New York Musical Theatre Festival from the 13 Sep - 3 Oct 2004

Fri 9 Apr 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival from the 13 Sep - 3 Oct 2004 First Annual New York Musical Theatre Festival New York City, the international home of musical theatre, will host a city-wide festival from September 13 to October 3 2004 to celebrate the art form and bring together the wide array of artists, writers, producers, theater companies, and audience members who have contributed to the city's thriving musical theater scene. Through the month of September 2004, The New York Musical Theatre Festival will take place all across New York, from the theatre district in midtown Manhattan to the outer boroughs, and it will celebrate the diversity, creativity and future of the musical, and its iconic place within New York City. The New York Musical Theatre Festival - or NYMF, as it is being called - was born at a roundtable in late 2003, attended by New York's key resident musical theatre companies including Musical Theatre Works, the York Theatre, the National Alliance for Musical Theater, Amas, Genesius Guild, BMI, and ASCAP. The concept of all of these companies coming together for a city-wide event that will demonstrate the excitement and diversity of New York's musical theater community has been enthusiastically endorsed. Central to the Festival will be THE NEXT LINK PROJECT, in which writers are invited to submit a 'production ready' new musical to NYMF. 18 new musicals will be selected by a jury made up of theatre luminaries Gabriel Barre, Robyn Goodman, Kathleen Marshall, Scott Schwartz and others. These shows will be presented in repertory over a three week period in key venues in the theatre district. Applications to submit to the Next Link Project are available from the Festival website, www.nymf.org Through the Next Link Project and other Festival events, NYMF is reaching out to commercial producers and regional theatres, for whom NYMF represents an opportunity to find new works with the greatest potential for future success. Producers have embraced this Festival goal. 'There are so many talented artists writing musicals and I am delighted that they will be given this opportunity to showcase their work' said Robyn Goodman, producer of Avenue Q and Bat Boy. There will also be a series of other events through the three weeks of the Festival, including THE MOVIE MUSICAL SCREENING SERIES which will showcase some of the most exciting musical movies of the independent film scene and will screen films that celebrate the history of the movie musical. In the first event of its kind, NYMF will present up to 30 screenings of award-winning features, shorts, dance movies, and music videos over the week of September 20 in a Times Square area theatre.Other events at NYMF will include the sneak preview of a new family musical by Stephen Schwartz (composer of 'Wicked'), NEW AUTHOR NEW STAR, a series of concerts celebrating new artists in musical theatre; THE INTERNATIONAL CONCERT SERIES, presenting international works in their original language (such as Russian or Spanish); THE ASCAP MAC SONGWRITER SHOWCASE; the BMI 5HORTS SERIES, presenting short musicals written by authors within the BMI Lehman Engel Program (such as Avenue Q's Jeff Marx and Bobby Lopez); THE RAW IMPRESSIONS RADIO SERIES, new musicals created specifically for broadcast; the National Music Theater Network's BROADWAY USA! program, which will present a season of new musicals in concert, as selected by guest Artistic Director John Rando; INSIDE THE STUDIO, which will be a mix of concert, interview and master classes featuring a series of legendary Broadway authors; THE MIDTOWN CABARET FESTIVAL, produced by the Midtown International Theatre Festival; and a series of new musicals that will be showcasing from Great Britain, Canada and Australia. "In response to the needs of the musical theatre community, the New York Musical Theatre Festival has found a way to bundle the collective creative energy in order to create a festival that provides a place for new musicals to flourish - and in these times, any organization that is finding new ways to share resources and provide a platform for new work should be applauded," said Elena K. Holy, Producing Artistic Director for The Present Company/FringeNYC. For more information, please visit the Festival website at www.nymf.org