLab has produced eleven showcases featuring over 100 songs by local composers and lyricists. 

The New Works Showcase program will feature songs from each of the following works in progress:

The Student Princess - Book, music and lyrics by Charlie Gilbert, MusiCoLab's Executive Director. The Student Princess is a musical about a college production of an old-fashioned operetta from a century ago — The Student Prince, by Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Donnelly — and how that work is transformed in the hands of a radical feminist faculty director and her intrepid students.

Call Me Velma - Book, music and lyrics by Chad Gorn. The “true” story of the real murderess who inspired Velma Kelly, Belva Gaertner (known to audiences from Kander and Ebb's Chicago), as told through the eyes of Chicago Tribune journalist Maurine Dallas Watkins. Belva dreams of starting her own club to follow in the footsteps of “Queen of Nightclubs,” Texas Guinan.

Unmasked - Book and lyrics by Barbara Bellman, music by David Kurkowski. A musical based on the life of Anna Coleman Ladd, a successful sculptor who forsakes the comfortable life of a Boston socialite to travel to France in 1917 with her husband, Dr. Maynard Ladd, and make prosthetic masks for soldiers disfigured by the effects of World War II.

The Ballad of King Henry - Concept by Benjamin Kamine, book by Sally Ollove, music and lyrics by Jeffery Barg. A folk music adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry VI Part I, the story of the rise of Prince Hal, who will eventually become King Henry V. While King Henry IV fights a successful war against the Scots, his son Hal wastes his time at taverns and bars with his dearest friend, Falstaff.

Cool at Camp - Lyrics and music by Dani Tapper and Peter Weidman with a book by Dani Tapper, Peter Weidman, Steven Blutig and Robin Raskin. A real and raunchy Jewish Camp musical, told through the eyes of four fourteen-year-old characters. Twin sisters Tess and Shayna and homeschool rivals Will and Alex must navigate the pubescent pressures of fitting in and being “cool” at Camp Huron Lake, a place where being “cool” may mean something much more than they think.

500 Miles, 2 Hearts and a Guitar - Book, music and lyrics by Giovanni Cioplla. Marcus Bell is an acclaimed guitarist dying of cancer under his daughter Randy's care. In a desperate attempt to save him, she believes learning to play his most famous composition will save his life. When she connects online with Jordan Moore and persuades him to give her guitar lessons, what's next for this unlikely pair? 

Ten minutes of excerpts from each work will be presented by an ensemble of versatile local musical theater performers, including Sydney Banks, Rachel Brennan, Anna Caccavaro, Christopher Cauffman Cooke, Michael Covel, Kennedy Kelly, Lauren Krigel, Rowan Leggett, Ben Michael, Taylor Molt, Nichalas Parker and Jayson Williams, accompanied by music director Linda Henderson and guitarist Tim Schilling.  

“In the upcoming November 2025 edition of our New Works Showcase, we offer a mix of writers who are new to MusiCoLab audiences and new work by writers who have been seen in previous showcases.” observes MusiCoLab's executive director Charlie Gilbert. “In this way, we are able to support writers whose ongoing work continues to develop while also making a place for emerging new voices.”

Musicals featured in previous New Works Showcases have been seen on stages in New York and throughout the region and the nation. 

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