Mindi Dickstein and Carmel Dean's New Musical MAIDEN VOYAGE Will Have Workshop at The Kiln Theatre

 New Works Provincetown and Shared Experience will present a workshop in London of the new musical Maiden Voyage with book and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein (Little Women, Benny & Joon) and Carmel Dean (Renascense, Well-Behaved Women). The two week workshop will culminate with two industry presentations on Thursday, January 16, 2025 and Friday, January 17, 2025 at Kiln Theatre, Kilburn High Road, London, NW6 7JR.

Mark Cortale, founder of New Works Provincetown and producer of the three-time Tony nominated musical Days of Wine and Roses, Table 17 by Douglas Lyons and the upcoming Broadway production of musical Floyd Collins starring Jeremy Jordan at Lincoln Center, is thrilled to announce a cast that includes Emily Lane, Corinna Brown, Irvine Iqbal, Gina Murray and Damian Humbley; with orchestrations by Michael Starobin, music direction by Nick Barstow and directed by Josette Bushell-Mingo.  

Originally commissioned by New Works Provincetown, Maiden Voyage tells the thrilling story of the first all-female racing crew of Maiden who made history by competing in the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.  

Biographies

Mindi Dickstein (Book & Lyrics) is an award-winning writer best known as the lyricist for Broadway's Little Women the Musical (licensed by MTI, Original Broadway Cast album released by Ghostlight/Sh-k-boom Records), which has been produced across the USA and worldwide, including most recently in Italy, London, and Tokyo. Recent projects include: lyrics for The Pilot and The Little Prince based on The Little Prince and the life of Antoine de Saint Exupery, which had its world premiere in October 2024 in Katowice, Poland; lyrics for Witnesses (California Center for the Arts, 2022 San Diego Critics award for Best Production); and lyrics for Benny & Joon, based on the MGM film, which had its world premiere at The Old Globe in California (2017 San Diego Critics nominee for Best Musical) and was developed at Transport Group, NAMT, Theatreworks Silicon Valley, and the Goodspeed Johnny Mercer and Rhinebeck retreats.

Carmel Dean (Composer) is a Grammy-nominated musical theatre multi-hyphenate hailing from Australia and based in New York. As Composer: Maiden Voyage (upcoming UK); Renascence (Off-Broadway); and Well Behaved Women (New York’s Town Hall; Joe’s Pub). Awards: Grammy nomination; Fulbright Scholar; Sydney Theatre Award; Off-Broadway Alliance; and Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award for Composition. As Musical Director and/or Arranger: The Notebook; Funny Girl; If/Then; Hands on a Hardbody; American Idiot; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (all Broadway); and Clueless (West End). Off-Broadway credits include: Really Rosie; Everyday Rapture; Vanities; and Elegies. Other international credits: Fun Home (Chicago); and 2000 Sydney Olympics Opening & Closing Ceremonies. 

Josette Bushell-Mingo (Director) OBE is the Principal and CEO of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Artistic Director for The National Black Theatre of Sweden. She is also a member of the University of London Board of Trustees, Chair of Equality and Diversity at Conservatoires UK, Co-Chair of Clean Break, and Chair of the Mayor of London Committee for Black on the Square. As a director, Josette was Founder and Artistic Director of PUSH, a Black-led theatre festival with the Young Vic Theatre. Through her work with PUSH, she was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the arts, a Judy Craymer Award for Innovation, and the Southbank Cultural Diversity Award. 

Michael Starobin (Orchestrator) credits include: We Live in Cairo; SUFFS; The Gardens of Anuncia; Rogers the Musical; Flying Over Sunset; Renascence; Once on This Island; Sunday in the Park with George; Falsettos; Freaky Friday; First Daughter Suite; Hunchback of Notre Dame; Kid Victory; If/Then; Little Miss Sunshine; Annie; Dogfight; Leap of Faith; Queen of the Mist; People in the Picture; Sondheim on Sondheim; Next to Normal (Tony Award); Glorious Ones; Grinch; Adrift in Macao; Bernarda Alba; Spelling Bee; Assassins (TonyAward); Tom Sawyer; A New Brain; A Christmas Carol; Hello Again; Guys & Dolls (1992); My Favorite Year; In Trousers; Romance Romance; Carrie; and Rags. 

Nick Barstow (Musical Director) is also a composer, arranger and orchestrator. His work as musical director includes the recent critically acclaimed revival of Next To Normal in the West End and Donmar Warehouse and the West-End transfer of Olivier-nominated new play Accidental Death Of An Anarchist. He is currently arranger and supervisor for new musical Starter For Ten which recently completed a sell-out initial run at Bristol Old Vic, and his actor-musician orchestration of Zorro! is delighting international audiences in Korea. As composer, he wrote and orchestrated the score for a new adaptation of The Wizard Of Oz at the Watermill in Newbury and is currently working on a new original musical with DEM Productions. 

New Works Provincetown (Producer) is a developmental theatre lab founded in 2020 by Mark Cortale with Jonathan Murray and Harvey Reese to create new works. This past September their first play commission Table 17 by Douglas Lyons, directed by Zhailon Levingston and starring Tony Winner Kara Young was produced at MCC Theater and received rave reviews and also won two Audelco Awards for Best Play and Best Cast. In addition to Maiden Voyage, other commissions to date include: The Last Diva with music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie, book by Jonathan Tollin; Beautiful Little Fool, music & lyrics by Hannah Corneau, book by Mona Mansour; and Love Is Strange, book by Craig Lucas, music by Daniel Messe and lyrics by Nathan Tysen & Daniel Messe. 

Shared Experience (Producer) produces work characterised by thrillingly distinctive performance styles which celebrate the union of physical and text-based theatre. Since 1976, we have continually worked to excite and inspire people with the unique delights of live performance and unpredictability of the stage. Steered by producer Conrad Lynch, the company is now in its fourth edition, creating a new body of work with a fresh voice. Shared Experience was founded by Mike Alfreds in 1976, later joined by Artistic Director Nancy in 1987 Meckler and Polly Teale in 2000. Over the years Shared Experience has masterminded over 24 productions including Classics such as Mill on the Floss, to Modern Classics like Speechless.

Emily Lane (Tracy) began her musical theatre career as a child playing Brigitta Von Trapp in The Sound of Music (Really Useful Group Productions) and Young Cosette in Les Misérables for Cameron Mackintosh Productions. Training: Arts Ed. Theatre includes: Minnie Faye in Hello Dolly! (London Palladium); Alice in Starter for Ten (Bristol Old Vic); Anna in Frozen (Theatre Royal Drury Lane); and Susan in Before The Party (The Almeida). Other works include: Evita in Concert (Theatre Royal Drury Lane).

Corinna Brown (Jo) is best known for her role as Tara in award-winning Netflix series, Heartstopper. Other TV & film credits include: Emergency Exit (Must See Entertainment); Doctors (BBC); Even More Evermoor (Disney); and My Murder (BBC). Theatre credits include: Coppelia (New Vic Theatre); Sleeping Beauty (Hackney Empire); Woman with Salad (Focal Point Gallery); and Macbeth (TWIST Theatre Company).

Gina Murray (Pat) West End Credits Include: Auntie/Fortune Teller in Sideshow in Concert (The London Palladium); Mama Morton in Chicago (Cambridge Theatre - also UK Tour, South Korea, Singapore, China Tour); A Christmas Carol (Lyceum Theatre); Georgie Bukatinsky in The Full Monty (The Prince of Wales Theatre); Serena Katz in Fame (Cambridge Theatre); Claudette Orbison in The Roy Orbison Story (Trafalgar Studios); Young Patsy Cline in Patsy Cline - The Musical (Trafalgar Studios). Screen Credits Include: Lesley Stobbart in The Hunt for Raoul Moat (ITV); Myra Mallincourt in Doctors (BBC); Shirley in Witless (BBC); EastEnders (BBC); Judge John Deed (BBC); The Bill (ITV); Jo in Sorted (Feature Film, Jovy Junior Enterprises).

Irvine Iqbal (King Hussein) trained at Brunel University and the Royal Academy of Music, where he was recently appointed as an Associate. For The National Theatre: The Father and the Assassin; East Is East; and Roald Dahl’s The Witches. Theatre credits include: Broken Wings; Aladdin; Brande; Bend it Like Beckham; Mr Stink; The Far Pavilions; and Bombay Dreams (West End). Oklahoma (Drury Lane); Come Fall in Love (The Old Globe, San Diego); The Boy In the Dress (RSC); Aladdin and Wuthering Heights (Lyric, Hammersmith); Romeo and Juliet (Regent’s Park); Then Like My Dreams (Stratford East); The Good Woman Of Setzuan (Leicester Haymarket); The Mahabharata (Old Vic); and The Emperor and the Nightingale and Layla Majnun (MAC, Birmingham). TV & film credits include: Quarter Life; The Bay; EastEnders; Doctors; Casualty; The Bill; Spotlight and Saris; Big Cat Country; The Sikh Soldier; Aladdin; The Cook; The Pinocchio Effect; and Infinite Justice.

Damian Humbley (Howard)  Nikolai in The Singing Revolution (Savoy Theatre); Guy Jones in A Chorus of Disapproval (Salisbury Playhouse); Old Friends (Gielgud Theatre); Ben in The Great British Bake Off Musical (Everyman Theatre Cheltenham & Noel Coward Theatre); Mac in Local Hero (Edinburgh Lyceum Theatre); Charley Kringas in Merrily We Roll Along (Huntington Theatre Company, Menier Chocolate Factory & Harold Pinter Theatre); Eilert Lovbourg in Hedda Gabler (Salisbury Playhouse); Charles Dickens in Dickens Abridged (Arts Theatre); Harry in Company (Sheffield Theatres); Max Garber in Lend Me A Tenor (Plymouth Theatre Royal & Gielgud Theatre); Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors (Menier Chocolate Factory UK Tour); Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof (Sheffield Crucible & The Savoy Theatre); Jamie Wellerstein in The Last 5 Years (Menier Chocolate Factory).

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