NAMT Report: Tina Fabrique and Margo Seibert in THE LAST QUEEN OF CAANAN, a Southern Gothic Musical

BroadwayWorld's Michael Dale reports on seven musicals being presented in 45 minute readings at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Annual Festival of New Musicals. These musicals are being presented before an audience of over 600 industry professionals and are in different stages of development, not to be reviewed. For more information on all of the musicals, visit namt.org.

THE LAST QUEEN OF CANAAN

Lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik

Music by Jacob Yandura

Book by Harrison David Rivers

THE LAST QUEEN OF CANAAN is a 90 minute one-act described by the authors as a southern gothic musical. It's never been staged and in the pre-show introduction lyricist Rebekah Greer Melocik mentioned how they were curious to see how directors and designers would execute one of the story's unusual aspects; that of dead bodies emerging from the ground.

Those dead bodies are apparently free labor for landowner Cora Skye (Tina Fabrique), a middle-aged black woman who maintains a farm with her daughter, Ginny (Chasten Harmon). It's 1937 in rural Virginia and the newest addition to Cora's work force is her dead son, Benjamin (Jon-Michael Reese), who she says ran off from her.

The arrival of a WPA representative (Margo Siebert) looking for stories from Cora about her life on the farm is just an annoyance to the lady of the house, but the government worker is persistent.

By the time the NAMT presentation finished, it was apparent that there were many secrets yet to be revealed.

The musical also includes a romantic subplot, which was cut for the NAMT presentation.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre, founded in 1985, is a national service organization dedicated exclusively to musical theatre. Their mission is to advance musical theatre by nurturing the creation, development, production and presentation of new musicals, and to provide a forum for musical theatre professionals to share resources and exchange information. Our 200 members, located throughout 34 states and abroad, are some of the leading producers of musical theatre in the world and include theatres, presenting organizations, higher education programs and individual producers. Among the 228 musicals launched by NAMT's annual Festival of New Musicals are Thoroughly Modern Millie, Children of Eden, Honk!, The Drowsy Chaperone, It Shoulda Been You, Songs for a New World, I Love You Because, Striking 12, Vanities, Ordinary Days and many others, representing 420 writers.

NAMT's FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is the cornerstone of NAMT's mission to nurture the creation, development and production of new musicals. The Festival highlights eight musicals in 45-minute presentations before an audience of over 600 industry professionals. In the short run, the Festival's goal is to connect producers with writers, so that their shows can continue their development trajectory. The long-term goal is to expand the musical theatre repertoire, bringing new musical theatre to thousands of audience members around the world.

The 27th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS is overseen by NAMT New Works Director and Festival Producing Director Branden Huldeen and Festival General Manager Lisa Dozier King.