Friday, October 11, 2013

A Festival of Musicals

I saw this bit of news on Broadway.com about Broadway actress Sutton Foster coming to New York City to appear in an up-and-coming musical The Astonishing Return of...The Protagonists! I was immediately interested because I had seen her play ballet teacher Michelle Simms on the show Bunheads, and I had witnessed her awesome singing voice and theatrical flair. I should have guessed then that she was originally a Broadway actress. Apparently she has won two Tony awards, and has appeared in many popular shows, including Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, Shrek the Musical, Little Women, Annie, Grease and Les Miserables. The play she will be performing in for this year's Festival of New Musicals, The Astonishing Return of...The Protagonists!, is a comedy about superheroes, and hopefully will be a big hit.

The Festival of New Musicals

Quite frankly, I freaked out when I discovered that there is a festival to showcase new musicals. I absolutely love musicals, and I am so glad that there is a whole event dedicated to bring about new ones to the Broadway and off-Broadway stage.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre created this event in 1989, making this its 25th annual Festival. It is held every Fall for two days in New York City. According to the Alliance:

"The purpose of the Festival is to create a nurturing environment for discovery, development and advancement of the musical theatre art form. NAMT seeks to do this with a focus on quality, diversity and new voices.
Objectives and Goals:
  • Showcase new musicals that are diverse in ethnicity, subject matter, style and concept
  • Encourage future productions of new musicals
  • Promote new work and new voices
  • Nurture composers, lyricists and book writers
  • Stimulate networking opportunities for NAMT Members and theatre professionals
  • Provide a forum to spark new collaborations and ventures"


From what I've read, the Festival's audience can only consist of people who work in the theatre business, which is kind of a bummer. But it's those people who have the connections and abilities to further the works that the actors will showcase. During those two days in New York, the performers will do 45-minute readings of each performance. The audience will then decide what they want to do with what they've seen.
 
In the meantime, I can only presume that the Festival will be amazing. Many of the performers who have participated in this event in the past are accomplished on the Broadway scene and sometimes on television as well. I'll keep my eyes open in the future for any of the Festival's shows that might make it big on Broadway.
 
 
 
Sources:
 
"Tony Winner Sutton Foster to Be Astonishing at NAMT's Festival of New Musicals". Broadway Buzz. Broadway.com. Web. 11 Oct., 2013.
 
National Alliance for Musical Theatre. National Alliance for Musical Theatre. 2013. Web. 11 Oct., 2013.
 


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3 comments:

  1. Julie P.Q.October 17, 2013 at 3:32 PM

    This is certainly a bummer for you to not be able to go to this festival. But what other festivals are out there for theater enthusiasts like you? Any in our area?

    And while this might seem off-topic, have you consider the RenFair as a sort of theatrical event?

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    1. Sam S.October 20, 2013 at 5:47 PM

      As far as I know, there aren't any festivals like this anywhere near here--just dinner theaters and other venues where shows are performed.
      And actually, yes, I have thought about RenFairs and how they very much are theatrical events. Besides the legit actors that wander about pretending to be people of that era, there are also plenty of people who dress up in costumes. They go all-out, too.

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  2. Sam S.October 20, 2013 at 5:46 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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