Central Florida giving new musicals a chance
Central Floridians will get the first look at brand-new musicals as two theater companies ramp up efforts to create the next generation of staged entertainment — and possibly discover a Broadway hit.
Both organizations say taking a chance on new works is costly but crucial for the future of musical theater. After all, the next “Hamilton,” “Wicked” or “Dear Evan Hansen” has to come from somewhere.
Winter Park Playhouse this week will open its first Festival of New Musicals, featuring six shows that are in development. In early September, Florida Theatrical Association will present its second
New Musical Discovery Series in downtown Orlando.
“We felt it was critical that we contribute to this American art form in this way,” said Heather Alexander, executive director of the Playhouse, which opened its 15th season in July. “The art form is challenged. You’ll hear from theaters all over that musical theater is extremely expensive.”
In addition to the costs associated with plays, musicals require a composer, an orchestra and often a choreographer and additional performers to sing and dance in a chorus.
But Orlando producer Kenny Howard says it’s a price worth paying to make sure independent voices — those outside theater-world giants, such as the Nederlander Organization and Disney — get a chance to be heard.
“Unless we, as a theatrical community, nurture new works, we’re going to get swallowed up by the corporatization of Broadway,” said Howard, director of education for Florida Theatrical Association.
New-musical festivals can be found in other major cities, such as New York, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles, but the closest one to Orlando has been the 2-year-old Atlanta Musical Theater Festival.
Winter Park Playhouse is spending about $23,000 on the festival, Alexander said, with 40 actors participating in the six shows: “Love on Ice,” a cryogenic romance; antibullying musical “The Impossible Club;” “Propaganda,” about a political coverup; the Cole Porter revue “Gigolo;” “Section 60,” a visit with the ghosts of military personnel; and “The Age of Innocence,” a 19th-century love triangle.
The Playhouse is Central Florida’s only professional theater — meaning all actors and behind-thescenes artists and technicians are paid — devoted exclusively to musicals. A panel of local arts professionals chose the Playhouse’s selections from nationwide submissions. Each will have its first act presented as a staged reading, in which actors use scripts and perform without costumes or sets.
Meanwhile, Florida Theatrical’s Sept. 1-3 showcase will feature a staged reading of “The Idea Man,” about new college graduates facing the real world, and a chance for audiences to watch a workshop version of “Sticks and Stones,” in which students transform into biblical characters to deliver an antibullying message based on the story of David and Goliath.
The Orlando-based nonprofit is best-known for co-presenting touring Broadway shows in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and locally with the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. But the organization also produces its own, smallerscale shows.
“We put our money where our mouth is,” Howard said.
Although both organizations have built-in audiences — the Playhouse, for example, has about 1,000 season subscribers — it’s not necessarily easy to attract theatergoers to this type of festival.
“There is a hurdle of the audience wondering, ‘What are you asking us to do?’ ” said Cynthia White, who runs the PlayFest series of new-play readings at Orlando Shakespeare Theater.
But audiences can get on board, the theater officials agreed, if they understand the special joys of seeing new works.
“If you want to get to know the people making theater, a festival like this is for you,” White said. “You get to talk with playwrights and actors, you get to know them. You learn how a play goes from A-Z.”
It’s also a chance for audience members to influence the final version of a show. Florida Theatrical recently staged the comic “Joyce Jackson’s Guide to Dating,” which was read at its 2016 New Musical Discovery Series. The playwright attended — and listened to the audience response.
“If he heard crickets at any point, I’m sure that moment will be changed in the next version,” Howard said.
Each performance at the Winter Park festival will be followed by a talk-back session to collect audience feedback.
For some, the most exciting thing about a new-play festival is the thrill of getting a look before everyone else.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Alexander said. “For these shows, this is the first time. There won’t be another first time.”