American Music Theatre Project to Host SCROOGE IN LOVE! Workshop, 11/23

The ?American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University will present a "by-invitation-only" workshop presentation of the new musical "Scrooge In Love!" for Northwestern theatre faculty, students, staff and Chicago theatre industry members, on Sunday, Nov. 23.

AMTP brings together the nation's leading artists in music theatre to work with Northwestern's faculty and students.

The new show was written by Duane Poole, and features music by Tony Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning composer and Northwestern alumnus Larry Grossman, and lyrics by Drama Desk nominated and Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project alumnus Kellen Blair.

The 1 p.m. workshop performance will take place at the Hal and Martha Hyer Wallis Theater, part of the University's Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts, at 1949 Campus Drive. It will be directed by Joseph Jefferson ("Jeff") Award nominated Geoff Button with music direction by Northwestern faculty member Ryan T. Nelson.

"Scrooge In Love!" is a family musical sequel to the Christmas classic "A Christmas Carol," in which Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who help him discover an uplifting side of Christmas -- one filled with happiness, joy and love.

Poole ("A Christmas Memory," "Beautiful Poison"), Grossman ("Grind," "A Doll's Life," "The Muppet Show") and Blair ("Murder For Two," "The More Things Change") will begin a 10-day residency on Northwestern's Evanston campus on Nov. 14. They will work with a cast of 14 Northwestern undergraduate performers to workshop the piece.

"We are thrilled to be able to invite the creative team to Northwestern," says AMTP General Manager, Ryan Garson. "We love to bring back Northwestern and Mercer Project alumni, as well as introduce new artists to the University. It's a great opportunity for the writers to develop their piece, while providing the students with an incredible educational experience of developing new musical theatre."

Recent AMTP projects include "The Legend of New York" by Ryan Cunningham and Joshua Salzman; "The Rules of Love" by David H. Bell, Demir Demirkan and Sertab Erener; "Mr. Chickee's Funny Money" by Lamont Dozier, David Ingber and Paris Dozier; "FOUND" by Hunter Bell, Lee Overtree and Eli Bolin; "Triangle" by Tom Mizer and Curtis Moore; and "HERO" by Aaron Thielen and Michael Mahler.

AMTP also has collaborated with Andrew Lippa, Joe Thalken, Gary Griffin, Michael Greif, Neil Bartram and Brian Hill, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Brian Usifer, Eugene Lee, Craig Carnelia, Lari White and others.

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