NEW YORK CITY: National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) has announced the lineup for its 31st annual Festival of New Musicals. The festival will take place at New World Stages Oct. 24-25.
The industry-only event will present eight new musicals as 45-minute concert presentations. This year, a committee of 17 theatre professionals selected the musicals from a pool of 219 blind submissions.
“We are excited to share these extraordinary shows and writers with our membership,” said executive director Betsy King Militello in a statement. “This year’s Festival of New Musicals will take us from humorous to haunted and from California to Mars. There is truly something for everyone in this astonishing lineup of new musicals.”
The festival will include Hi, My Name is Ben, with book and lyrics by Scott Gilmour and music by Claire McKenzie. The musical is about a man unable to talk who forges a community of friends by using his notepad, pen, and open heart.
Next will be Interstate, with book, music, and lyrics by Melissa Li, and book and lyrics by Kit Yan. It’s an Asian American road trip musical that follows a transgender spoken-word performer on a national tour with his best friend, a lesbian singer-songwriter.
Following will be IRON JOHN: an American ghost story, with music and book by Jacinth Greywoode, and lyrics and book by Rebecca Hart. Taking place in Good, Ala., this musical explores a love triangle that ended in racist violence more than 100 years ago.
Lautrec at the St. James, with music by Julianne Wick Davis and book and lyrics by John Dietrich, is about the French painter Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, who in 1899 passes out and wakes up in an asylum.
Also part of the lineup will be One Way, by Ben Bonnema and Christopher Staskel. The musical follows Naomi as she grapples with the decision to stay with the woman she loves or to go on a grand adventure when she learns that she is finalist for the first one-way trip to Mars.
Next will be SeaWife, with music and lyrics by the Lobbyists, and book by Seth Moore. Directed and developed by Liz Carlson, SeaWife is a haunted tale of the high seas complete with whale hunts, ghosts, and adventure.
The next musical will be Jesse Gage’s Simon & Jorge Pay Their Student Loans, a rock musical about the student loan crisis and income inequality gap.
Lastly, NAMT will present Teeth by Michael R. Jackson and Anna K. Jacobs. Adapted from Mitchell Lichtenstein’s horror film, the musical is about an evangelical Christian teen with teeth in her vagina.
In addition to the musical presentations, NAMT will also present The 46th Minute concert on Oct. 23.
Founded in 1985, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre is a national service organization dedicated to developing new musicals.
