The Winter Park Playhouse Florida Festival Of New Musicals - Announces Winning Selections For August 2018

The Winter Park Playhouse announces its second annual Florida Festival of New Musicals August 23-26, 2018 of this year, and has just confirmed the winning selections for 2018.

The Festival has been 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 event will showcase six brand new, never-before-produced musical works and connect writers and composers with professional producers and directors. One act of each selected musical will be fully read and sung concert-style, without staging, by varying casts of professional actors and musicians. Audiences will have the unique and exciting opportunity to see musicals in the early stages of development.

The six featured musicals will be:

DIAMOND AND THE NORTH WIND

Book by Jeffrey Haddow / Lyrics by Jeffrey Haddow & Thomas Tierney / Music by Thomas Tierney (New York, NY)

In Diamond and the North Wind, the beautiful and mysterious North Wind befriends a poor stable boy and takes him on flying adventures, teaching Diamond valuable life lessons that help him prevent the greedy real estate tycoon, Tobias Blunt, from destroying the last livery stables in New York City and turning its horses into glue.

EXTENDED STAY

Book by Jenny Stafford / Lyrics by Jenny Stafford and Scotty Arnold / Music by Scotty Arnold (Denver, CO)

Owen is full of dreams but short on ambition. Years ago he stopped at an Extended Stay hotel inIndiana--and hasn't left yet. Plagued by both fear and ennui, Owen finds himself stuck in every sense of the word. However, when Emma arrives, she too is desperate to pull herself out of her own "stuckness" and excel at her job at the front desk--where she is instructed to evict Owen. Joined in their shared anxiety, they struggle to help each other crawl up out of their dark pasts. When Owen's adventurous childhood friend Ethan arrives, though, he offers Emma a new life. Each in the newly-formed triangle struggles to figure out how to move forward from pasts that threaten to swallow them whole.

HOW TO MARRY A DIVORCED MAN

Book & Lyrics by Bryan D. Leys / Music by Clare Cooper (New York, NY)

Layla Diamond, a rock and roll reporter in her late 30's, decides it's time to settle down. Following the advice of her daffy mother, she adopts what she thinks is her best option, a divorced man. She sets her sights on a charming sports agent with a needy ex and two obnoxious children. Frustrated, she tries setting up the needy wife with a new boyfriend, which backfires. While trying to fix her Divorced Man's problems, Layla makes one miscalculation after another, adopting false identities, causing multiple mix-ups, and turning her marital quest into a hilarious farce.

MISS ISABELLA RAINSONG AND HER TRAVELING COMPANION

Book, Lyrics & Music by Ross D. Martin (Fulton, MD)

While waiting out a storm in an Amtrak train station, a disheveled Traveler shares the story of his three-year journey as the traveling companion of Miss Isabella Rainsong - a captivatingly beautiful guitar. Sharing songs and stories from their journey, Traveler tells how he discovers Miss Rainsong and an Amtrak ticket while contemplating suicide. As they ride the rails, the Amtrak conductors keep Traveler clean and fed while he takes care of Miss Rainsong, learning to play and channeling songs about the journey. Rehabilitated and restored through music, Traveler tearfully leaves Miss Rainsong behind for another lost soul to find her...

SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN

Book, Lyrics & Music by Alan Becker (Vashon Island, WA)

Benjamin is coming of age - ten years late. While the handsome dreamer tinkers on a motorbike with a vague plan to see the world beyond his hometown, his long-time sweetheart tries to push him along the path to marriage, and his well-connected father clears the way for him to have a stable career. Torn, Ben struggles to decide which way he wants to go. When a brash and quirky stranger appears poised to steal Ben's girl, job, and everyone's affections, pressure mounts on Ben, while his dad's growing political ambitions expose old resentments and new financial strains. Somewhere In Between is about a small town slacker who seeks his own path in life, while thoroughly messing up everyone else's.

THE STRANGER FROM SEVILLE
Book & Lyrics by Victor Kazan / Music by Kevin Purcell (Melbourne, Australia)

Set in the Yucatán on the eve of the Mexican Revolution, in a world of both unimaginable wealth and abject slavery, The Stranger from Seville tells the poignant story of star-crossed lovers - a free-spirited young Mexican woman and a gifted young artist newly arrived from Spain - whose blossoming romance is thwarted at every turn by the self-seeking actions of those around them. Inspired by the setting, elements of gypsy rumba, flamenco and regional 'trova yucateca' music styles contribute to the fabric of the show's classic Broadway score.

The Festival Of New Musicals will be held at The Winter Park Playhouse August 23-26, 2018. Ticket price is $10 per show and a six show "Festival Fun Pack" is $50. The address is 711 Orange Avenue Winter Park, FL 32789.

All tickets will go on sale May 22. Purchase tickets and get more information by calling the box office 407-645-0145 or by visiting online at www.winterparkplayhouse.org.

The Winter Park Playhouse is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and a professional theatre proudly affiliated with Actors' Equity Association and The National Alliance For Musical Theatre.