Photo Flash: Inside NEO 13: A Concert Celebration Of Emerging Musical Theatre Writers

The York Theatre Company, dedicated to the development of new musicals and rediscovery of musical gems from the past, presented the 2019 installment of the celebrated concert series NEO, featuring works by new/emerging/outstanding musical theatre writersAmanda D'Archangelis & Sami Horneff, Julian Hornik, Janine McGuire & Arri Lawton Simon, and Madeline Myers. In addition to these six writers, this year's NEO of the Future program showcased two songs by writers who are currently undergraduate students: Sarah Kaufman, a senior at CAP21/Molloy College, and Caleb Smith, a junior at Penn State.

NEO (an acronym for "New, Emerging, Outstanding") celebrates songwriters primed to pen the next generation of musicals. Established in 2003, the NEO program kicks off with this concert of writers presenting multiple songs, followed, over the next year, by readings of their works-in-progress.

The evening was hosted by Nick Cearley and Lauren Molina of The Skivvies, and featured performers Sarah Chapin (Cabaret), Jaime Cepero (Smash), Ali Ewoldt (The Phantom of the Opera), Francesca Ferrari (A Night with Janis Joplin), Jessica Fontana (Cinderella),Kennedy Kanagawa (York's Lolita, My Love), Mykal Kilgore (Songs for a New World), Jesse Manocherian (York's The Day Before Spring),Samantha Massell (Fiddler on the Roof),Mark Montague (A Very Brady Musical), Joél Pérez (Fun Home), Sharone Sayegh (The Band's Visit), Emerson Mae Smith (Schoolhouse Rock), Jessica Tyler Wright (Sweeney Todd), Noah Zachary (Poster Boy), with an ensemble of students from Marymount Manhattan College.

The one-night-only performance of NEO13: A Concert Celebration of Emerging Musical Theatre Writers, was directed by Annette Jolles with music direction by Eric Svejcar, and curated and produced by Seth Christenfeld, took place on March 4, 2019 at The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter's (619 Lexington Avenue, entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue).

Photo Credit: Ben Strothmann