The 32nd annual NAMT Festival of New Musicals was presented online Nov. 19-20, 2020, offering video excerpts of eight new musicals to an audience of industry professionals. Launched in 1989, the NAMT festival provides a forum to celebrate new musicals being produced and presented around the country. Since then, the festival has introduced 268 musicals by 512 writers from around the world. More than 85% have gone on to subsequent readings, workshops, productions and tours, been licensed, or recorded. Excerpts of the shows presented are available through November 29 at NAMT’s Soundcloud jukebox.
The creative team of the hip-hop musical comedy Co-Founders (AKA How Silicon Valley Failed to Succeed) was Beau Lewis, Adesha Adefela and Ryan Nicole (book, lyrics), Jodie Ellis, Brian Watters, and Budo (music), Jamil Jude (direction), Andrea Daly (music direction). It is the story of two unlikely partners chasing impossible entrepreneurial dreams who take on the most competitive startup accelerator in Silicon Valley, where the privileged make a killing while the people across the bridge grind to survive. The cast included Amber Iman, Ryan Nicole Austin, Gerard Canonico, Austin Dean Ashford, and Jeb Brown.
The creative team of the speculative fiction musical drama The Consoling Mechanism was Josh Franklin (book, music, lyrics), Marc Bruni (direction), and Meg Zervoulis (music direction). It concerns our deepening commitment to technology and the bonds of human connection. In a world increasingly intertwined with artificial intelligence and virtual reality, one family struggles to recover from unexpected loss. The cast included Jessy Yates, Tanner Quirk, John Clay III, Joy Woods, Bronwyn Tarboton, Raymond J. Lee, and Daryl Tofa.
The creative team of the Western musical comedy Cowboy Bob was Molly Beach Murphy (book, lyrics), Jeanna Phillips (music, lyrics), Annie Tippe (direction), and Alex Thrailkill (music direction). It concerns Peggy Jo, a good daughter by day, bank robber “Cowboy Bob” by night. This tale of a small-town legend spurs a discontented chain-restaurant waitress to buck routine, take life by the reins, and let it ride. The cast included Grace McLean and Ashley Pérez Flanagan.
The creative team of the bilingual musical drama Eastbound was Cheeyang Ng (book, music), Khiyon Hursey (book, lyrics), Desdemona Chiang (direction), and James Nathan Hopkins (music direction). It is about the unexpected meeting of two brothers from opposite sides of the world, their quests for survival, and the power of choice told through a contemporary score of traditional Chinese folk music and Mandopop. The cast included Cheeyang Ng, Zachary Noah Piser, Shuyan Yang, Ya Han Chang, and Jessica Tyler Wright.
The creative team of musical drama Hart Island was Michelle Elliott (book, lyrics), Danny Haengil Larsen (music, lyrics), Raja Feather Kelly (direction), and Jason Yarcho (musical direction). It is the tale of an immigrant woman fighting for her child and the unexpected compassion of a disillusioned inmate who is the only person who can help her. It observes two people on the edge of society as they change each other’s lives. The cast included Rodney Hicks, Gizel Jiménez, Natascia Diaz, Carrie Compere, Aline Mayagoitia, Ryan Gregory Thurman, Cheo Bourne, Simon Longnight, and Jawan Jackson.
The creative team of the superhero rock musical Lizard Boy was Justin Huertas (book, music, lyrics), Brandon Ivie (direction), and Steven Tran (music direction). It concerns Trevor, who feels like a freak because of the green lizard skin he grew after a bizarre childhood accident. When one fateful night sets him on a journey of mythic proportions, Trevor must decide if he’ll become the hero of his own story. The cast included Justin Huertas, Kirsten deLohr Helland, and William A. Williams.
The creative team of historical musical Obeah Opera was Nicole Brooks (book, music, lyrics, direction), Jonathan McCrory (direction), and Melanie DeMore (music direction). Steeped in Black music, and sung a cappella by an all-female cast, it reveals the story of the legendary Salem Witch Trials from the perspective of Caribbean slave women. The cast included Nicole Brooks, Saphire Demitro, Dana Jean Phoenix, Tringa Rexhepi, Arinea Hermans, Tu Nokwe, Nickeshia Garrick, Krystle Chance, Deidrey Francois, Michelle Polak, Karen Burthwright, and Amanda DeFreitas.
The creative team of contemporary song cycle On This Side of the World was Paulo K Tiról (music, lyrics), Noam Shapiro (direction), and Steven Cuevas (music direction). It is built from the stories of overseas workers, young lovers and gossipy church ladies — snapshots of undocumented immigrants, millennial princesses and first-generation Filipino Americans navigating old lives and new beginnings. The cast included Diane Phelan, Kay Trinidad, Jaygee Macapugay, Michael Protacio, Marc delaCruz, and Vincent Rodriguez III.