Playwrights Horizons and Vineyard to Produce New Musical The Burnt Part Boys

Playwrights Horizons and the Vineyard Theatre will jointly produce the new musical The Burnt Part Boys in the spring of 2010. The two off-Broadway companies announced an innovative development schedule for the show, which features a book by Mariana Elder, lyrics by Nathan Tysen and music by Chris Miller, nd will be directed by Erica Schmidt.

The Burnt Part Boys will have a developmental Lab Production not open for review at the Vineyard from May 26 to June 6, then a summer presentation at New York Stage and Film at Vassar College before its official 2010 premiere at Playwrights Horizons. No casting has been announced.

Set in West Virginia in 1962, The Burnt Part Boys follows a group of teenagers whose fathers were killed 10 years earlier in a tragic coal mining accident. When they learn that the mine will be reopened, they set out secretly in the hopes of seeing the site, and keeping it closed. Described as a moving and powerful coming of age tale, the musical features a bluegrass and pop inspired score by the composers of Fugitive Songs and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.