It’s that time again! Time for our annual “15 Minute Musicals”, a highly-anticipated event where the participants of our Core Curriculum get to showcase their work (and the rest of the curious community comes out to see the new talent!).
This season there will be four 15-minute musicals, featuring the same cast of five actors. The writers have been given a theme of “For Richer, For Poorer”, and have cooked up four wildly different approaches to this theme: an outrageous family squabble over a cookie dough recipe; a porn movie with a G-rated director at the helm; Hansel and Gretel all grown up but delusional that the Witch is still out to eat ’em; and three exotic plants singing for their lives.
The four shows presented each evening (June 28 and 29) are:
“Dough!”, with book by Sarah Hernandez, music by Clifford J. Tasner, and lyrics by Ron Ovadia.
“Shoot Ma!”, with book by Joe Moe, music by Ryan Luevano, and lyrics by Richard Hefner
“Witch Is It?”, with book by Maureen Borillo, music by Matthew Levine, and lyrics by Richard Castle
“Green Thumb”, with book by Joan Enguita, music by Nancy Gitlin, and lyrics by Joan Enguita and Karrie Vach
Starring: Sonia Alcazar, Patrick Foley, Barry O’Neil, Emily Kimmel Plotkin, and Gabrielle Wagner.
The four musicals are directed by John Sparks, with music direction by Jake Anthony.
Tickets are $25; the performances begin at 7:30pm. For tickets, reservations and more info: www.anmt.org !
The second annual Got Musical! is taking place this Monday, April 19th at the Colony Theatre in Burbank! Got Musical! is a sneak preview of brand-new musicals in development for producers across the country (and lucky audience members), giving an insight into our process for creating new musicals from scratch specifically for producers and theatre companies.
Musicals to be showcased include thirteen new shows currently in development for producers:
Windjammers by Robin Share and Clay Zambo — songs and stories about shipping on the Great Lakes.
A Midsummersausage Night’s Dream by Joanne Koch, Bill Johnson and Larry Todd Johnson - a fanciful retelling of Shakespeare in the land of the Cheeseheads.
Got Milk by Hillary Rollins, Bill Johnson and Kellen Blair — everyone’s favorite all-bovine musical revue.
Those Circus Boys by Charmaine Spencer, Beverly Crain and Aaron Coleman — the early days of the Ringling Brothers.
Aging Out by Tara Redepenning, Hillary Rollins and Darin Goulet — What happens to foster care kids when they turn 18 and the System stops taking care of them?
Powder Puff Pilots by Marian Partee, Cindy O’Connor and Noelle Donfeld — 14 brave female pilots in the 1920’s, and their historic flying race.
Black & White Christmas by Chana Wise and Carl Johnson - Jimmy Stewart, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby and Natalie Wood to the rescue, on Christmas Eve!
Mistletoe, Mistletoe by Eric Dodson and Alan Ross Fleishman — Poor Aaron, fearing his girlfriend has dumped him, wishes he had the last year to live over. Careful what you wish for!
e-$cape by Scott Guy and Clifford Tasner - a cyberspace thriller.
The Ring by Eric Dodson and Alan Ross Fleishman - Will the high school reunion of some old rivals unearth TRUTH or…CAT FIGHTS?
A Dog’s Tale by Carla Porter, Brian Leader and Brad Beaver — based on Mark Twain’s dark dark short story.
Ghost(s) by Kincaid Jones, Brian Woodbury and Noelle Donfeld — a mistaken communication forces a community theatre troupe to put on a terrrrrible musical adaptation of Ibsen’s play, rather than a musical based on the Patrick Swayze movie they thought they were getting.
Stigma Pi by Chris Smith, Jake Anthony and Mitch Glaser — a musical soap opera filled with horny college girls and the horny college guys who love to love them.
Got Musical! takes place at 7:30pm on Monday, April 19th at the Colony Theatre in Burbank. Tickets are $10. For more information, and to make a reservation, please visit www.anmt.org and click on Got Musical!
Just like last year, we at ANMT are producing a musical for performance in North Hollywood - but this year we’re doing it at almost ten times the scale! There will be a live band, a bigger theatre, more elaborate scenery, costumes and lights; and of course the budget is much bigger. Obviously, the stakes are way higher this time around…
Now, you’re probably asking yourself – who in their right mind would produce a brand-new musical in today’s economy? In Los Angeles? In the summer…!? Well, simple answer: someone who saw a 156% return on their dollar last year using the same business plan (aka us!) Now we’re trying to repeat our success.
As our Executive Director Scott Guy says, it’s all about pre-sales. Last year, we reached out to our members, friends, and fan base and requested everyone to buy tickets in advance for the workshop production of 40 is the New 15. Guy insisted that the Academy would not commit to production until pre-sales equaled the entire budget, from opening night to closing night, every single dollar. It took a massive email and telephone campaign, but we did it: we raised the entire budget by selling tickets in advance…and so, we were able to produce 100% risk-free, and the show went on to become a big summer hit. It’s received a lot of attention, even garnering a 2010 GLAAD Media Award nomination, and being selected by Stephen Schwartz for the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop at the Disney Studios in February.
This larger production of 40 is the New 15 is scheduled to open on July 16th and run through August 22nd at the NoHo Arts Center in North Hollywood. A show described by critics as “a diamond in the rough” and “sweetly entertaining”, it follows the lives of five 40-year-olds looking back to when they were 15 looking forward to being 40.
We’re looking for $15,000 in pre-sales by April 15th (with the option of exchanging tickets for different dates, in case your schedule changes!). If you want to be part of musical history by supporting a brand new musical, visit our website www.anmt.org for reservations and additional information.
Now for the first time, a new Dark Night Series of musicals “not quite ready for the limelight” will launch on one Wednesday evening a month at the Secret Rose Theatre in North Hollywood. Starting Wednesday, Feburary 10, it will be a unique opportunity for audience members to snag a privileged glimpse into some brand-new musicals before producers even take a look- before costumes, before lights, and even before rewrites.
The first musical in the series will be “Now and Then a Hero” by Larry Todd Johnson and Jake Anthony. This musical includes a series of short musical-monologues and scenes based on the thousands of interviews WPA conducted from 1939 to 1944 documenting the memories of ordinary Americans, many of which had actually accomplished extraordinary or “heroic” deeds in their time. Each one of these musical-monologues is paired with a second musical-monologue inspired by the parallel life of a modern American, taken from contemporary headlines. The two parallel characters are linked primarily by their profession, and by some perceived act of heroism, however big or small. This musical explores essential questions about the definition of heroism, its transformation from the early 20th century to the present, and the potential for heroism in all of us.
The cast for the upcoming reading of “Now and Then a Hero” features Jimmer Bolden, Jennifer Chu, Elise Dewsberry, David Holmes, and Selah Victor.
It will take place on Wednesday, February 10th at 8:30pm at the Secret Rose Theatre in North Hollywood. Admission is $10. For more info and to make a reservation, visit ANMT’s website at anmt.org.
The winner of the Academy for New Musical Theatre’s 2009 Search for New Musicals, Greenbrier Ghost will be presented at the Colony Theatre in Burbank as the second installment of ANMT’s 2009/2010 Concert Reading Series.
Based on actual events, Greenbrier Ghost is believed to be the only case in America in which a murderer was convicted based on testimony from a ghost.
With book by Susan Murray and music & lyrics by Clay Zambo, Greenbrier Ghost will be directed by Douglas Clayton with musical direction by Ed Martel and will feature members of ANMT’s Academy Repertory Company.
Greenbrier Ghost will be performed in concert at the Colony Theater, 555 N. 3rd Street in Burbank on Monday evening February 22nd at 7:30. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10.00 or online via the ANMT website at www.anmt.org.
Gordon Firemark has been elected to a two-year term as President of the Board of Directors of the Academy for New Musical Theatre in North Hollywood.
Firemark has been serving on the Board for the past two years, with an eye towards becoming President this year. He has been spurring the Board and the staff to create strategic plans, and revenue-generating programming, and most recently has been preparing the organization for its imminent transformation from an organization which develops musicals to one which also produces them.
“I’m very proud to step into the presidency in this time of growth,” says Firemark. “This is a non-profit organization with which I’ve been involved for a number of years I hope you’ll investigate ANMT if you’re writing, developing or producing a theatre project.”
Gordon is an entertainment attorney and a producer. He helped the Academy produce the new musical 40 is the New 15 at the Secret Rose Theatre last summer, leading the production to a 157% profit in just six weeks.
Firemark’s private law practice is devoted to the representation of artists, writers, producers and directors in the fields of theater, film, television, and music. He is also the publisher of Entertainment Law Update., a newsletter for artists and professionals in the entertainment industries. His practice also includes intellectual property, cyberspace, new media and business/corporate matters for clients in the entertainment industry.
“We’ve been talking about this moment for a couple of years,” says Scott Guy, The Academy’s Executive Director. “When Gordon and I had our first discussion back in 2005 about various business models which might be useful to our writers and producers, I thought, ‘This guy might make a good President one day!’ We’ve been steadily marching towards this moment ever since. I’m very excited about the leadership which Gordon brings to us. We’re already talking about big, big dreams and plans.”
In the past, Mr. Firemark has served on the Boards of Governors of The Los Angeles Stage Alliance , (the organization responsible for the annual Ovation Awards for excellence in Theater) and the Board of Governors of the Beverly Hills Bar Association , where he served as liaison to the Association’s Entertainment Law Section (of which he is a former chairman).
Mr. Firemark holds a B.A. in Radio, Television and Film from the University of Oregon, and earned his law degree at Southwestern University School of Law. Before opening The Law Offices of Gordon P. Firemark, Mr. Firemark was a partner with the Business Affairs Group, a boutique entertainment law firm in Los Angeles. He has also worked in the legal and business affairs departments at Hanna Barbera Productions and the MGM/UA Worldwide Television Group, and started his legal career as an associate at Neville L. Johnson & Associates, a West L.A. firm specializing in entertainment litigation.
It’s that time again! Time for our annual “15 Minute Musicals”, a highly-anticipated event where the participants of our Core Curriculum get to showcase their work (and the rest of the curious community comes out to see the new talent!). 
