Village Originals to Feat. Yorkey & Kitt's IN YOUR EYES et al. in New Musical Fest. 8/12-8/15

Village Originals has announced the official selections for the 10th Annual Festival of New Musicals taking place August 12-15, 2010 at the Francis J. Gaudette Theatre in Issaquah. This is an invitation only event, not open to the public.

The Annual Festival of New Musicals has become a jumping off point for a number of Village Theatre's most popular new works. Leading writers and producers from across the world come together for this invite-only event to be part of the process of developing new musicals. Since 2001, the Village Originals Festival has developed over 50 new musicals and worked with over 100 authors.

This year's Festival features staged readings-fully sung presentations, performed with script-in-hand-of the new musicals It Should Been You, Buddy's Tavern, Plane Crazy, In Your Eyes, Cloaked, and Lincoln in Love. Below is a detailed list of this year's musical line-up:

IT SHOULD BEEN YOU
Book and Lyrics by Brian Hargrove
Music by Barbara Anselmi

It Shoulda Been You made its New York City debut with the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's 21st Annual Festival of New Musicals in 2009. Composer Barbara Anselmi is a member of the BMI Musical Theater Workshop, where she is currently developing It Shoulda Been You. Anselmi has a number of New York-based director credits to her name including Piece the musical (workshop at The Duke), The Audience (Transport Group, Drama Desk Nominee Best New Musical); My Favorite Year, Roar of the Greasepaint (Musicals Tonight!), and Das Barbecue. Librettist and lyricist Brian Hargrove was a writer for television shows "Dave's World," "Caroline in the City," and he co-created the show "Titus," which ran for over three years on Fox. He created the sitcom "Nora" for TBS, and he wrote the book "My Life as a Dog" a mock-ography of Moose, the dog that played Eddie on Frasier - which he later turned into a television movie for NBC.

What begins as a typical wedding, replete with indecisive mothers and jealous siblings, escalates to new levels of hysteria in this outrageous new musical comedy. As dissatisfied mothers fire snide comments at one another and ex-boyfriends make unsolicited appearances, arguments arise and secrets unfurl. With an uproarious score, It Shoulda Been You is a rollercoaster of laughs full of shocking twists that will leave your head spinning.

BUDDY'S TAVERN
Book by Raymond De Felitta
Music by Kim Oler
Lyrics by Alison Hubbard
Based on the movie TWO FAMILY HOUSE, written and directed by Raymond De Felitta

Buddy's Tavern is the winner of the 2010 Richard Rodgers Award and American Harmony Prize, presented at the 2010 O'Neill Music Theatre Conference. The show has received workshop readings at the BMI workshop and ASCAP workshop as well as a reading at the Lark Theater Company in New York City, in the fall of 2007. It received its first professional production at The Spirit of Broadway in Norwich, Connecticut, Summer 2009 and won three Curtain Call awards. Librettist Raymond De Felitta is an independent filmmaker whose work as a writer and director has been honored around the world. He wrote the book for Buddy's Tavern, based on his film Two Family House (winner of 2000 Sundance Audience Award). Award winning lyricist Alison Louise Hubbard (Winner of the 2006 Kleban Award) and composer Kim Oler collaborated on Little Women (1998 Richard Rodgers Award), which was seen at the 2006 Festival of New Musicals and as a subsequent Mainstage production in 2008.

Despite a pattern of failed professional endeavors, ambitious Buddy Visalo refuses to accept defeat. The year is 1956, and much to the chagrin of his wife, Buddy is setting out to open a flourishing bar where he can pursue his true passion: singing. Unfortunately, nothing ever seems to go quite as planned for Buddy, whose dreams are smothered by financial woes, his wife's doubts, and, to add to the chaos, an Irish American tenant with a mixed race child. Torn between his conscience and the pressure of his peers, Buddy is transported onto a road of twists and turns that just might lead to everything he's ever wanted.

PLANE CRAZY
Books, Music, and Lyrics by Suzy Conn

Suzy Conn is a musical theater composer, lyricist, and librettist, and graduate of the two-year Theatre Building Chicago Musical Theatre Writers' Workshop. Her new musical Plane Crazy has had productions at The New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2005, and also in Toronto and Oklahoma City. Other shows by Conn include The Tale Of Pigling Bland (productions in Chicago, Sedalia, and Toronto), Daily The Firecow and Larry Gets Lost in Seattle (The 5th Avenue's AMT program), and Save As... and The Last Shot with Village Theatre KIDSTAGE's Company Originals program. Previously to her exclusive work in musical theatre, Suzy spent years writing country and pop songs in Toronto and Nashville. She is the winner of the prestigious SOCAN Advanced Writer's Workshop Award.

Attention, attention please. Now boarding is Faith Hope, winner of the Miss Teen Toledo pageant and recent graduate of the Venus Airlines Stewardess Academy. It's 1965, and Faith is about to learn that being a stewardess is more about girdles and groping hands than onboard meals and emergency exits. Just as Faith enters the fray, Venus Airlines takes on a bold, new advertising symbol of the living breathing example of blossoming female sexuality...the stewardess. Little do they know that their chosen "Miss Venus", the once naïve Faith Hope, will soon become their worst nightmare: empowered. This quirky and upbeat new musical is an uplifting and hilarious story about fighting back and demanding respect.

IN YOUR EYES
Book and Lyrics by Brian Yorkey
Music by Tom Kitt

Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as the Tony Award for Best Score for Next To Normal as well as an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Score. Kitt won the 2009 Frederick Loewe Award for dramatic composition, and is responsible for the music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations for Green Day's American Idiot on Broadway. He was also the string arranger on their most recent album, 21st Century Breakdown. Tom is also the composer of High Fidelity (Broadway), The Winter's Tale (NYSF at the Delacorte), From Up Here (MTC) and The Retributionists (Playwrights Horizons). Yorkey's Village Theatre credits include the Footlight Award-winning Tommy and ...Earnest (director), Evita and Aida (co-director), Play It By Heart (book), Making Tracks and The Wedding Banquet (book/lyrics), Lost in Yonkers, The Secret Garden and To Kill a Mockingbird (director), and The Ark and Girl of My Dreams (dramaturg), and seven years as Associate Artistic Director. Film and TV projects in development include the features Time After Time for Universal, Love Undercover for Pandemonium Films and Overture, Fashion Show for Parkes/MacDonald and Paramount and Chase for Anonymous Content and Rosenzweig Films.

IN YOUR EYES was originally written in 2002 for Village Theatre KIDSTAGE's Company Original program.

In this captivating new musical, the students of Lakeshore high school are sent into a full-blown lock down (not to mention a flood of animosity, fear, and insecurity) when a plot of gun violence is suspected. As a group of unsupervised students attempts to make sense of the chaos, they end up learning more about themselves and their classmates-from the troubled rocker spitting lyrics, to the sarcastic fashionista pointing fingers from her pedestal. Penned by the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning duo, Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt, this musical is an engrossing tale of high school survival.

CLOAKED
Book by Michelle Elliott
Music by Danny Larsen
Lyrics by Michelle Elliott and Danny Larsen

The work of authors Danny Larsen (composer/co-lyricist) and Michelle Elliott (book/co-lyricist) were last seen at Village Theatre when they brought their first collaboration together, the new musical The Yellow Wood (2006 Richard Rodgers Development Award, 2006 Daryl Roth Award, 2007 New York Musical Theatre Festival Excellence in Music Award) to the 8th Annual Festival of New Musicals in 2008. Both authors graduated from the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre program, and while at NYU, Elliott was the recipient of the Tisch Achievement Award for her program. She has a Master's in Directing from Wisconsin-Superior, where she also received the Excellence in Directing Award. Elliott is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Frontier Theatre in Minneapolis. Larsen and Elliott's new musical, Cloaked recently received its premiere production at CAP21 in New York.

In this potent new musical, a young girl and a heroic knight venture into the woods in search of love and identity...but who are they, really? In the online world, you never know. This tantalizing tale will lead you deep into the dangerous, yet extraordinarily alluring landscape of the internet, where you can escape from reality and create a different life...but what happens when right and wrong become blurred and you lose yourself in the fantasy? With a modern, innovative score that blends computerized tones and haunting melodies, this intriguing story explores the reality of what the internet has become: a wilderness that can be your best friend or your worst nightmare.

This show may not be appropriate for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

LINCOLN IN LOVE
Book and Lyrics by Peter Kellogg
Music by David Friedman

Peter Kellogg and David Friedman, the team that brought Stunt Girl (2009) and Chasing Nicolette (2009) to the Mainstage and Desperate Measures to the Village Originals Festival of New Musicals in 2005 return to Village Originals to share their new musical Lincoln In Love. Kellogg (book and lyrics) is a two-time Tony nominated author for this musical Anna Karenina (composer Dan Levine). Friedman's (music) career boasts multi-platinum recordings, Broadway shows, Disney animated films, television scores, and a teaching/lecturing career that spans the nation. He has written songs recorded by Diana Ross, Barry Manilow, and more.

Step into history and watch as the young Abraham Lincoln dips in and out of trouble and makes his way as a future political leader. In the year 1842, young Abe is found slipping into the shoes of an aspiring lawyer, not to mention serving as a comedian among the townspeople. Enter the fervent and beautiful Ms. Mary Todd, who sends the young men of Springfield into a romantic flutter. This whirlwind new musical will take you through a witty and inspirational adventure as this future President grapples with his everyday ways and takes on his first real defense trial-while fumbling with The Temptations of love and marriage.

The Festival of New Musicals also offers attendees a first look at potential upcoming Village Theatre Mainstage shows. Past Festivals have included shows that go on to be seen on Village Theatre's Mainstage such as Chasing Nicolette, The Gypsy King, Stunt Girl, Million Dollar Quartet, and Little Women as well as the upcoming 2010-2011 Season's Anne Of Green Gables and Iron Curtain.

For more information about the 10th Annual Festival of New Musicals, please visit www.villagetheatre.org.