Sutton Foster, Santino Fontana & More Set for National Alliance for Musical Theatre Festival
Two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster, Broadway vet Santino Fontana, Emmy and Academy Award nominee Annette O’Toole and more will star in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s 24th Annual Festival of New Musicals on October 11 and 12 at off-Broadway's New World Stages. The festival will present 45-minute staged readings of eight new musicals before an industry-only audience.
Foster (Anything Goes) stars in The Circus in Winter, Ben Clark and Beth Turcotte’s musical based on the novel by Cathy Day. Directed by Victoria Bussert, The Circus in Winter tells the story of legend and lore as both worlds collide under the big top. In addition to Foster, the reading stars Brian Sutherland (1776), Steel Burkhardt (Hair), Kate Rockwell (Bring It On), and features Marie-France Arcilla (Working), Emily Behny (Beauty and the Beast tour), Derrick Cobey (The Scottsboro Boys), Jonathan Jensen, Corey Mach (Godspell) and Jen Noble (Ghost).
Based on the documentary of the same name, Dan Collins and Julianne Wick’s Southern Comfort is the story of transgender friends living in rural Georgia. Directed by Tom Caruso, the reading is set to star O’Toole (A Mighty Wind), Jeff McCarthy (Urinetown), Natalie Joy Johnson (Legally Blonde), Robin Skye (Parade), Alilison Briner (Mamma Mia!), Lizze Hagstedt (Sweeney Todd national Tour), Randy Redd (War Horse), Andy Taylor (Once) and Joel Waggoner.
Tony nominee Andre De Shields (Play On!) stars alongside Jeremy Morse (Bloodsong of Love), Omar Lopez-Cepero (American Idiot) and Fontana (Cinderella) in Bonfire Night, a new musical by Justin Levine, which follows the plot to blow up Parliament in 1605. The cast also includes Eddie Wardel, Chris Hoch (Shrek) and Wade McCollum (Triassic Parq). Sam Buntrock is set to direct.
Timothy Warren (Spider-Man), Annie Golden (Xanadu) and Bryce Ryness (Hair) star in Sleeping Beauty Wakes, a retelling of the classic fairy tale by Brendan Milburn, Rachel Sheinkin and Valerie Vigoda. The reading will be directed by Rebecca Taichman.
Funked Up Fairy Tales, by Kirsten Childs, is a collection of delightfully twisted urban fairy tales for sophisticated children and grown-up kids. Directed by Jerry Dixon, the reading will star Drew Aber (A Tale of Two Cities), Demond Green (Sister Act), Kenita Miller (Xanadu), Alysha Umphress (American Idiot) and Emily Walton (The Shaggs).
Bryce Ryness (also starring in Sleeping Beauty Wakes), Dana Steingold (Pregnancy Pact) and Margot Siebert (Pregnancy Pact) star in a reading of the new musical Triangle by Curtis Moore, Thomas Mizer and Joshua Sher. Meredith McDonough is set to direct.
Nobody Loves You, by Itamar Moses and Gaby Alter, is a musical behind-the-scenes-look at a dating reality television show. The reading will star Adam Kantor (Rent), Lauren Molina (Rock of Ages), Nicole Lewis (Hair), Heath Calvert (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Kelsey Kurz (The Merchant of Venice), Asmeret Ghebremichael (The Book of Mormon), Phoebe Strole (Spring Awakening) and Etai Ben Shlomo (Wicked), with Michelle Tattenbaum set to direct.
