Cate Caplin (who directed the recent reading of Now and Then a Hero) writes from New York:
Last night I sat front row for the opening night of a brand new Broadway musical called [title of show] - It was a show within a show about two unknown writers, writing a new musical for the NY Musical Theatre festival, pursuing their dream to Broadway - it was their literal story and journey about writing a new musical unfolding within the context of the show - very exhilarating to see a real life dream being realized in real time on stage up to the final moment of the piece and there they were, opening ON Broadway for real.
The audience (no doubt diehard friends and fans throught the entire journey of this new piece thru its developmental stages to its off-Broadway run, workshop productions and subsequent road to Broadway) was electrifying…. It was definitely an inspiration to see it happen for others, the very thing we ALL dream about happening… I ran into the producer who I know from other relations years ago and he invited me to the opening night party.
So many icons of Broadway were there, the toast of the town Broadway directors and choreographers, Tony Award winning actors and famous designers, composers, writers - a sea of artistic legends…. I thought of you all and wanted to share my random NY “ride”….
–Cate Caplin
Author: Elise Dewsberry
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Artistic Director of New Musicals Inc., Elise has been involved in the development of new works for over forty years: as an actor/singer, as a director, as a dramaturge, and as a writer. While living in Toronto, Elise served as the Assistant Artistic Director of the Muskoka Festival; the Co-Ordinator of the festival’s annual Musical Theatre Writer’s Colony, the Associate Dramaturge of the Canadian Stage Company; the Resident Dramaturge of the Smile Theatre Company; and was the co-founder of Toronto’s Script Lab. Elise spent many years touring Canada with Nine Months – a one-woman musical which she commissioned from writers Carl Ritchie and Stephen Woodjetts. Elise and Carl also co-wrote Any Body Home?, which was produced by the Cordova Bay Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia, and published by Dramatic Publishing. Elise joined ANMT as Associate Artistic Director in 2003; joined Founding Artistic Director John Sparks as Co-Artistic Director in 2010; and became Artistic Director of New Musicals Inc. in 2013. Elise is also the author and evaluator of the Book Lab and the Outlining Lab, offered online through www.writingmusicaltheatre.com, and publishes a monthly blog on the craft of musical theatre available at https://nmi.org/elises-video-blog/.