I went to my first ever NAMT Festival of New Musicals this past September! (I apologize for the late reporting, but it has been a bit of a crazy Fall.)

From the program:

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre is the only national service organization dedicated exclusively to musical theatre. Over the past 17 years, more than 175 new musicals have been featured at the NAMT Festival, leading to thousands of subsequent productions across the country and around the world. Once recent example is THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, which was in our 23004 Festival and is now a hit on Broadway."

Other shows (that I recognized) that have had a life post-NAMT presentations include: SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL; THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE; and HONK!

This is an industry-only event, with producers, directors, choreographers, writers, artists, member theaters, agents &c from across the country congregating at New World Stages to check out 45-minute presentations of eight new musicals. However, there is a last-minute line for regular folk to see a show, if it isn't full. It's a fairly intensive two days, where you line up to see a show, go in, watch for 45 minutes, exit and then line up for the next show (the shows are spaced 30 minutes apart). By the end of the two days and eight shows later my head was positively spinning!

The interesting thing is the 45-minute presentation. These are all pretty much full shows (2 hours in length on average) but they have to choose what to show in 45 minutes. Some shows choose to do a "Reader's Digest" version of the entire show (think of it as freeze dried show -- just add water and it expands into 2 hours), and some shows just do a shortened Act I or Act II, and some shows may choose to do a straight 45 minutes from the show. What is the best way to show off your show? From what I've heard "the cut" is quite "the art".

What to include? What to cut out? Sometimes shows actually create new material (that will never see the light of day post-NAMT) to help narrate the show. The shows do get help from amazing directors and consulting producers. And if you like what you see you can request a full script and CD.

I have to mention the talent. These shows all had amazing talent. Broadway and Off-Broadway names like Megan Lawrence, Leslie Kritzer, Brian D'Arcy James, Kerry Butler, Gregg Edelman, Jodie Langel, Marc Kudisch, Megan Hilty, Jenny Powers and Sarah Stiles, to name just a few!

Congrats to the shows that made the juried selection to appear in NAMT 2006. Who knows, maybe we'll see one or more of them on Broadway!

DANGEROUS BEAUTY
Book by Jeannine Dominy
Music by Michele Brourman
Lyrics by Amanda McBroom

EMMA
Book, Music and Lyrics by Paul Gordon

JERRY CHRISTMAS
Book by Daniel Goldfarb
Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa

JULIAN PO: A NEW MUSICAL
Book and Lyrics by Andrew Barrett
Music by Ira Antelis

ONE STEP FORWARD
Book By Berni Stapleton, with Leslie Arden and Timothy French
Music and Lyrics by Leslie Arden

PIECE
Book by Tara Smith
Music and Lyrics by Scott Alan

SUNFISH
Book and Lyrics Michael L. Cooper
Book and Music by Hyeyoung Kim

VANITIES: A NEW MUSICAL
Book by Jack Heifner
Music and Lyrics by David Kirshenbaum

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