NYC Premiere of The Shaggs to be Co-Produced by Playwrights Horizons and NYTW

Playwrights Horizons and New York Theatre Workshop will co-produce the New York premiere of the musical The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World in the spring of 2011. The show will be presented off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, directed by John Langs.

The Shaggs features a book by Joy Gregory, music by Gunnar Madsen, lyrics by Gregory and Madsen and a story by Gregory, Madsen and Langs. Set in Fremont, New Hampshire, in the early ’70s, the musical is based on the true story of a working class dad who has a vision of rock ’n’ roll destiny for his three talentless daughters, convinced they’re his family’s ticket out of hardship and obscurity. But the girls have ideas of their own—and as their father’s ambition turns to obsession, the price of familial obligation becomes all too clear.

According to a website for the show, The Shaggs has been in development since 2001 and had a premiere production at L.A.’s Powerhouse Theatre Company in 2003, where it won several Best Musical prizes. The following year, The Shaggs was produced at Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre Company, and it received an AEA showcase in New York in 2009. No casting has been announced for the off-Broadway production.

This production will mark the first time that Playwrights Horizons and NYTW have co-produced a show. Playwrights Horizons teamed up with the Vineyard Theatre in May 2010 to produce the new musical The Burnt Part Boys.