Reflections on the Festival

A guest blog entry from Rob Taylor, writer of The Sandman, presented last weekend at the Festival of New Musicals.  

Now a mile high and two hours behind, the weeks just past in New York in preparation for the NAMT Festival presentations of our little nightmare musical "The Sandman" feel less as if they occurred in a distant time zone, and rather more as if they happened within a time warp.

Can it be over already? Did we actually find and rehearse a cast, slice and shrink an entire Act into a 45 minute cliffhanger, and convey the essence of the macabre little world of our imagining to all those people? Impossible.

And it all would have been impossible - were it not for the surreally magical way in which a dream cast and creative team seemed to materialize around us, and were it not for the outstanding and intuitive support NAMT seemed ready to provide at every turn.

Eight years ago, Richard and I participated in another NAMT Festival. As happy as we were to have been included in those 2005 proceedings, the organizational improvements put

25 DAYS OF NAMT: We Don't Wanna "Show Off!"

Day 25

It's finally here! SHOW OFF! is tonight at 7pm! Do you have a ticket?

In honor of this event, let’s look at the show this title is borrowed from—The Drowsy Chaperone, which appeared in our 2004 Festival. Refresh your memory of the show with a video feature about the Original Cast Recording…and if you attend SHOW OFF! tonight, you may even see an original cast member recreating one of the performances shown below:

25 DAYS OF NAMT: "It Takes All Sorts" of Shows to Make NAMT

Day 24

This Festival show has had over 4000 productions in the US and Canada alone---but it has also been translated into many different languages and performed all across the world. (Including, albeit in English, in London, where it won the Olivier Award for Best Musical!)

Check out this fun clip from a Norwegian-language production of Stiles & Drewe's Honk! at Stavanger kulturskole in Stavanger, Norway:

 

What Honk! song do you hope to see in SHOW OFF? 

25 DAYS OF NAMT: "A New World" of Musical Theatre

Day 23

Songs for a New World put Jason Robert Brown on the map, and appeared in the Festival in 1997. As this composer gears up for a Broadway run in January with his newest show, The Bridges of Madison County, why not look back at the show that started it all?

Read the original New York Times review for the show's original Off Broadway run.

Watch and listen to Audra McDonald singing the popular song “Stars and the Moon:”

 Buy tickets today to SHOW OFF!, where there a sure to be world-class performances like the one above.

 

25 DAYS OF NAMT: "Gimme Gimme" a Great Musical

Day 22

Today we look at the 2002 Best Musical Tony Award winning Thoroughly Modern Millie! Speaking of Tony's, have you seen the award night performance of the literally-toe-tapping number, “Forget About the Boy?” Watch below:

Might another exciting number from Millie be featured in SHOW OFF? Attend to find out!

25 DAYS OF NAMT: This Show is a "Spark of Creation"

Day 21

Only 5 days left until SHOW OFF! (It's not too late to buy a ticket!) 

These last five days will feature some of our biggest and most successful, dazzling Festival shows!

We begin with John Caird and Stephen Schwartz’s Children of Eden, which appeared at the Festival in 1996. Watch an interview with Mr. Schwartz below, where he discusses the genesis of the show and names it as his favorite!

 

25 DAYS OF NAMT: Broadway Baby

DAY 20

A handful of NAMT shows have gone on to Broadway—and even more shows by our alumni authors have had this great privilege. Here are some of their shows to play the Great White Way! Can you name some others?

Top to Bottom, First Column: Wicked (Stephen Schwartz – Fest ‘96), Little Shop of Horrors (Alan Menken – Fest ‘03), Pippin (Stephen Schwartz – Fest ‘96), Big Fish (Andrew Lippa – Fest ’05 & ‘06), Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Mel Marvin – Fest ’93, ’93 & ‘01)

Second Column: Everyday Rapture (Dick Scanlan – Fest ’96), Legally Blonde: the Musical (Laurence O’Keefe – Fest ‘03), Sweet Smell of Success (Craig Carnelia – Fest ‘01), Beauty and the Beast (Alan Menken – Fest ’03; Tim Rice – ‘ Fest ‘94), First Date (Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner – Fest ‘06)

Third Column:  Parade (Jason Robert Brown – Fest ‘97), City of Angels (David Zippel- Fest ’03 & ‘08; director of SHOW OFF), Jane Eyre (Paul Gordon – Fest ’06 & ’13; John Caird – Fest ‘96), Grey Gardens (Michael Korie – Fest ‘89), 13 the Musical (Jason Robert Brown – Fest ’97)