Musical Version of THE FRONT Set for Hollywood's Festival of New American Musicals Tonight

America's blacklisted writers are back in lights again and this time they're singing.

A musical version of the award-winning 1976 film, THE FRONT, will get its first LA performances tonight, August 19th and 20th at 7:30pm as part of the ongoing series of staged readings presented by the FESTIVAL OF NEW AMERICAN MUSICALS and the ASCAP FOUNDATION Irving Caesar Fund at the Barnsdall Gallery Theater in Hollywood.

THE FRONT sheds light on the entertainment industry's darkest days of the 1950s in song. In the film, which starred Woody Allen, Andrea Marcovicci, Herschel Bernardi and Zero Mostel, a cashier poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work as his own, but the injustice around him finally pushes him to take a stand.

The musical has Music & Lyrics by Paul Gordon & Jay Gruska, Book & Lyrics by Seth Friedman, based on the screenplay by Walter Bernstein. Richard Israel will direct for producers Marcia Seligson and Michael Kerker and associate producer Linda Shusett. Musical Direction is by Keith Harrison. Casting is by Michael Donovan.

The two performances are offered free of charge. Reservations can be made at info@lafestival.org.