New Musicals Festival at WP Playhouse Confirms Selections and Ticket Sales Dates

The Winter Park Playhouse announces the winning selections for the 5th Annual Florida Festival of New Musicals. This popular festival, which showcases new musical theatre works, is one of very few in the nation and the only one of its kind in the Southeastern region. The festival will take place June 23 - 26, 2022 at The Winter Park Playhouse (711 Orange Avenue Winter Park, FL 32789.)

Forty-one new musical works were submitted from writers and composers around the world. After an extensive 6-month review process by an expert panel of professional judges, the final six musicals were selected.

The Florida Festival of New Musicals was created to advance and elevate the original American art form of musical theatre by fostering the development of new musicals and the artistic growth of writers and composers.

The 4-day festival will showcase six brand new, never-before-produced musical works and will bring together writers and composers from around the nation with patrons, artists, press, producers and directors. The first act of each musical will be fully read and sung concert-style, without staging, by casts of professional actors and musicians. Audiences will have the unique and exciting opportunity to see musicals in the early stages of development and offer valuable feedback to the writers in post-reading talkbacks.

Tickets are currently on sale! General admission tickets to live performances are $10 and a "Festival Fun Pass" is only $50 for all 6 shows. For more information and to purchase festival tickets, call the box office at 407-645-0145 or visit the website www.winterparkplayhouse.org.

The Winter Park Playhouse has also partnered with three local hotels that will be offering special discounted rates during the festival - the DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando Downtown, Comfort Suites Downtown Orlando and Park Plaza Hotel. Links and discount codes can be found on the theatre's website.

Presenting sponsors for The Florida Festival of New Musicals are Dr. Judith Marlowe and Mr. Gordon Blitch. This event is also sponsored in part by Orange County Government through the Arts and Cultural Affairs Program, Winter Park Community Redevelopment Agency, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs Program and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and United Arts of Central Florida home of OrlandoAtPlay.com and UAArtsEd.com.

The six featured new musicals include:

Ciao Bambino

Music, Lyrics, & Book by Elizabeth Allen Turner (Miami, Florida)

Orchestrations & Arranging by Andreas Häberlin (Berlingen, Switzerland)

An original Italian-American, family-friendly musical, Ciao Bambino's music and lyrics were composed by Elizabeth Turner whose great-grandparents arrived at Ellis Island from Italy, providing her with unique insight into the Italian immigrant experience and inspiring her to craft a uniquely cultural musical.

Khan!!! The Musical! An Unauthorized Parody TREK-tacular

Music, Lyrics, & Book by Brent Black (Philadelphia, PA)

Co-conceived and additional material by Alina Morgan (New York, NY)

It is 2366, and Data the android is presenting his campy musical adaptation of The Wrath of Khan. In this sci-fi send up, an older Captain Kirk is experiencing a "coming of middle age" story when his nemesis Khan escapes exile and vows revenge. The ensuing cat-and-mouse game sparks an adventure that includes Vulcan tap dancing, Kirk's long-lost son (a William Shatner impersonator), and of course... mutant space chickens!

Naked: The Musical

Book & Lyrics by Germaine Shames (Tucson, AZ)

Music by Tareq Abuissa (Madison, WI)

When a second-tier American art museum unexpectedly receives Manet's Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe on loan for a landmark exhibition, the curator's wife learns a lesson in art history, l'amour, and the necessity of following one's dreams.

Thirty Seconds: A Musical

Book & Lyrics by Michael Rogers (New York, NY)

Music by Bill Wandel (Howell, MI)

It's the 1950's and a virtuous young adman becomes an advertising wunderkind, revolutionizing the business as he champions truth in advertising, only to fall victim to his own big lie, taking credit for the ideas of his secretary.

Stone Crossed

Music, Lyrics, & Book by Philip David Stern (Burlington, VT)

In the land of Arkose, a great glacier divides two groups of people. Both groups have been told through the ages not to cross the trembling fault line in fear of the other. When young Stoney accidentally crosses into the other group's territory, he meets Jewel and their lives are changed forever. After deciding to run away, circumstances arise leaving Stoney and Jewel each in crisis. In the end, through the help of a healer, both sides realize they must come together and walk into the future as one, leaving their past behind.

The Goldilocks Variations

Concept by Steve Wolf (Seattle, WA)

Music by Charles Baker (Everett, WA)

Book and Lyrics by Steve Wolf and Charles Baker

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears relate their story 4 different ways to a reporter whose job is on the line. The story of the encounter with Goldilocks reveals that the Bear family is in crisis, Papa and Mama Bear's marriage is strained, and Junior is desperate to leave home. With a nod to Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, the story changes depending on who is telling the tale.

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