Backstage Pass

This episode features discussions about Andrew Beall, Evan McCormack and David Don Miller’s Goodbye New York and Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen and Ann McNamee’s Other World. Hunter, Jeff and Ann were also joined by their director Adrienne Campbell-Holt.

GOODBYE NEW YORK (by Andrew Beall, Evan McCormack and David Don Miller) - When Olivia Long sets out to indulge her final day in New York City, the last thing she expects is to run into Will Edmonds--the one that got away. To her shock, he thinks she's the one who got away, and he's been waiting ten years to tell her. So she shares her day with him, showing him the New York she loves, and all that he’s been missing. But she’s harboring a secret, one that will take her away from him forever. A second chance at love doesn’t always come along, but if it does...do we take it? Even if it only lasts one day? Is it worth it to pull someone closer...only to say goodbye?

OTHER WORLD (by Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen and Ann McNamee) - Other World is an original musical that tells the story of avid online gamer Sri and non-gamer Lorraine who are magically and unexpectedly transported into Sri’s favorite video game, Other World. The duo must learn how to work together and, with the aid of fellow gamers and their avatars, survive the game and find a way home. With its themes of love, loss, creativity, imagination, forgiveness, and empathy, this adventurous new show embraces family and the connections we make on- and off-line in this modern cyber age. Other World proudly features an inclusive cast and characters mirroring the gaming community and culture and giving voice to exciting talents. 

Featuring performances from Arielle Jacobs, Michael Maliakel and Brad Standley

Connect with Andrew Beall:

• Instagram and Twitter: @composerandrew

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• Instagram: @esmccormack

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• Instagram and Twitter: @daviddonmiller

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• Instagram: @huntbell

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• Instagram: @jefbowen

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This episode features discussions about Dante Green’s An Incomplete List of All the Things I'm Going to Miss When the World is No Longer and Masi Asare’s Garden Of Starflowers. Dante was also joined by their collaborator Lyell Hintz.

AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF ALL THE THINGS I’M GOING TO MISS WHEN THE WORLD IS NO LONGER (by Dante Green) - Following a global announcement of the date and time Earth will be terminated, a community decides the only reasonable thing to do is to gather together. An Incomplete List… invites you into a glance at the last shit show ever -- through a retrospective of cherished and tragic memories -- to celebrate and mourn the delights and deceptions of the human experience.

GARDEN OF STARFLOWERS (by Masi Asare) - It’s 2075. A metropolis in a dystopian world where humans spend most of their time in survival pods taking shelter from an overheated planet. Plugged in to virtual realities, they rarely venture out in person except for organized mass entertainment events held under a shimmering festival dome. But Lucie, a misfit, has dreams of persuading flowers to grow in the scorched ground outside her pod. When Oscar catches a glimpse of her gardening on surveillance footage, he’s convinced she is the incarnation of Anjelín, a digital pop star he stans in virtual reality, and sets out to meet her. Meanwhile preparations are underway for Anjelín’s first holographic concert in the dome, but there are “glitches” in the digital star’s programming as she seems to manifest her own will and emotions. Oscar introduces a reluctant Lucie to the festival scene where she comes face to face with the virtual star who, uncannily, looks exactly like her. And then, Anjelín herself begins to have ideas about her purpose in the world, her connection to Lucie, and the dream of a real-life garden of starflowers.

Featuring performances from Jaime Cepero, Laura Galindo and Isabelle McCalla

Connect with Dante Green:

• Instagram: @dantemgreen

Connect with Masi Asare:

• Instagram and Twitter: @masiasare

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This episode features discussions about Aryanna Garber & Benjamin Velez’s Borderline and Kirsten Childs’ The Lucky Boy. Aryanna and Benjamin were also joined by their director Sarna Lapine (Sunday in the Park with George). Kirsten was also joined by her director John Simpkins (The Black Suits, Bloodsong of Love), music director Jennifer Peacock and actor Jasmine Forsberg (Broadway Bounty Hunter, Love In Hate Nation). 

BORDERLINE (by Aryanna Garber & Benjamin Velez) - Borderline is a new musical dramedy about a girl living with Borderline Personality Disorder and struggling for normalcy amidst a revolving door of therapists, medications, and dysfunctional relationships. This new musical is a deeply personal story that explores the highs and lows, heartache and absurdity, of living on the borderline. 

THE LUCKY BOY (by Kirsten Childs) - The Lucky Boy is a satirical one-act musical which examines what happens when a country is held hostage by a tyrant’s rule. Cruel King Ambrose kills citizens who don’t proclaim him adorable. When it’s predicted that an illegal alien baby named Lucky will grow up to surpass him in adorability, Ambrose throws the child into a nuclear waste bin. Eighteen years later, Ambrose discovers Lucky‘s still alive and hella adorable.

Featuring performances from Malik Bilbrew, Aidan Cole, Micaela Diamond, Kate Fahey, Jasmine Forsberg and Bryonha Marie Parham

Connect with Benjamin Velez:

• Instagram: @benjaminvelezmusic

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This episode features discussions about Ben Caplan’s I Don’t Want To Talk About It and Christina Crawford and David Nehls’ Mommie Dearest. 

I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT (by Ben Caplan) - I Don’t Want to Talk About It takes a deep dive into the complex world of mental health as told by a troupe of mercurial performers to an unnamed protagonist. Through fourth-wall breaking sketch and song, the protagonist explores the subjects and stigmas of this taboo topic alongside the audience. But as the show goes on, the fourth wall begins to close, and the narrator realizes that the troupe isn’t here for the audience: they’re here for him. Through humor, empathy, and brutal honesty, this rock musical pushes the boundaries of how society discusses mental health.

MOMMIE DEAREST (by Christina Crawford & David Nehls) - Based on the explosive novel and film, this coming-of-age story is told through the point of view of brother-sister pair Christina and Christopher Crawford. The musical adaptation follows them through three decades of American culture as they grow up, struggle with adversity and try to remain family even as they are forced down different paths. 

Featuring performances from Justin Albinder, Charlie Levy, Tina Scariano and Brynn Williams

Special thanks to Alex Pearlman/Bardo Arts for use of Mommie Dearest’s audio tracks

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This episode features discussions about Timothy Huang’s American Morning and Jaime Cepero’s Francois & The Rebels. 

AMERICAN MORNING (by Timothy Huang) - Inspired by an article from the 2009 New York Times, American Morning tells the story of two immigrant cab drivers who share opposite shifts off the same medallion. The two men’s fates become intertwined as forced competition drives a wedge between them that culminates in a single desperate act that leaves one dead and the other brutalized.

FRANCOIS & THE REBELS (by Jaime Cepero) - Francois and the Rebels is a punk rock telling of the 1791 Haitian Revolution. With a pulsing punk rock score, and a story pulled from historic events full of love, loss, and deception, Francois and the Rebels tells an important and often forgotten black history through the lens of an immersive high energy rock and roll experience.

Featuring performances from Cathy Ang, Marc delaCruz, L Morgan Lee, Raymond J. Lee and Alex Lugo

Connect with Timothy Huang:

Listen to the concept album of American Morning on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music

Connect with Jaime Cepro:

• Instagram: @papimagic & @francoisandtherebels

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This episode features discussions about Georgina Escobar and Robi Hager’s Little Duende and Cheeyang Ng and Eric Sorrels’ Māyā. Cheeyang and Eric were also joined by their director Arpita Mukherjee. Both of these shows are featured in this year’s NAMT 33rd Festival Of New Musicals. A special edition discussion with NAMT’s New Works Director Mark Blankenship is also featured at the beginning. 

LITTLE DUENDE (by Georgina Escobar and Robi Hager) - With fairy tales and mythological themes, Little Duende comments on real world matters as it explores the border crisis, dual citizenship and the consequences of a dark family secret.  

MĀYĀ (by Cheeyang Ng and Eric Sorrels) - Told with contemporary language and a score that fuses Western pop and Indian Classical music, MĀYĀ is about the ties that hold us, the illusions that bind us and the truth that can finally set us free. 

Featuring performances from Kimberly Chatterjee, Robi Hager and Kuhoo Verma 

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Connect with Robi Hager:

• Twitter & Instagram: @robihager

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• Twitter & Instagram: @Cheeyangmusic

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• Instagram: @eric_sorrels

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This episode features discussions about Paul Scott Goodman and Pamela Gray’s A Walk On The Moon and Daniel and Patrick Lazour’s We Live In Cairo. Paul and Pamela were also joined by director Sheryl Kaller and music supervisor Greg Anthony Rassen.

A WALK ON THE MOON (by Paul Scott Goodman and Pamela Gray) - A heart-stirring new musical that transports audiences to the summer of 1969 during the Woodstock festival and the Moon landing. Pearl Kantrowitz, a dutiful housewife, begins a love affair that pulls her away from the life she’s always known. At a crossroads, just like the America she's living in, Pearl must decide if she’s truly ready to leave her world behind.

WE LIVE IN CAIRO (by Daniel and Patrick Lazour) - Inspired by the young Egyptians who took to the streets in 2011 to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak, the show follows six revolutionary students armed with laptops and cameras, guitars and spray cans as they come of age in contemporary Cairo. 

Featuring performances from Jackie Burns, Daniel Lazour, and Patrick Lazour

Co-produced and edited by Hector Flores Jr, and Pauls Macs

Connect with Paul Scott Goodman:

• Twitter: @thepaulproject

Connect with Daniel Lazour:

• Twitter & Instagram: @daniellazour and @frereslazour 

Connect with Patrick Lazour:

Listen to The Lazour’s album Flap My Wings on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music

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This episode features discussions about Lauren Taslitz and Danny Ursetti’s Mimosa and Will Van Dyke and Jeff Talbott’s Ten Brave Seconds. 

MIMOSA (by Lauren Taslitz and Danny Ursetti) - Mimosa is a plant with a special gift: she can dance. Mom begs her to stop, concerned that she could be noticed by a human. Then along comes lonely, teenage human Molly, who catches sight of Mimosa dancing and is so delighted by her, she digs Mimosa up and takes her home. Together they learn to communicate in order to unite and heal their imperiled communities. Mimosa is a cautionary tale that asks us to see ourselves as natural parts of the natural world in order to preserve and save our environment.

TEN BRAVE SECONDS (by Jeff Talbott and Will Van Dyke) - Ten Brave Seconds is a new musical about the day that 16-year-old Mike comes out of the closet and the cosmic change that affects his community. Mike is about to find out that it’s on the other side of the telling that all the good stuff sits waiting. This original story is about those tiny brave seconds that make up the gargantuan moments that tell you (and the world) who you are.

Featuring performances from Makai Hernandez, Diana Huey, Troy Iwata, Shereen Pimentel, Christine Toy Johnson and Angela Travino 

Produced by Pauls Macs 

Connect with Lauren Taslitz:

• Instagram: @ltaslitz

Connect with Danny Ursetti:

• Twitter & Instagram: @dannyursetti

Connect with Jeff Talbott:

• Twitter & Instagram: @jefftalbott

Connect with Will Van Dyke:

• Twitter & Instagram: @wvdmusic

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Welcome to The Musicals of Tomorrow! This episode is part of the premiere group and features discussions about Paulo K Tiról and Noam Shapiro’s On This Side Of The World and Jonathan Karpinos, John McGrew and Joseph Varca’s The Village Of Vale. Paulo and Noam were also joined by actor Belinda Allyn. Jonathan, John and Joseph were also joined by Tony Award® winning producer Jane Dubin and director Lisa Rothe.

ON THIS SIDE OF THE WORLD (by Paulo K Tiról and Noam Shapiro) - Stories of overseas workers, young lovers and gossipy church ladies. Snapshots of undocumented immigrants, millennial princesses and first-generation Americans. In On This Side of the World, six actors give voice to Filipino immigrants navigating old lives and new beginnings, as a one-way ticket sends them on a journey eight-thousand miles from home.

THE VILLAGE OF VALE (by Jonathan Karpinos, John McGrew and Joseph Varca) - Carrying only a pair of magical glasses and a desire for vengeance, an ageless Traveler returns to the village that once betrayed her. When she finally returns to Vale, she is caught up in the lives of the villagers who hold the key to her vengeance: an obsessed bookkeeper, a haunted widow, and the family of proud woodcutters that exiled her long ago. As her search for revenge upends the lives of everyone she encounters, she faces a choice that will change the village of Vale forever.

Featuring performances from Belinda Allyn, Marc delaCruz, Lauren Elder, John McGrew, Michael Protacio and Joy Tamayo

Connect with Paulo K Tiról:

• Instagram: @pauloktirol

Connect with Noam Shapiro:

• Twitter & Instagram: @noam_shapiro

Connect with John McGrew:

• Twitter & Instagram: @johnmcgroove

Connect with Joseph Varca:

• Twitter & Instagram: @joevarca

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Welcome to The Musicals of Tomorrow! This episode is part of the premiere group and features discussions about Joriah Kwamé and Lauren M. Gunderson’s Little Miss Perfect and Kate Leonard and Daniel Merzlufft’s House Rules. 

LITTLE MISS PERFECT (by Joriah Kwamé and Lauren M. Gunderson) - Coming of age is even harder when you’re also coming out. Noelle's world turns upside down when she develops feelings for Malaya, the foreign exchange student being hosted by her conservative family. As class president, she also must confront her privilege and compliance when her high school refuses to take steps in being more inclusive. Noelle struggles to decide whether she will be true to herself and an ally to her peers, or if she will settle with simply being Little Miss Perfect.

HOUSE RULES (by Kate Leonard and Daniel Merzlufft) - Jacob Hunt is a forensics-obsessed teenager living with autism in modern-day Vermont. With the help of his devoted mother and oft-overlooked younger brother, Jacob relies on strict routines to navigate daily life as smoothly as possible. The family is thrown into chaos, however, when Jacob’s beloved social skills tutor is found dead and Jacob is suspect number one. Based on the novel by New York Times Best-Selling novelist Jodi Picoult.

Featuring performances from Savannah Fisher, Max Antonio Gonzalez, Michelle Beth Herman, Joriah Kwamé and Daniel Merzlufft 

Connect with Joriah Kwamé:

• Twitter & Instagram: @JoriahKwame

Connect with Lauren M. Gunderson:

• Twitter & Instagram: @LaLaTellsAStory

Connect with Kate Leonard:

• Instagram: @kraaate

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