CAMELTON Book Event To Be Hosted by Museum of Broadway
Writer Stephen Cole will be in conversation with Peter Filichia about his memoir.
The Museum of Broadway will host columnist, author, critic and playwright Peter Filichia in conversation with Stephen Cole about his new comic odyssey memoir, CAMELTON.
Twenty years ago, Award-winning musical theatre writer Stephen Cole met his first camel…and he hasn’t been the same since. In his newly published comic memoir, Stephen tells his hilarious story of writing a musical for the Emir of Qatar. Two Brooklyn Jews, some Middle Eastern producers, flying carpets, Croatian acrobats, Lebanese Valley Girls, Russian ballet dancers, an Italian director, the desert, camels (a lot of camels!) and, of course, music. You will laugh and you will cry (from laughing) in this outrageous, once-in-a-lifetime, unbelievable-but-true tale of how Stephen and his collaborator wrote the first American Musical to premiere in the Middle East.
In 2005, Stephen & composer David Krane were commissioned to write the first American musical to premiere in the Middle East & the result was Aspire, which was produced in Qatar. Their amazing & hilarious cross-cultural experiences resulted in yet another musical about the creation of the show entitled The Road To Qatar! which was produced at the Lyric Stage in Texas, Off-Broadway & at the Edinburgh International Festival, garnering a Best Musical nomination. Stephen kept squeezing that lemon and turned his real life saga into a joyous one man show that played to sold out houses in NYC in January 2026 and is now booked for the month of August at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
And now the story is a book - the book which not only tells the story in minute detail but takes the plot all the way to the creation of the musical and the creation of the musical, The Road to Qatar.
The event will take place on June 11 at 5pm at the Museum of Broadway. To
attend this FREE event, just RSVP to stephencolewriter@gmail.com. Seating is limited.
The book is available in soft cover and eBook editions on Amazon.
About Stephen Cole
Stephen Cole (Writer & Performer) has had 25 year career in the theatre has taken him & his musicals from New York City to London to the Middle East & Australia. His Off-Broadway musical After the Fair (music by Matthew Ward; winner of 5 Dallas Theatre Awards for its world premiere) was nominated for the Outer Critic’s Circle Award for Best Musical & was subsequently produced in London to great acclaim. The Night of the Hunter (music by Claibe Richardson) won the prestigious Edward Kleban Award for Stephen & was produced in San Francisco where it was nominated for several Bay Area Theatre Awards. The musical was also produced in NYC as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival in & at Lyric Stage in Dallas with a full orchestra. The award winning concept CD features Ron Raines & Dorothy Loudon. Saturday Night At Grossinger’s (music by Claibe Richardson) had successful runs in Dallas (starring Gavin MacLeod), LA, Florida & Sonoma, CA. Broadway legend Chita Rivera toured in his show Casper (music by Matthew Ward) right before the pandemic. Casper was reborn as Casper-The Friendly Musical & played to rave reviews at Cincinnati Children's Theatre. Hal Linden & Dee Hoty starred in the world premiere of his musical adaptation of Dodsworth (music by Jeffrey Saver) at Casa Manana. Their next musical Time After Time had its world premiere at the Pittsburgh Playhouse under the direction of Gabriel Barre. Other produced shows include Merlin's Apprentice & Rock Odyssey, which had ten seasons of productions at the Adrienne Arscht Center Miami. With David Evans, Stephen wrote Merman's Apprentice, which was a smash hit at Birdland in NYC & has a cast album on Jay Records. The show was produced in 2019 in Sonoma, CA to rave reviews, winning the SF Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Score. Stephen's latest musical (with David Krane), Goin’ Hollywood, had its world premiere at WaterTower Theatre in Texas & the Dallas Morning News said "Hooray for Goin' Hollywood. A Brilliant New Musical." It will soon be produced in London. In addition to CAMELTON Stephen made his fiction debut with MARY & ETHEL…and Mikey Who? which garnered rave reviews. Stephen has also published other books including That Book About That Girl & I Could Have Sung All Night, the Marni Nixon story (currently in development as a feature film), Noel Coward & Charles Strouse's memoir Put On A Happy Face. Stephen created, wrote & executive produced a new web-series entitled “Coney Island Surprise” starring Anita Gillette, winning numerous awards & featured in film festivals across the US. Stephen is the recipient of a Gilman-Gonzales Falla Commendation for musical theatre and is a Hermitage Fellow. Visit www.stephencolewriter.org for more information.
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