Once again the Weston Playhouse Theatre will light up a winter night with a free concert of songs from an exciting new musical performed by top Broadway talent. Tonight, March 1 at 8pm,
Heidi Blickenstaff of Broadway's The Addams Family, The Little Mermaid and The Full Monty will sing the lead in the new musical, String, supported by a stellar cast of Broadway actor/singers.
Written by
Sarah Hammond and
Adam Gwon, String is the winner of the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company's 8th annual New Musical Award. The only award of its kind in the country, the Weston New Musical Award supports new work by writers of notable promise, chosen from a group of national nominations. The writers, along with a music director and a cast of five, will be in Weston to rehearse and perform selections from the piece prior to a concert and recording session in New York City.
Book writer Hammond and composer/lyricist Gwon describe String as "an original musical about the Greek Fates in the modern city." Blickenstaff, seen last summer in Weston's Next To Normal, will play a Greek goddess banished to a modern-day high rise who finds herself breaking her own rules to offer immortality to an ordinary man. Weston Producing Artistic Director Steve Stettler comments, "We were immediately taken by String: its fresh and adventurous score, its gripping and romantic story, and its quirky and compelling cast of characters. We can't wait to hear it in the voices of this exciting cast."
Composer/lyricist
Adam Gwon, recipient of the Kleban and
Fred Ebb Awards, is best known for his musical, Ordinary Days, seen at the Roundabout in New York and on London's West End. Playwright
Sarah Hammond's credits include the Public Theatre Summer Play Festival and residencies at the McDowell Colony and London's
Royal National Theatre.
The concert will be led by music director
Matt Castle (Broadway revival of Company, Weston's world premiere of Saint-Ex). The supporting cast includes
Carey Anderson (Broadway's Mamma Mia),
Katie Thompson (the Public Theater's Giant),
Geoff Packard (Broadway's Rock of Ages) and
Zachary Prince (Broadway's On A Clear Day...).
Weston's New Works Programs are supported by the Anton Family Foundation, Dramatists Play Service,
Frederick Loewe Foundation,
Stacey Mindich Productions,
Music Theatre International, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, National Endowment for the Arts, Rodgers and Hammerstein Foundation, Sh-K-Boom Records, Tams-Witmark Music Library Inc., and generous individual donors.
The free concert will be held at the Weston Playhouse, 12 Park Street, just off Route 100 S in Weston, Vermont. There is ample parking around the Village Green and in the adjacent Weston Mill Yard. The hour-long concert begins at 8pm and will be followed by a brief reception with the writers and performers. No reservations are necessary. For more information, call
802-824-8167 x104.
Photo by Tim Fort
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