21st Stages Musical Theatre Festival comes to Los Angeles this August

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - July 2, 2019 - PRLog -- A twenty-one-year tradition, the Stages Musical Theatre Festival, is coming to Los Angeles August 1 through 4, featuring six new musicals.

"For years, we've been presenting the STAGES Festival as a one or two weekend marathon of readings of new musicals," says NMI Artistic Director Elise Dewsberry, "but last year we streamed portions of the festival, and found we were able to reach a broader audience from all over the globe.  So this festival we're doing the same, only we're adding a wild ice-cold reading, and an experimental greenscreen streamcast!"

Musicals in this year's festival include:

Across the Street, by Dean Alexander and Janet Hay, exploring racial tensions between Irish and Jewish immigrants in the early 1900's in America.  A concert reading on August 1st at 8pm.

The Max Factor Factor with book by Adrian Bewley, music by Joseph Blodgett, and lyrics by Chana Wise, about rival movie studios in the 1930's thrown into chaos when their rival leading men fall in love with each other.  An "ice-cold reading", in which we put the scripts of a brand-new draft in front of actors and singers without any rehearsal whatsoever.  Livestreamed on Friday August 2 at 8:00pm.

Trunk Songs featuring songs which were cut from musicals before or just after opening night.  This portion of the festival is a wild-ride experiment in three different forms of live greenscreen technique; join us as we succeed (or fail spectacularly) in transporting actors in our greenscreen studio into digital environments…live.  Live-streamed Saturday August 3rd at 10:00am.

Big Noise, by Joel Bailey and Ron Barnett, telling the story of a family torn apart by a hurricane in New Orleans.  A table reading on Saturday August 3rd at 1:00pm.

The Plot to Kill Charlie Chaplin with book and lyrics by Scott Guy, music by Kevin Mathie, dramatizing the allegedly true plot to assassinate Charlie Chaplin onboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht.  It's told in a vaudeville/silent movie style, presented in a concert reading at 4:30pm on Saturday, August 3rd.

Flesh Trade, written by Chris Holoyda, an irreverent comedy set in the Wild West, involving showgirls, gunslingers and (spoiler alert) cannibals.  Second-Prize Winner of NMI's 2019 Search for New Musicals.  A concert reading on Saturday August 3 at 8:00pm.

Pickpocket, with book and lyrics by Sandy Kasten and music by Billy Wolfe, telling the story of a young woman making her way in turn of the century New York.  Table reading on Sunday August 4th at 2pm.

"got musical" –  NMI's annual celebration of this year's season of development of new musicals.  Presented in concert will be selections from NMI's New Voices Project (featuring this year's young writers Evan Johnson, Socks Whitmore, Shayna Toh, and Ryan Patrick Martin); Ghost of a Chance (book by Rhonda Lageyre, music by Ron Barnett, and lyrics by Scott Kriloff; Foresight Saga (book and lyrics by Wayne Self, music by Scott Wilkinson); and selections from some of our musical webseries, including "Tales from a Darkening Wood."  Livestreamed beginning 6:00pm on Sunday August 4th.

Admission is free for all events.  There is a suggested donation at the concert readings.

The Festival takes place at New Musicals Inc; 5628 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood, CA  91601.

Reservation for the live events, as well as program information and the link to the streamcasts can be found at http://nmi.org/stages-musical-theatre-festival-2019/