Check Out Our New Website!

Please note: This is our last post at this address. But don't worry! The NAMT blog -- including all of our archives, plus member news, press clippings and more -- can now be found on our new website at namt.org/about/news/

If you follow us via RSS, the new feed address is https://namt.org/feed/

And of course, you can still find us on Twitter and Facebook.

I feel (and some of you may, too) like I’ve been talking about our new website forever. We’ve known for at least two years that our old site was nearing the end of its lifespan, and started making necessary arrangements. Bidding for developers started almost a year ago. The Board approved our plan last spring. The design process began over the summer, then got put on hold because, as you may have heard, we get a little busy in September and October. There was a flurry of intense activity in November and December in which concepts became reality, we learned what did and didn’t work, what changes for change’s sake sounded great but weren’t, the old words and images made their way to the new pages, and our amazing developers, Nick Keenan and his team at NickXD, worked their butts off to say yes to nearly every “what if” and “wouldn’t it be cool?” we threw at him. Then holiday break and another pause. So close! And finally, shiny and new for 2015!

 

I couldn’t be prouder to share the new namt.org with you all. It was designed with our members, Festival alumni and supporters chiefly in mind, as well as our expanding concert series and programs for the theatre-loving public. How can we make it easier for you to find the resources you need? How can we simplify? What information do you need the most? What member benefits were hidden away behind too many menus and clicks, now front and center?

The new site is fully mobile adaptive, resizing itself to any screen size (if you’re on your computer, change the size of your browser window to see it in action—it’s fun!) and working beautifully on your smartphone. Now, instead of a paper Little Black Book, which was typically out of date before we got it back from the printer, you’ll have a complete, always accurate membership directory in the palm of your hand at all times, along with event agendas, attendee lists, maps and more. We’ve made videos of past events and webinars easier to access, and if you ever forget your login information, it’s now just a click away. There’s also an increased focus on our members and alumni, through photo galleries and a brand new blog, so send us your updates!

Plus, it’s really pretty.

Play around and let us know what you think. It’s designed to stay flexible to change and grow with us and our membership, so your feedback will help us very much. We think you’ll like it as much as we do!

Adam Grosswirth
Membership Director

Festival Show Update: BEATSVILLE

Logo from NAMT Fest '08

Last month, we caught up with alumni Wendy Wilf and Glenn Slater about the development of their 2008 Festival show, Beatsville, and their upcoming production at NYU-Steinhardt this spring.
    

  

Greenwich Village, 1959—Playground of bohemians, beatniks and jazzbos. Tragically square Walter Paisley finds that his clay figures, sculpted nudes and papier-mâché busts bring him the acceptance he desperately yearns for. But what if the world discovers that Walter’s body of work consists of actual bodies? A bebop-inflected black comedy/satire.

Beatsville was very well-received after the 2008 Festival so many people would be shocked to hear that it has taken this long for it to finally be seen in the States.  Do you want to talk a bit about why it took a while to get the show off the ground over the last few years? 
We were extremely pleased with Beatsville’s reception at NAMT, but as exciting as the response was, we also knew that we had a lot of work to do before we were ready to move to the next step. Then we hit a unexpected roadblock: a number of Glenn’s other projects all moved towards high-profile productions simultaneously. Every time we began to make real progress on our rewrites, another project demanded his time and attention.  It took a few long and frustrating years before we were able to regain our momentum as a team, but fortunately I was able to keep moving forward on the music and lyrics, writing several new numbers and reworking some of the old ones. When Glenn’s schedule finally eased up, we were able to hit the ground running.

How has the show grown and changed since being at the Festival? 
We loved the version of the show that we brought to NAMT, but as we began our next draft we started running into second-act problems, most of which stemmed from our faithfulness to the source material.  We had to take a big step back and reassess which elements of the original property were integral to our story, and which needed to be rethought and, if possible, improved upon. We also wanted to find ways to heighten the stakes—the story is a sort of whodunit, but since the audience already knows who the murderer is, we realized the tension (and hence the comedy) instead needed to revolve around the mystery of who would catch him, and how. Finally, we had always seen our 1959-set piece as having some satirical points to make about today’s culture, but while our first pass worked as a comedy, we felt the satire wasn’t jelling the way we had hoped. To get to where we wanted to be, we spent a long time looking for ways to make Walter, our main character, feel less passive and to give Carla, our female lead, a strong story arc of her own.  We’ve drawn the supporting characters with much more sharply-etched motivations, and jettisoned a lot of the original source’s second-half story to give our piece a tighter plot and a broader scope. In the process, we’ve also cut a few songs we loved—but added several new ones that we love even more.

Musical Gift Giving this Holiday Season

The holidays are here and 'tis the season of giving. After you are done giving to your favorite not-for-profits (like NAMT) this year, why not spread your love of musical theatre!

Over the last few years, many of our Festival shows have released albums. They are all great gifts and run the gamut from rock (Lizzie) to bluegrass (Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge), something for everyone!

Or maybe you want an album devoted to just one artist?  We have a few of those, too, from NAMT Festival alumni writers who have put out non-show albums of their work: 

 

All of these albums and more (including scripts, piano scores and mp3 downloads) can be bought at NAMT's Amazon store!  And when you shop on our store, NAMT receives a portion of the profits from Amazon, so it is like you are giving twice!

Click here to start shopping!

FESTIVAL COUNTDOWN: Get to Know the Team Behind THE THREE LITTLE PIGS

An interview with George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, writers of the upcoming Festival show The Three Little Pigs, about the ups and downs of writing for children, the insights gained from international productions and their upcoming performance in the Festival of New Musicals. Interview conducted by NAMT's Program Intern Audra LaBrosse.  

NAMT: Three Little Pigs is a familiar story to most people. During your writing, how did you go about updating the tale and adding original touches?

George Stiles: Well, we did a similar thing with Honk!, our re-take of The Ugly Duckling. We enjoy making the characters as "human" as possible, and updating the dialogue so it feels contemporary and classic all at the same time! Family dynamics always interest us, how brothers and sisters manage to get along with each other, even though they're often very different characters. So with the Pigs, we liked the idea that the father of the family had been "taken" by the Big Bad Wolf, so there's a tension from the outset and makes the Mother a strong but put-upon figure who's had to raise her piglets single-handed. We also thought a Wolf who reckoned he was "misunderstood" was fun... after all, he's just doing what wolves do!

NAMT: This show is part of a "trio of trilogies.” Tell us a bit more about that concept.

GS: That's all [Anthony’s] fault. He's greedy. One's never enough. But what's great about it is that a theatre can choose to "mix and match" the shows. The second is Goldilocks and the Three Bears, which we premiered earlier this year - and the final part will be The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Each is 45-50 minutes long, so you can do 1, 2 or 3 of them with the same 5 actors, and design a simple set that works for all three. That way, theatres can program the shows for daytime or evening presentations. 

NAMT: Can you tell us briefly how you went about updating the other stories in the trilogy?

Anthony Drewe: Well we haven't written The Three Billy Goats Gruff yet, but Goldilocks And The Three Bears is ready to go and played very successfully in Singapore earlier this year. Our self-imposed conundrum in writing the trilogy was that we wanted it to be possible to perform all three shows with the same five actors. In the story of Goldilocks there are traditionally only 4 characters, but this limitation actually gave us our way into retelling the story. We first meet Goldi as she

FESTIVAL COUNTDOWN: On the Record

A guest blog entry from Michael Shaieb, writer of The Astonishing Return of... The Protagonists! to be presented at this year's Festival of New Musicals.  

About fifteen years ago when I graduated from the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program, I was faced with the reality of what I would do for a living. I had some recording equipment and thought that perhaps I could start a recording studio. When I met my partner, Brent Lord, who had the technical knowledge, we formed a company which later became FatLab Music. We specialized in recording demos for music theatre writers and performers.

When I began writing The Protagonists with my collaborator, Kevin del Aguila, the question was how do we record our show to convey the different stylistic choices we created for our world. The Protagonists contains a world of

FESTIVAL COUNTDOWN: A Trilogy of Trios

A guest blog entry from George Stiles, writer of The Three Little Pigs to be presented at this year's Festival of New Musicals.  

The Three Little Pigs was written in response to a specific brief from the Singapore Repertory Theatre. Over the past few years, they have built up their younger audiences - from 3 years and over - with their dedicated "The Little Company." Singapore has a huge number of school-age children, for whom English is their first language, with Malay, Mandarin or Hokkien as their second. SRT realised that this audience was barely catered for with live entertainment and that, aside from large, highly-visible branded tours, there was a lack of high quality musical theatre material.

Since we already had considerable experience writing for a truly "family" audience (Honk!, Mary Poppins, Just So, Peter Pan) we were intrigued to see how we could adapt our style to cater for an audience of 3 years and upwards. We were encouraged to find a story that "sold itself" by having title recognition, and that had a small cast to make the numbers work. We briefly thought of Snow White, before realizing it inherently demanded at least 8 in the cast! So we soon settled on The Three Little Pigs - immediately wondering if we could write a "trilogy of trios" - and move on to Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Well, we figured the "rule of three" works even better as the rule of three threes!

We quickly found a sense of liberation knowing that we wanted the show to run at 45-50 minutes, have just 5 in the cast and be understood by very young children as well as be enjoyed by their older brothers, sisters, parents and grandparents. As kids, we both remember loving

Conference Report: TEDxBroadway 2013

For the second year in a row, I got to attend the TEDxBroadway conference last month (it's also the conference's second year), and soak up some ideas about the future of theatre and what we might be able to learn from other industries and examine some fresh approaches. This year, the conference organizers said we'd be looking more at Broadway the street, as a neighborhood and a destination, through the lens of its theatres. I wondered briefly if I should go, since this sounded very New Yorky and I wasn't sure where I'd fit in as a representative of NAMT and its members. But it turned out that the discussion centered largely around theatre and communities, the world around arts institutions, not just in New York and not just commercially. I came away with a lot, and not always from expected sources.

Below you'll find highlights of speakers and ideas that stood out for me personally (and as a representative of NAMT). Despite the very different backgrounds of these speakers and topics they addressed, there are a few common themes running through this:

It's all about passion.

It's all about connection.

It's all about the audience.

Sure, that's nothing we haven't heard before, but as you'll see as you read on, there are surprisingly diverse ways to approach these ideas.

Producer Daryl Roth spoke about the impact of theatre on audiences' worldviews and connecting art with activism. Her experiences with plays like Wit and The Normal Heart – great plays that also have something important to say – have helped shape her as a producer and a person, and gave her opportunities to bring audiences into a discussion about the issues in the plays, as well as engage with people who might not be habitual theatre-goers but are drawn in by the topic. "If we share the deep belief that theatre matters…then isn't that the best Broadway can be for all of us?"

Critic Terry Teachout pointed out that 75% of Broadway shows lose money, so everyone who works on Broadway is gambling. "Why do people gamble? Because it's fun!" He made it clear that he wasn't bringing up this harsh reality to crush anyone's dreams, just to make them "look at them from a different point of view." He wants people to say to themselves, "I'm going to write the best, most original show I can think of. It's probably going to lose money anyway, so why not try? …Don't settle for safe, gamble on great. Make something that makes you proud." Sound familiar, Festival alumni?

I'll admit that I was both most excited for and most wary of our next speaker. As a nerd who grew up a huge fan of the original Star Trek, I was thrilled at the chance to meet George Takei. But why was he here? What could he possibly have to say about theatre? A lot, actually. I'd forgotten that he's written an autobiographical musical about his family's experience in Japanese internment camps during World War II. When Allegiance premiered at NAMT member theatre The Old Globe in San Diego, it broke records and played to packed houses. Takei will always be famous for Star Trek, but in recent years he's become an internet personality separate and apart from that, using social media to build a personal brand built on smart humor, science...and cats. He used that to help sell Allegiance, but also asked us why theatres weren't doing more of it on their own, bringing it back to his science fiction fame and love of technology. "I don't think Broadway has boldly gone where it needs to," he said, imploring us to "embrace all of the technological advances of the times."

I don't usually do the celebrity thing,
but come on! It's Sulu!

He also spoke of the power of musical theatre to "tell stories that need to be told." It has an accessibility that can bring people in, and the music can reach them emotionally. (During this, playwright David Lawson tweeted, "Musicals are incredible at preserving history that might have been forgotten: mid 80s UK miners' strike, June Rebellion, 1899 newsboy strike. And yes, two of those were not musicals first. But it was setting that history to music that made me hungry to learn of the history." I couldn't agree more.) Allegiance is aiming for Broadway this year, and hopefully it will expose audiences to this relatively little-known dark spot on American history. I got a chance to speak with Takei later in the day, and I was struck by what a theatre geek he is (he's done stage work throughout his career, though when Allegiance (in which he also appears) comes in, it will be his Broadway debut) and how passionate he is about not just his show but about musical theatre in general. It was great to see. And I'll admit that when he recited the opening lines of Star Trek during his speech, I teared up a little; the man knows his audience.

Christine Jones, a scenic designer and creator of Theatre For One, talked about the experience of making an intimate connection between audience and performance in any size space, creating design that can "respond to the visual acoustics of the moment, sometimes with a moment's notice." "I wish we had the same ability to make choices about how the audience is seated as I do with what's on stage," she said. As I work out the crick in my neck from seeing an otherwise fabulous show last night, I can't help thinking that Broadway's historic theatres and often tight space make this a largely unsolvable problem. But I also think fondly of the many comfortable evenings I've spent at NAMT member theatres around the country, and the opportunities those of you building or renovating theatres have to make flexible, comfortable spaces. Jones quoted Jujamcyn Theatres President Jordan Roth as saying "Seats are not born partial, they are made partial." Here's to never making a seat – or a patron – partial.

Tom Schumacher, head of Disney Theatrical Group, started off a little surprisingly, telling a story about hating and judging tourists (any New Yorker, however kind-hearted, can relate to this). "I have friends," he said, "who believe the sippy cup is the end of days.... In the 1600s people thought 'machine plays' were a sign of theatrical apocalypse too," but here we still are. "Times are changing. They are also staying very much the same." 40% of adults surveyed at The Lion King were seeing a Broadway show for the first time. "Our pretention towards the audience seeing the show for the first time simply stands in the way of growing and sharing our business.... These lovely people had bought a ticket, and here I was judging them." From a business standpoint, "by the definition of our venues and union contracts, this is not a growth industry," but there is great potential for growth in the audience. While Broadway has a reputation as a place of aging audiences, it turns out kids are also coming in unprecedented numbers, so let's embrace them and make magic for them – the same kind of magic Schumacher says he experienced going to the theatre as a child and learning that "a guy in a white turtleneck can be a horse and a white box can be a jungle." Disney, unsurprisingly, takes its populism very seriously, serving as an important entry point into the world of musical theatre for multiple generations.

Two talks that really made me think of our members were by Susan Salgado, of Union Square Hospitality Group, and Erin Hoover from Sheraton. "To say it's just about the show is discounting everyone who affects the experience of customers," Salgado said. "We need to provide a great total experience." (Considering I was yelled at by an usher last night before I had even taken a full step inside the building, I couldn't agree more!) Hoover talked about how hotel lobbies have changed over the last few decades from purely transactional to spaces "designed to give the guest a series of branded experiences [where] connectivity is expected." She suggested that theatre lobbies can be transformed to "a series of touch points to enhance the Broadway brand." I know from my travels, and from lengthy discussions at last year's Spring Conference, that this is something many NAMT members are already doing. They strive to make customer service a top priority, and recognize that every point of contact, from box office to usher to bar, affects a patron's experience. Institutional theatres have brands to uphold and seasons to sell, and building a relationship with a customer is vital. What if Broadway focused on service and design brand-wide, like a not-for-profit theatre (or a hotel chain!) does? Your building and your staff can tell a story and be an experience you share, along with the play.

I was particularly inspired by Seth Pinsky, of the NYC mayor's office, declaring that "the arts are a critical industry in New York and the ripple effect is a major economic engine... New Yorkers believe arts matter." (We'll be looking at how some other cities are supporting their arts communities and how theatres can advocate for themselves at this year's Spring Conference.)

David Sabel from the National Theatre in London gave a great talk about the NTLive series of movie theatre screenings of plays. He referred to the National's "spirit of R&D," which covers both new theatrical work and new ways to get that work to audiences. Digital is considered part of the experience (or one possible experience), not just a marketing platform. Because NT is subsidized by the government (25% of their budget!), they feel a responsibility to give taxpayers access to their art and have "a commitment to openness, wide-ranging engagement and access to everyone" in their mission statement. They've never seen NT Live as a replacement for the live event, but a separate and worthy experience in itself. When a performance is filmed, the priority is on making a good film of that theatrical event, and the audience is treated like a studio audience for the film, with cameras going where they need to go. The screenings are limited to a brief window, so it's still an "ephemeral event." Perhaps of most interest to American theatres is the way the National worked with unions and artists to create something new. They replaced up-front fees with profit-sharing, giving artists and crews literal ownership over the project. And they've found that screenings haven't hurt sales in the theatre at all. "Tech changes fast," Sabel concluded. "You have to be flexible, nimble, fast. You have to use both sides of the brain."

Other speakers talked about turning your passions into your work and achieving your dreams by being "flexible with the outcome" (Zachary Schmahl); making Broadway more diverse by telling diverse stories, embracing the theatre "community of nerds and misfits" and writing and producing shows that "cut so deeply to the heart that they transcend...into the cultural conversation" (Kristoffer Diaz); bringing theatre to schools and schools to the theatre (Vincent Gassetto); predicting the future by inventing it and learning what customers want and need by observing them rather than asking them (Ellen Isaacs); marketing to people who you know will never come to your show to make the arts matter to everyone (Adam Thurman); and finding Broadway's equivalent of the Kindle to overcome limitations of space and money and connect to a wider audience (Randi Zuckerberg).

This year's conference had some great examples of what we can learn from each other and from other industries. There was a great buzz in the room and online as people discussed ideas and how we might implement them, and old friends were introduced to new ones. Just like at NAMT conferences! (Oh come on, I had to.)

Thanks to the conference organizers, speakers, and especially everyone who was tweeting and blogging along. See you next year!

(For some other people's observations about TEDxBroadway, I recommend Howard Sherman's selection of quotes and write-up for the LA Times, and Ken Davenport's takeaways.)

Updated 3/4/13: Now with videos! For all the videos from last year and this year, just search for TEDxBroadway on YouTube.

Playing to Win

A guest post by Music Director, Orchestrator and Composer Eli Zoller. Eli was the Music Director for Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge at the 2011 Festival of New Musicals. He asked if he could respond to Adam's recent post, which itself was a response to an article on Howard Sherman's blog. We were more than happy to keep the conversation going!

I'd been struggling with my identity in the theatre for a while. For the multitude of professionals in this business, we've all had times where we've looked in the mirror and asked the daunting question, "how do I 'fit' in this industry?" My question wasn't about my abilities on stage, confidence in my background, or my taste in current theatrical trends (though all weighed on my mind). I asked myself: "Am I in this as a dedicated professional, or as a dedicated fan?"  

I didn't grow up a theatre fan; I grew up a sports fan. My heroes didn't score music, they scored touchdowns. However, my love was music and theatre, and today I find myself working in the very field that combines those two wonderful entertainment mediums into the perfect story-telling mechanism known as the musical. However, upon arriving in New York professionally, I quickly became frustrated to find that unbridled and unmatchable creativity had been replaced with add-water-and-stir box office gimmickry; these were not championship teams.

As a sports fan, there are two kinds of teams that the majority of fellow fans root for: the powerhouses (teams with a history of dominance in their sport) and the underdogs (teams that, on paper, don't match up to the others but still possess the intoxicating will to win…and every so often, they do!). Then there are the teams in the middle; the teams that lack some sort of spark or drive or full-bodied will to compete at the highest level. They think they can bare the same power and skill as the powerhouses, but don't know how to properly execute. They think they're better than the underdogs, but are too afraid of failure to go all-in against the toughest challenges. Instead, they play an over-calculated and timid game with underwhelming spirit, overburdened by outside opinion. With all of this focus on how not to fail, they don't trust their fans to be enough of a motivation for them to just go out and play their hearts out. As a result, their fans abandon them, broken-hearted.

Cast off from the love of theatre audiences of all ages for the powerhouses and underdogs, these "middle teams" are the equivalent of commercial musical theatre today. So far as the entire industry is concerned, the conversation about how to improve has got to start focusing around our honesty between us and our fans; otherwise, we risk losing them for good; the clock is ticking. We as theatrical professionals on all fronts seem intimidated by our surroundings and outside competition (television, film, iTunes, even reality shows), and that's exactly what turns our audiences away. We shouldn't be focus-grouping to decide what the next hit Broadway show should be; we should simply be aware of our culture and choose how to affect that culture with our craft as opposed to the other way around. People don't buy tickets to sporting events because they know the final score before the game starts; they want to see the action, feel the tension, experience the magic. We're robbing our audiences of that opportunity every time we ask ourselves "what sells today?" "how can we sound more like...?" "has it succeeded yet?" Of course, it has been argued that the quality of the material is the constant culprit, but to what extent can we see a future for our industry if the best of our abilities are being spent on high-quality duplicates of previous art?

I often feared that we'd need to build from the ground up a new musical theatre for Broadway's future, but it's out there; it just needs greater support and the time to start is now. It's certainly what our audiences expect of us as artists, and we owe it to them to be honest, eager, and unafraid to create an original musically theatrical experience. It's time we admitted it: we're underdogs! ...and we should rejoice! Audiences love an underdog! But being an underdog means playing like one. We need producers who will stop predicting box offices and start believing in artists. We need writers who'll start believing in their individualities instead of trying to sound like what's popular. That, and only that, is where the beginnings of a new commercial musical theatre will start. Pundits like Howard Sherman see the proper ways to view our art form on Broadway for potential, not just product. NAMT offers new voices to audiences by giving proud musical theatre underdogs a stage that has the ability to reach across the country. We may lose a lot before we start winning; but I'd rather leave it all on the field than come away with an average and forgettable record. Those are the teams I root for: the underdogs, the fighters, the believers; they never lose the appreciation of their fans, and the legacy of both them and their game lives on forever! It's a tough game, but I'm a die-hard fan and a die-hard professional, and I'm ready to play! 

Thinking Outside the Broadway Box

Last week on NAMT's social media outlets, I shared a blog post by Howard Sherman about the state of new musicals on Broadway. If you haven't already read it, I highly recommend it. Go on, I'll wait.

Welcome back. Howard's research is impressive, and for me personally it was nice to have some hard data to back up what I've always believed: That musicals based on existing material are nothing new (and since Howard doesn't go back before 1975, he's not even talking about all the "golden age" classics that are based on plays and novels), and that we weren't necessarily more highbrow back in the day.  I especially liked this passage:

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with musicals based on movies. When it is done with enough craft, with care and talent, no one begrudges a show its origins, although there is a tendency to now judge the source even before the show is produced. It would also appear that, in many cases, the more successful examples of this genre are shows drawn from lesser-known films; the rush to translate recent hit films hasn’t necessarily meant greater box office success. Barreling ahead, I’ll say that while I think we need original scores lest the craft of musical theatre songwriting be lost, there have been terrifically entertaining and creative shows based on music cobbled together from other sources, whether it be earlier musicals, pop radio or a songwriter’s catalogue. Again, the only question is whether it’s done artfully.

Howard's post – deliberately, unashamaedly – is about Broadway and only Broadway.  As I read, "there simply aren’t enough of the big musical houses available, and so fewer shows get on," I thought, there are musicals happening everywhere, in far more than 40 houses! As if reading my mind, Howard's next paragraph was this:

Although I can now speak only anecdotally, I daresay there are more people than ever studying and writing new musicals. In contrast to the golden age of the 40s and 50s, when the skill of writing musicals was learned on the job or through mentorships, we now have undergraduate and graduate programs in musical theatre; the regional theatre network, founded primarily to mount plays, has discovered the artistic and economic appeal of musicals; and there are countless developmental opportunities under a variety of auspices.

Technically, I can only speak anecdotally too – but what great anecdotes I have, from the very lucky position of getting to visit NAMT's 150 members from coast to coast and see the work they're doing. I'm inspired to figure out how we might build a survey or study to get hard numbers on this, but I can still say with certainty and no small amount of joy that the new musical is alive and well all over America. If I take issue with anything in Howard's piece, it's the word "developmental," implying (though I don't think this is what he meant, especially considering this great post about America's national theatre) that Broadway is the only end point for a musical and that any show that hasn't been there is still "in development."

Over 75% of the 288 shows presented in NAMT's Festival of New Musicals since 1989 have had vibrant lives in regional theatres, been licensed, had cast recordings, and helped their writers to make a living. Only three of those shows have been on Broadway. Broadway is certainly a valuable branding tool for a new musical, to say nothing of the potential national exposure of the Tony Awards telecast, but to suggest that it's the automatic end goal for a show is to dismiss the amazing work happening all over the country, at NAMT members and beyond.

As Howard rightly points out, "there are more people than ever studying and writing new musicals." While this means more competition for production opportunities and dollars, it also means an incredible wealth of opportunity for musical theatre fans. In theatres across America and abroad, the new musical is thriving, and lucky audiences get to see new work every season.

I don't mean to suggest that there aren't problems. As studied extensively in the book Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play (from which we took inspiration for our 2010 Fall Conference), in the current climate of "world-premiere-itis" there is a real challenge in securing continued life for new plays and musicals, and living wages for writers and other artists. The Broadway "stamp of approval" can certainly help the life of a show. But there are signs that this is changing. Several shows from recent Festivals have had multiple productions over the last few years without ever coming to New York. And licensing means these and other shows will be done by schools and smaller professional companies, becoming the favorites of a new generation of performers and audiences.

I grew up in New York, and before working at NAMT I both saw and worked on shows almost exclusively in the city. Even now, it can be all too easy to be blinded by the lights of those marquees just a few blocks away. But now I also have the pleasure and privilege of working with our members nationwide, and seeing what amazing work they do, in many cases providing opportunities for writers to work in a quiet, calm and artistically safe environment rarely found in the high pressure NYC commercial theatre.

These theatres are also cultivating new audience members who are unafraid of new music and new stories, many of whom will never set foot on Broadway. You might say that those of us in New York are the ones who are missing out.

Sharing Ideas and Putting Them Into Action

I got one of my favorite kinds of NAMT emails last  week, from Sean Kelly at The 5th Avenue Theatre and Kristin Buie and  Nena Theis at North Carolina Theatre.  At the recent Spring Conference,  several  members talked about promotions where subscribers' seats were tagged with  renewal requests when they attended a show, to engage them while they were  actually in the theatre. At The 5th, for renewing early and on the spot, they  were given a bottle of wine to take home and free parking. Kristin and Nena thought this was an easy enough project to initiate  quickly (not that it didn't require a fair amount of work, identifying  subscribers and their seats, for example), and low cost enough (thanks to deals  to the theatre on the wine and the parking) to be basically risk-free, so they  gave it a shot. I'll let Kristin tell you how it went:

"Our goal was to bring in $100,000 during the  ten-day show run (this is how much we brought in during the first ten days of  our renewal period last year by doing our standard renewal mailing). Well, we  brought in over $100,000 in the first four performances alone...Our  grand total was $536,747.50, including donations from brand new supporters and  44 new subscribers. Our patrons really appreciated the personal attention and  convenience to take care of it on the spot at the show.”

Where Kristin, Nena and Sean dream of subscription  renewals, I dream of stories like this. One of NAMT's main goals with our  conferences is to send attendees home with ideas they can use, as quickly as  possible. We stress adaptability, so what worked for a $21M organization in  Seattle can be scaled for a $3.5M organization in North Carolina, or even  further for a $5,000 budget with a volunteer staff of two. And of course that  works in both directions, taking a grass-roots idea and growing it into  something that will work for a larger organization.

I love that Kristin and Nena got something so  concrete out of the Spring Conference so quickly, and I love that they shared  their success story with Sean and me. It's proof of the power of this network,  and a great reminder of how well risks can pay off, something I'll definitely  be keeping in mind as we plan the 2012-2013 conferences (about which more  soon!  Watch this space!).

An Improved Look at our Festival History

As NAMT's de facto webmaster, I'm lucky enough to get to poke around in programs and services that aren't strictly "my department."  We recently streamlined and revamped the Festival of New Musicals section of the site, including a pretty major overhaul of the Festival History, Photos and Success Stories (formerly three separate sections, now conveniently all in one place).

I've been at NAMT since 2008, so I'm very familiar with the 32 show we've presented while I've worked here, along with a handful from earlier in the 2000s.  But since 1989, the Festival has showcased 273 new musicals by 493 writers, and I've simply never had the opportunity before to spend quality time with the entire list. Wow! I knew the "big" titles of course, but there were lots of writers I hadn't realized were alumni (my favorite tidbit: Angelo Badalamenti, composer of many film scores for David Lynch, was in the first year of the Festival, shortly after the Twin Peaks pilot was shot  —  I'm a TV nerd as well as a musical theatre nerd).  There are years when nearly every show went on to have a robust life, which make me very proud to be part of the NAMT team, even if I wasn't here then.

Unfortunately, there are gaps in the post-Festival stories of these shows.  Through office moves, staff changes and the simple fact that hardly anyone had email in 1989 (and I'm betting those CompuServe addresses don't work anymore), we've lost track of Alumni Writers from the early years, and they've lost track of us.  As part of this web redesign, we're stepping up our efforts to reconnect with alumni and fill in the blanks.  If you happen to be an alumnus/a of the Festival (or know one), please click here to fill out an update form with your contact info, any updates on your show or other shows you've written.  Or you can email us at info@namt.org. We'd really love to hear from you — and let you know what we're up to, too!

And whether you're an alum or not, please do take a look at the Festival history.  I'm not bragging when I say it's an impressive read.

Fall Conference 2011 - Inspiration in Tough Times

In addition to the Festival of New Musicals, NAMT held our annual Fall Conference for our members and invited guests last weekend.  Since it takes place in conjunction with the Festival, the Fall Conference typically focuses on new works.  This year we decided to take a more holistic approach, looking at the overall health and future of the art form and the industry.

We couldn't have asked for a better start than the keynote speech by legendary director and producer Harold Prince.  Hal spoke passionately about his long career and the state of the field today, with particular focus on what he sees as a lack of mentoring opportunities for young producers and artists, and a lack of singular "creative producers" in a world where making theatre has become prohibitively expensive and making a living as an artist seems next to impossible.  That sounds dour but it wasn't!  I think the attendees were inspired by the challenge to support young artists and create work with passion – something at which most NAMT members already excel.

From there we heard from a wide variety of educators about how they are working to train exactly the next generation that Hal spoke about nurturing.  We spoke about young musical theatre writers who have never heard of Sondheim (!), who are coming to the field with stories to tell and all sorts of musical styles in their backgrounds.  Plus actors, directors and more, and how we're preparing them to enter the industry with new works and classics alike.

The last panel of the day was a challenging one, addressing the issues of racial diversity (or lack thereof) in musical theatre.  This hour-long session could easily have been twice as long, as the issues ranged so widely, including color-blind casting ("I prefer non-traditional, color-specific casting," said Ralph Remington of the NEA, meaning a conscious choice made to change a character's race), diversity of stories being told, and audience outreach to different communities. It was a great discussion that barely scratched the surface, but challenged attendees to think about these issues and how we can serve the art, and our communities – both artistic and in the audience.

Day two began with an unexpected bonus: Ralph Remington from the NEA talked with us about changes at the NEA and the current state of federal funding for the arts.  As anyone following the news will have guessed, it wasn't the best news we heard this day!  But it was a great opportunity for NAMT members to gain insight into the granting process and have a dialogue about the challenges they face and the goals of the NEA.

Segueing nicely, four NAMT members shared stories and case studies of how they've been able to keep costs down during the recession without sacrificing the quality their audiences expect.  Attendees came away with adaptable, scalable ideas they could use in their own theatres. 

The next panel looked at the challenges of recording new shows for promotion or sale, especially regional productions.  Cast albums are essential to getting new shows "out there" to potential new fans and producers, but they're expensive to make and rarely make much money back. Fortunately our panel included people who are passionate and committed to preserving new shows, including Sh-K-Boom Records founder Kurt Deutsch, and the Grammys' Elizabeth Healy, who made sure we knew that any cast album can be submitted for a Grammy Award, not just Broadway shows, and that without submissions the category could be in danger.

Next up was a continuation of last year's session on continued life for new works – the challenges of getting second productions and beyond.  A lot has changed in the last twenty years or so.  How does a new work enter the canon, especially if it doesn't go through Broadway first?  There were no easy answers, but the NAMT members seem to be leading the charge to keep the new works pipeline going.

After lunch and some small group discussions, we came back together to end the conference with a session on new looks at classic works, and how NAMT member theatres are adapting classics to fit their spaces and budgets, and to appeal to new audiences, with the support of the licensers and estates.

It was a very inspiring and information-filled two days, only slightly hampered by unseasonal snow!  I personally always find our conferences very energizing, as I love seeing our members and hearing about all the great theatre happening around the country.  It's encouraging to see members sharing ideas and resources, taking techniques that are scalable and adaptable to organizations of all different sizes.

NAMT conferences are open to members and invited guests only.  The next one will be held on March 22-24, 2012 in Seattle and will be about marketing. I hope to see you there!

Photos by David T. Cole

Introducing this year's writers...Pt. 1

The Festival is only a week away! Time to meet this year's writers...a some are returning writers, some are a newbies to the NAMT Festival, but all of their shows are NEW!  


In Part 1, we will introduce you to the writers and the shows that will take place on Stage 2 of New World Stages at the 23rd Annual Festival of New Musicals this October 27 and 28.  Don't forget to register before registration closes on Sunday!  


DANI GIRL
Book & Lyrics by Christopher Dimond, Music by Michael Kooman
Directed by Scott Schwartz, Music Direction by Andy Einhorn



BLOODSONG OF LOVE
by Joe Iconis
Directed by John Simpkins, Music Direction by Brian Usifer



PREGNANCY PACT
Book & Lyrics by Gordon Leary, Music by Julia Meinwald
Directed by Mark Brokaw, Music Direction by Rich Silverstein
(warning: Like the show, this video contains strong language)



WATT?!?
Book & Lyrics by David Javerbaum, Music by Brendan Milburn
Directed by Steve Cosson, Music Direction by Zachary Dietz

Writer's Residency Grants begin TODAY!

Today we launch the application for the next round of Writer’s Residency Grants. These grants help supplement member theatres' musical development with a little bit of cash to bring the writers along for the ride. We believe it is vital that the writers are part of as much of the process as possible when developing a new work. The grants are flexible and the application is short. We want to give out these $1,000 grants to theatres that have exciting new readings, workshops or productions to help ensure that they can incorporate the writers into the process. This money could be used in a whole host of ways for shows at any stage of development, whether the work is being done at the theatre or elsewhere.

This round’s information and application can be found here. I hope that many of our members will apply as we continue to strive to support all of your important work toward creating our next great new musicals. We gave out 7 grants to great projects last year and want to continue the trend this year! If you have any questions, please let me know at branden@namt.org.