Festival of New American Musicals Kicks Off 5th Season

The annual Festival of New American Musicals (FNAM) kicks off its 5th season on May 1, 2012 with a fresh lineup of 29 new musical events.

The season begins on May 3 at Mbar with Milburn & Vigoda, a theatrical songwriting team who perform their own material. They spent 15 years on the road with their band GrooveLily, and now divide their time between writing musicals and songs for movies and teen pop stars. Here’s a look at the rest of the season.

June 3: Carry On
An original musical about the civil rights movement happening at The Actors Gang

June 9: The Show of Shows  

The festival launches its own series of 2-hour musical theater radio shows in conjunction with KUSC 91.5. The celebration of American musicals will live stream Saturday evenings at 8pm. Leading off the series will be Take Me to the World: The Lesser Known Music of Stephen Sondheim.

June 9 - July15: Earthbound
An Electronica Musical at T.U. Studios

June 12 -14: Water & Power
A musical about the Industrial Revolution that takes place at Marquez School

June 21: Miracle in Philadelphia
An inside look into the writing of the US Constitution at The Kirk Douglas Theatre.

June 30: Futurefest
Schools from all over Southern California will come together at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center to perform new American musical theater songs and scenes. Participating high schools include: Community Charter, Santa Susana High, Moorpark High, Oak Park High, Notre Dame High, Champs Charter, Granada Hills High, LA Reina High, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Channel Islands and AMDA.

July 26-29: Go-Go Beach
Returning for the 4th straight year is TH193, a summer college course in creating new musicals, which is to be presented at the College of the Canyons in conjunction with the Festival. Go-Go Beach is a new musical fable about the shift in consciousness in America in the mid-sixties told in the style of the popular California beach party movies.

August 7: Tempest Toss’d
Returning to the Festival is the Shakespeare Musical Project in which students of Los Angelesʼ PUC Charter High School transform a Shakespeare play into a contemporary musical. This year students will bring the audience a rollicking musical adaptation of The Tempest.

August 18-19: Johnny Spots
Premiering at Cal State Fullerton

The First Look series is an ambitious 2-week period of staged readings taking place in various theater venues in Hollywood-Los Feliz that includes:

August 15-16: Asphalt Beach

August 15-16: ASCAP’s 3rd Annual Songwriter’s Showcase at the Gardenia hosted by Andrea Marcovici

August 19-20:  My Lesbian Mother’s Jewish Wiccan Wedding at Barnsdale Gallery Theater

TBA Dates: On the Record, Martin Scorsese, and The Existents at Show at Barre

Plus a world premiere new musical work at the Skylight Theatre

The Festival of New American Musicals will also be recommending new musicals playing in Southern California venues including:

Cloudlands at South Coast Rep now through May 6
Hello! My Baby (May 4 - 6) at The Lobero Theatre
Susan Egan, The Belle of Broadway (May 6) at Carpenter Center
Crescent City (May 10 -27), a Hyperopera, at Atwater Crossing
Hands on a Hard Body (April 27 - June 17) at the La Jolla Playhouse
Scottsboro Boys (April 29 - June 10) at the Old Globe
Jane of the Jungle (May 25 - June 10) at South Coast Rep
American Idiot (May 29 - June 3) at Orange County Performing Arts Cr.
Book of Mormon (September 5 - November 25) at the Pantages

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