New Musical LETTERS TO THE PRESIDENT Will Hold Industry Presentation

New American Musical Event, Letters to the President will hold invited industry presentations on December 7th and 8th, 2023, at Open Jar Studios.

Conceived by Michael Bello (The Who's Tommy, We Are The Tigers) and Jessica Kahkoska (The Death of Desert Rose, Agent 355), Letters to the President reimagines letters written to the White House throughout US history as a multi-composer musical event that explores the complexities, promises, and failures of democracy- and celebrates the power of making your voice heard. Each song is inspired by an individual archival letter and written by a different composer or writing team.

Letters to the President features songs by Ari Afsar & Candace Quarrels, Preston Max Allen, Simone Allen, Dawn Avery, Nick Blaemire, Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Elliah Heifetz, Anna K. Jacobs, Naomi Matlow & Teresa Lotz, Madeline Myers, Ronvé O'Daniel & Jevares Myrick, Rona Siddiqui, Mark Sonnenblick, Will Van Dyke & Jeff Talbott, Ben Wexler, and Zack Zadek.

The cast includes Whitney Bashor (MJ the Musical, Bridges of Madison County), Jared Dixon (Hamilton), Zoe Jensen (Six, Dear Evan Hansen), Nathan Salstone (Sweeney Todd, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Vishal Vaidya (Merrily We Roll Along), and Morgan Anita Wood (Hamilton).

The reading will be directed by Michael Bello with musical supervision by Patrick Sulken (Little Shop of Horrors, Pretty Woman) and dramaturgy by Jessica Kahkoska. General management is by ShowTown Theatricals, and production stage management is by Jenny Kennedy and Giselle Andrea Raphaela.

About the Show: Since George Washington took office in 1783, writing letters to the President has provided citizens of all ages, political parties, and backgrounds an outlet to express their most personal concerns, hopes, and dreams for our country. Letters To The President reimagines this canon of letters as a multi-composer, new American musical event, featuring prominent "guest letter readers" and a rich score of songs inspired by different letters from the archive. Spanning topics from women's suffrage, marriage equality, World Wars I and II, space exploration, and the Civil Rights Movement, Letters To The President offers a powerful look at American democracy by setting the White House's most memorable mail to song.

Letters to the President was initially presented as a sold-out, one-night-only event at the Cooper Union in April 2019, and subsequently featured as a sneak-peak session at "Transformation 2020: Popular Democracy Defined," a three-day virtual event hosted by the Center for Popular Democracy and Level Forward. It was featured as a concert cabaret in the 2023 Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals.

Readings are open by invitation only. For more information, email george@showtown.nyc.

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