New Work in Progress: SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE at University of Miami

An interview with The University of Miami's Henry Fonte about their upcoming developmental production (see listing on right) of Slaughterhouse-Five, with music by Jed Feuer and book and lyrics by Adele Ahroneim, based on the Kurt Vonnegut novel.


How did Slaughterhouse-Five find its way to the University of Miami?  
Larry Wilker, the former producer at the Arsht Center here in Miami, an old friend, handed it to me and said, “I like this show and I like the people who wrote it. I can’t produce it. Take a look.” I almost fell over when I saw the title. One of my favorite books! But how the hell do you turn it into a musical? And then I read it and listened; and, by George! Jed and Adele really did it! And they kept the essence of the ordinal Vonnegut! I was floored.

Why is this show a great fit for your students and audience?  
Since the show is all about being “unstuck in time,” some characters appear at different stages in their life, and since the play is so presentational and so Brechtian in a way, the ages of the actors are irrelevant. This allows us to use a young cast beautifully, without anyone having to play old. And since we are doing this in our Studio Theatre, the audience is young and hip and expects to see new and even avant-garde work. So it is a perfect fit for us all the way around.

How does the process of this show fit in to the University's mission for training young artists? 

Festival Show Update: MEET JOHN DOE

An update from Andrew Gerle and Eddie Sugarman about their 2005 NAMT Festival show Meet John Doe, based on the Capra film, about the getting the show licensed, recorded and ready to go out into the world.  

There are big new developments for Meet John Doe, and we're so excited to share them with all the NAMT members and our fellow writers. Since the Festival, we've seen several very different productions of the show, and now that it's been licensed by Rodgers & Hammerstein Theatricals, we can't wait to see what other theaters, large and small, do with it. We also just released the cast album on Broadway Records with Heidi Blickenstaff, Jim Moye and Robert Cuccioli (one of Talkin' Broadway's top 10 cast albums of 2013!), which was a huge thrill and an even huger surprise—more on that later.

We're so grateful to NAMT and all the organizations that have helped us along the way, and are very excited that the album will allow many more people to meet John Doe. NAMT was the beginning of a perfect development process for us. At a retreat at TheatreWorks, we were able to write several new songs, and then incorporate them at a workshop at Carousel Dinner Theater. A student production at the Hartt School of Music allowed us to see the show and fine-tune the book, and an extensive rehearsal process at Goodspeed Musicals gave us the opportunity to add another couple of songs and address big-picture issues like pacing and flow.

The process culminated with our world premiere in DC at the Ford's Theater. We swapped out another couple songs for that production, and were overwhelmed by how well the show played for large houses (9 Helen Hayes nominations and 2 wins!). What was maybe most exciting was how much it entertained and moved the Ford's many high school audiences, who had

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!

New Work in Progress: THE UNAUTHORIZED AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SAMANTHA BROWN

An interview with Ann-Carol Pence, Associate Producer of Aurora Theatre, about their upcoming production of The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown, by Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk.  

Sam is a girl who has what every teenager wants: brains, a boyfriend, functional parents and an acceptance letter to the college of her choice. Yet, she sits in her car with her bags packed and can’t turn the key in the ignition. At a crossroads, Samantha must come to terms with her parents’ expectations, her first love and a lost friendship before she can start the car, drive away and find freedom!

How did Sam Brown find her way to Aurora?

Anthony [Rodriguez] and I are avid new musical followers; moreover, I am personally excited by composers, so I have followed Brian Lowdermilk pretty closely. He is just a powerhouse songwriter. Some of his songs are the type of great new material that singers are singing for cabarets so I already knew tunes like “Run Away with Me.” When I heard “Freedom,” I can remember weeping in my office. It was unbridled joy of two girls in a car singing at the top of their lungs. How I remember when I was that girl!

We immediately contacted them and then came a long two-year journey of agents and producers that I will not bore you with. Suffice it to say, the way you get to do new musicals is that you must be very persistent and confident beyond belief that you can make a difference. 

What drew you to the show?
It is a story of possibility. I love shows that look at the world from a young person's view and shine a light on what could be. Kait & Brian are on that same precipice. They have the opportunity to be the next great musical writing team of this generation. Anthony & I want to bank on those composers that have limitless possibility!

Has anything changed on the show since it was produced at Goodspeed Musicals two summers ago?

New Work in Progress: THE OTHER JOSH COHEN

An interview with Paper Mill Playhouse's Mark Hoebee about their upcoming production of The Other Josh Cohen by David Rossmer (NAMT Fest '10- notes to MariAnne, '00- Joe! The Musical) and Steve Rosen.

The Other Josh Cohen is more than an original new musical comedy. It's the true story of a good guy who is trying to break a streak of incredibly bad luck. He's single, broke, and just a few days before Valentine's Day his apartment is robbed of everything but one Neil Diamond CD. Six days later a mysterious letter arrives in his mailbox which changes his life forever. Will his Jewish guilt allow him to enjoy his good fortune? Will he ever be able to stop kicking himself if he doesn't? And will there ever be a time when nice guys finish first? Yep.

How did Josh Cohen find his way from his Off Broadway productions to Paper Mill?
I have known NY producer Kevin McCollum since we did summer stock together the year we both graduated college. Kevin and I have kept in touch over the years and have discussed several projects that he had which might be appropriate for Paper Mill including White Christmas which was wildly successful here last season. After Josh Cohen ran at SoHo Rep, Kevin spoke to me about the show and sent me the materials. I found the piece incredibly funny, charming, entertaining and was most impressed by the company of actor/musicians that bring the show to life - two of whom are the authors of the piece David Rossmer and Steve Rosen.

What drew you to the show and why is it a good fit for your audience?
I was most excited about this show playing at Paper Mill because it speaks to the new demographic of audience members here. Paper Mill's audience has been shifting and changing over the last six or so years. We now have a subscriber base of over 20,000 with an annual attendance of more than 200,000. The segment of audience with the largest growth has been patrons in the 35-50 age demographic. They are mostly urban transplants who have moved to the area to enjoy the benefits of living in the suburbs and to start families, but they retain their younger, hipper sensibilities. We have found that they are looking for contemporary, slightly edgier, more sophisticated musical options, and that is exactly what this show offers.

Paper Mill has a history of developing large new musicals like your recent hit, Honeymoon in Vegas, but this show is a smaller show in topic and size. Will the show get bigger for your stage or stay small and quirky?

Get to Know MY HEART IS THE DRUM

An interview with Stacey Luftig, Jennie Redling and Phillip Palmer, writers of the 2013 Festival show My Heart Is the Drum, about how they explored African society to create such a dynamic piece, their musical and cultural inspirations and how NAMT has evolved their show throughout the Festival process.

What was the impetus to create a story around a young girl with dreams larger than her African village? 

Phillip, who had been traveling and studying traditional music in South Africa and Ghana, wanted to dramatize the people and important issues he encountered there, namely the intersection of the devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic—particularly for women—and the deep poverty that is so different from what Americans experience. He also wanted to tell a story of a person with great potential who most likely would be wildly successful if she had been born into a middle-class American family, but who had to fight like crazy to have even the most basic opportunities where she happened to be born. Phillip's original outline also explored the connection between people in different countries, including a separate plot line about a dynastic Virginia cotton farming family that lobbied for the American cotton subsidies that depressed the West African cotton market and drove Efua and her family into poverty. Jennie, who had written several plays with strong teenage female protagonists and who was also a rape crisis counselor, was drawn to the material. Keeping the core characters and setting Phillip created, she reshaped the story and breathed life into Efua and the coterie of strong women who surround her.

The struggle between embracing tradition and moving away in search of progress seems to be a central theme of this piece. What are you trying to negotiate in this discussion?

This has been a big topic for the three of us; not only the theme of tradition versus progress, but education versus ignorance. Efua, our heroine, rebels against tradition. Her main means of rebellion is her pursuit of a college education (rare for girls in her community), because she wants more for her life "than just marriage and babies." In doing so, she looks down on some of those around her, whom she considers ignorant because they are less curious and more content with their lives. Understandably, her arrogance becomes destructive to these relationships. While she does have some book knowledge, what Efua lacks is experience and wisdom. While seeking the chance for a college education, however, Efua does acquire a degree of wisdom—a quality she didn't know she needed. Her growth is characterized by a greater open-mindedness, compassion, and a new appreciation of some of the traditional values and beliefs that she pushed away in the first place. However, traditional beliefs

FESTIVAL SHOW UPDATE: Ripper

An interview with writer Duane Nelsen about the big changes to his 2009 Festival show Ripper as it prepares for a production this month in Chicago.

Ripper is a musical thriller set against the backdrop of history's most notorious unsolved crime spree. Centered around the PennyWise Music Hall where a magician amuses her audience with deathly illusions while real murders are taking place on the streets outside—the show explores how acts of evil impact our lives and the simple desire to be safe in a dangerous world. The main character, the mysterious Ripper himself, is omnipresent, yet never on stage in this big ensemble show in which what we see is never what it seems.

Ripper had a production at Broadway Rose Theatre in Oregon a few years ago. What did you learn from the full production?
So much! Ripper had been through a lot of readings, recordings, workshops and festivals, but nothing compares to a full production. Probably the most important thing was discovering that Ripper needed to be an ensemble show. There had always been multiple stories in the show, but one of them involving the reporter, Chester, was always in the forefront. In production, I saw that it made audiences think the show was about him, when it really wasn't, and his journey didn't reflect the importance that people were putting on him. It had the additional effect of making the other stories around him seem either less important than they were or somehow subordinate to his, which was also wrong. I saw that I really needed to equalize the stories in importance and strengthen the single thematic idea that they all hang on; this way, the real "star" of the show, the physically absent yet ever-present Ripper, could shine.

What has changed in the story of Ripper since that production? 
Chester, the reporter, had always been part narrator in the show, so that was the first thing to go. The fourth wall is still broken, but now it's broken by the victims after they're dead, or by the "voice" of the Ripper, which now haunts many more scenes. The opening has been completely reworked to bring equal emphasis to the stories we're going to follow, and the last 15 minutes were completely re-conceived in order to bring all of the stories together more effectively, both musically and thematically. Another three songs were cut or replaced, and at least half the book was rewritten, too. More humor was added thanks to the expansion of several minor characters, and overall, there's both more clarity and more complexity to all the characters. But the most important change came as a result of the Newtown massacre. That horrifying event really hit home for me, partly because I have two school-age children myself. Witnessing what all those families went through and hearing the common refrain of "Why, why, why?"—just as we did on 9/11 and too many other occasions—really brought into sharp focus for me the horrible price innocent people pay for senseless acts of violence. The common thread in all of those stories is that those terrible expressions of evil are also countered by extraordinary acts of love and kindness, and sacrifices often by the least expected person. And that's where Ripper found its heart. All this horrible stuff happens that shatters our faith in humanity, and then someone comes along and restores it in ways we never thought possible. 

What other physical changes can we expect to see? 
The O'Malley Theater at Roosevelt University seats 250, so it's less than half the size of the Broadway Rose, and it's a 3/4 thrust, so the physical show is going to be quite different. It's really in your face, and I love that. The fantastic set design by Michael Lasswell blurs the line between the PennyWise Music Hall and the audience, and they will really feel part of the show. It's built like a Transformers toy, where it appears like a unit set and then suddenly turns into something else. It's very cool. Overall, we're taking a very theatrical approach to many aspects of the physical production, using tight pools of light to emphasize the isolation and darkness surrounding this world. There's still a fair amount of magic performed on stage, but some of it has been altered for this production--I'm not sure if they have the guillotine yet! Another interesting change is the use of a 4-person "choir" to sing the voice of the Ripper. It's all in 1st person, with tight harmonies, and very creepy. The biggest physical change may be that we are doing the show with no doublings, which means we have a cast of 29, plus an orchestra of nine! It really points to the vital role that universities like Roosevelt can play in developing large new works.

How did this production come about? 
The director, Ray Frewen, who happens to be an accomplished actor, had been connected to the show since the very first recording many years ago. At the time, I hired him to play Mr. Raktin, the proprietor of the PennyWise. In the course of rewrites, Mr. Ratkin became Mrs. Ratkin along the way, and Ray was out of a gig. Fortunately, he's a great director, and has been wanting to get his hands on it for years. The stars finally lined up and here we are. 

Why should people swing by Chicago to check out the revised Ripper?
Because these incredible students are going to scare the life out of you in the best possible way, and make you laugh, and break your heart, and make you wish you could see this show again and again—all the reasons I go to the theatre. There's so much more to the show now than there was at NAMT or at Broadway Rose, and this is a great opportunity to witness the results that came from those earlier opportunities. It's never been better. But even if you can't make it to Chicago, you might still be able to see it. We're working on doing a live streaming event! Keep up to date at ripperthemusical.com, facebook.com/rippershow and twitter.com/rippershow.