ANMT's Stages Musical Theatre Festival to Return to LA, 8/23-25

It's hard to believe, but Stages Musical Theatre Festival will be almost twenty years old this year. This perennial musical theatre event returns to Los Angeles the weekend of August 23-25, hosted by the New Musicals Initiative at the Academy for New Musical Theatre at the Lonny Chapman Theatre (10900 Burbank Blvd in North Hollywood) and the Academy, 5628 Vineland in North Hollywood, featuring eight new musicals, in concert.

An annual Chicago tradition for 15 years in Chicago, Stages moved to Los Angeles in 2010, becoming a biannual festival.

The New Musicals Initiative will be bringing together dozens of writers and over fifty actors to present eight brand-new shows. The schedule is designed so that a Festival Pass holder can see four shows on one day at the Lonny Chapman Theatre, and the other four shows at the Academy on the other. Or, if audience members have only one day, they can pick and choose among all eight shows, shuttling between the theatre and the Academy, which are five doors away from each other.

Musicals in the festival will be announced in late spring. "We know we're presenting a new work by Placido Domingo, Jr., and the winning musical from our Search for New Musicals," says the Festival's Artistic Director and Producer Elise Dewsberry. "And we're in talks with Brendan Milburn & Valerie Vigoda (of the band GrooveLily) about including their new musical Beautiful Poison, currently in development with bookwriter Duane Poole at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle. Stay tuned as we get ready to announce all eight titles and casts."

Festival Passes cost $75 and will admit you to every event in the Festival except a Friday night gala. As was the tradition in Chicago, tickets to individual events will be available at the box office 15 minutes before curtain; individual tickets cannot be reserved in advance. Festival pass holders will be given priority seating, and any remaining tickets will be available for purchase by individuals.

"There are only 90 seats at the Group Rep Theatre," explains the Festival's Executive Director Scott Guy, "and so it's possible there won't be seats for individual ticket buyers. To counterbalance that, we're scheduling events at the Academy a half-hour later than the ones at the theatre, so there still will be a musical to see for everyone."

Dewsberry explains the distinction between events at the Academy and those at the theatre: "Events at the Academy showcase first drafts, whereas the ones at the theatre have all had several more stages of development...hence the word 'Stages.' We're contemplating including some even NEWER works, brand new pieces written just a few days before the Festival. New musical theatre, at every stage of development. STAGES is a wonderful behind-the-scenes look for an audience interested in how to write musicals."

Stages in Chicago solicited submissions from writers all around the country, involving readers and artistic directors to help recommend finalists. The Academy for New Musical Theatre offers many opportunities for writers who are learning how to write musicals, including workshops, curriculum, table readings, concert readings and rehearsal space.

Festival passes may be purchased in advance for $75 through the Academy's website at www.anmt.org.

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