NYMF Hits Ticket-Sales Record, Announces 2008 Dates

Overall attendance at the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) has increased for the fourth consecutive year, up to 41,000 from 36,400 in 2006.  Coupled with Festival memberships increasing 30% to 520, 2007 will see the highest income target yet reached by the four-year-old festival.

"We're very proud, of course," said Kris Stewart, NYMF executive director.  "The growth of the Festival has been pretty incredible over the last couple of years.  And, realistically, that's only been able to happen because there is an enthusiastic audience interested in supporting new musicals."

The budget for the Festival is expected to top $1 million for the first time this, three times the cost of the Festival in its first year.  NYMF covers approximately a third of its costs through ticket sales, with the rest coming through government, foundation and individual support, and income from fundraising events such as the November 4 NYMF Awards Gala honoring award winning shows and artists from the 2007 Festival and Broadway producers: Robert Ahrens (Xanadu), Pun Bandhu (Spring Awakening) and Jennifer Maloney (Spring Awakening, Legally Blonde).

Plans have now begun for the Festival's fifth season, which is anticipated to run between September 15 and October 5, 2008.  The Festival will begin accepting submissions on January 1, 2008; complete submission information will be available on the NYMF website, www.nymf.org, after December 1.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival is the enormously popular three-week celebration that features the works of the newest generation of musical theatre writers.  One of the fastest-growing theatre festivals in the country today, the New York Musical Theatre Festival has, in four short years, presented a total of 133 new musicals, many of which have gone on to subsequent productions at Off-Broadway and regional theatres around the country.