The Fifth Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Artists Takes Place 1/15-1/17

The Fifth Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Artists, produced by Goodspeed Musicals' Max Showalter Center for Education in the Musical Theater, kicks off its much anticipated three day festival of brand new works on Friday, January 15, at the Goodspeed Opera House with a staged reading of Hello Out There. On Saturday, January 16, the triple feature musical ReWrite debuts. On the final day of the festival, Lincoln in Love will be presented. Several special events will round out this exciting weekend. 

This year, Goodspeed has expanded its popular Festival Package with a weekend full of interesting events. The $75 package includes admission to all 3 staged readings; The Noel Coward Foundation Symposium: Creating Next To Normal with Tom Kitt (Tony Award winner Best Original Score, Best Orchestrations); "Pick-Two" festival seminar sessions; a Saturday evening pre-show dinner at the Gelston House with an engaging post dinner discussion hosted by a special guest speaker; and a Meet the Writers Reception which will complete the weekend's festivities. Also included in the special Festival Package is admittance to the Friday Night and Saturday Night Cabarets: informal gatherings showcasing new songs by new artists.

For both Festival Package and single ticket holders, Goodspeed Opera House tours and movie musicals screenings will be offered throughout the weekend.

"The Fifth Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Artists, with its expanded programs and wonderful new talents, highlights our commitment to developing new musicals," said Michael P. Price, Executive Director of Goodspeed Musicals.  "It's exciting for us to see the Goodspeed campus bustling in wintertime. Our community comes alive when hundreds of musical theatre fans from around the country join the best and brightest new writers, actors and Hartt School students as they work together to create the future of musical theatre," he added.

Productions from the three composing teams included in the Goodspeed Festival of New Artists and the schedule of Special Events for Festival Package ticket holders includes:
 
Friday, January 15
Hello Out There
Friday, January 15, 7:30 p.m Goodspeed Opera House
Book & Lyrics by Eric Price
Music by Frank Terry
It's the summer of 1995, a dozen years before the current financial crisis and the scandal of Bernie Madoff. Three Internet-savvy teens earn tens of thousands of dollars in the stock market using an ingenious method that may or may not be illegal. When an immigrant taxi driver loses his life savings because of the teenagers' game, he alerts the S.E.C. What was initially a high-flying summer of getting rich turns upside down as the S.E.C. chases the teens across the Internet, through the New Jersey suburbs, and all the way to Wall Street.
 
New Artists Cabaret
10:00 p.m., Gelston House
Showcasing new songs by new artists.
 
Saturday, January 16
 
"Pick Two" Festival Seminar sessions
11:00 a.m., and 12:15 p.m., Gelston House
Your choice of two breakout sessions:
"Famous Flops" with Musical Historian John Pike
"Reliving the Follies" Author Ted Chapin talks about life in the theater which inspired his book         Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies
How a producer chooses a show to invest in and develop with Broadway Producer Sue Frost
other sessions to be announced
 
The Noel Coward Foundation Symposium: Creating Next To Normal
4:00 p.m., Goodspeed Opera House
Featuring Tom Kitt, winner of two Tony Awards for Best Original Musical and Best Orchestrations and Producer David Stone (Wicked, Next To Normal and others). The symposium will be moderated by Broadway Producer Greg Schaffert (Burn The Floor, All Shook Up)
 
Festival Dinner
5:30 p.m., Gelston House
Enjoy a three course meal with fellow festival goers.
 
ReWrite
Saturday, January 16, 7:30 p.m., Goodspeed Opera House
Book, Music & Lyrics by Joe Iconis
This triple feature of wild musicals connects in surprising and dangerous ways. "Nelson Rocks!" is a pop/rock show about a young dude who needs to fix his life before the class bell rings. "Miss Marzipan" is a dizzy musical about a high-stakes dinner party. A little bit of blood is spilt, but it's nothing that some kitchen towels can't clean up. "The Process" deals with a writer on deadline to finish his musical at the Dunkin' Donuts. As his characters begin to populate the coffee shop, our friendly counter lady serves as a guide through this passionate look into one man's writing process.
 
New Artists Cabaret
10:00 p.m., Gelston House
Showcasing more new songs by new artists.
 
Sunday, January 17
 
Lincoln In Love
Sunday, January 17, 1:00 p.m., Goodspeed Opera House
Book & Lyrics by Peter Kellogg
Music by David Friedman
It's a crucial moment in young Abe Lincoln's life - the fledgling lawyer has served his first term in the Illinois state legislature and he's mourning the death of his fiancée, Ann Rutledge. Enter socialite Mary Todd, arrived in Springfield to visit her sister and find a husband suitable to her cultivated taste and ambition. While at first she finds Lincoln coarse and uncivilized, Mary sees his great potential after his first major trial. Their on-again, off-again relationship is just one of the challenges and events that shaped the young Lincoln into the leader he would become.
 
Meet the Writers Reception
3:30 p.m., Gelston House
Gain insight into the inspirations and processes of the writers. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres and cash bar.
 
Lodging and dining information for Festival attendees as well as up to date information on the weekend's events may be found at goodspeed.org.

Created in 2002, Goodspeed's Showalter Center inspires and nurtures musical theatre artists and students by providing a unique and comprehensive range of training and educational programs to serve both the national and local academic communities.

One of the Showalter Center's major endeavors is The New Artists program.  It offers new and emerging artists the rare opportunity to thoroughly work on their projects with the help of Goodspeed's renowned resources and artistic environment, while affording senior students from The Hartt School real-world experience in new musical development and performing new musicals.  The Hartt School, founded in 1920 and one of three founding institutions of the University of Hartford (Conn.), is an internationally acclaimed conservatory with innovative programs in music, dance and theatre.

The New Artists Program is being held throughout the Goodspeed campus January 5 - 17, 2010.  During the first week of the program, three teams of writers and composers will dedicate their time to further writing and composing their musicals in development.  In the second week, senior students from The Hartt School will join them for rehearsals and continued development of the material.  The New Artists program culminates with Goodspeed's Festival of New Artists which will showcase staged readings of the new musicals developed during the New Artists Program and is open to the public.

Goodspeed's New Artist Program is generously sponsored by The Adolph & Ruth Schnurmacher Foundation and The Noel Coward Foundation.

Dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theatre, Goodspeed Musicals produces three musicals each season at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn., and additional works at The Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn., which was opened in 1984 for the development of new musicals.  The only regional theatre to receive two Tony Awards (for outstanding achievement), Goodspeed also maintains The Scherer Library of Musical Theatre and The Max Showalter Center for Education in the Musical Theater.  Goodspeed gratefully acknowledges the support of the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts.          

Tickets are $15 each for one show, $10 each for students. Tickets are available at the Goodspeed Box Office or by calling 860-873-8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org.