Musicals

114 posts

First read/sing of the first act!

There are few things as exciting as hearing the songs you’ve written sung for the first time, especially when they are sung by some of your most trusted (and talented) collaborators.

Julia and I were thrilled to have a table reading of the complete (and sprawling) first act of These Familiar Spirits – all 90 minutes and 16 songs of it!

Thanks to our readers and singers – Shaleah Adkisson, Liz Carbonell, MinJi Kim, Lauren Marcus, Allison Posner, Hana Slevin, Rebecca Spiro, and Colette Robert – and music director extraordinaire Rich Silverstein for tackling a lot of material in a short amount of time and letting us hear this new project for the very first time! What could be better than an afternoon with generous, talented, and insightful artists??

On to Act II and Michigan later this year!

Florida Festival of New Musicals

Karlan and I had a wonderful time at the Florida Festival of New Musicals seeing a reading of the first act of Cheer Wars. Over the last 15 years we’ve had some amazing opportunities with the show, and it was great to expand the squad of artists who have been a part of the journey!

Thank you to director Desiree Montes, music director Harrison Light, stage manager Hillary Humphries, and our wonderful cast: Jake Aboyoun, Lizzie Black, Lindsay Diaz, Mahalia Gronigan, Victoria Highsmith, Rachel Hope Ihasz, Brandon Roberts, Carly Simpson, Vanessa Sotomayer, Avianna Tato, Addison Ward, Kelly Wells, and Chase Williams. Thanks always to the wonderful staff at the Winter Park Playhouse – Roy Alan, Heather Alexander, Lisa Milello, Todd Allen Long, and festival coordinator Conny Williamson – for welcoming us to Florida and putting on such a wonderful event.

I’m hopeful that there will be more cheer in the future!

Cheer Wars returns!

Cheer Wars will be featured in this summer’s Florida Festival of New Musicals at the Winter Park Playhouse in Winter Park, Florida!

The festival will feature six musicals by writers across the country over the course of four days, June 20-23, 2024.

Read more about the festival and the five other shows here.

The time has never felt more right to stake a claim for joy, and I’m excited to revisit this project with Karlan almost 17 years (gulp!) after we started writing it!

2023 Wilde Awards

Flint Repertory Theatre’s World Premiere production of The Magnificent Seven has received four 2023 Wilde Awards from Encore Michigan:

Best Teamwork (for the entire case)
Best Lighting Design (Jake DeGroot)
Best Costume Design (Adam Dill)

And Best Musical!

It’s so lovely to be recognized for all that went into the production (the only world premiere musical on the list!) And it’s especially lovely to see some terrific friends recognized for their work on other projects in Michigan: Michael Lluberes (twice!), Bryana Hall, Elexis Morton, and the powerhouse Flint Repertory Theatre with 25 awards for the season.

It’s all a wonderful cherry on top of the most wonderful experience this year!

A first table(t) reading!

As we quickly make our way through a first, rought draft of These Familiar Spirits, Julia and I wanted the chance to hear what we’ve written so far read outloud for the first time… mostly just to make sure it makes sense and we’re on the right track. So we enlisted some of our most trusted friends and collaborators (some stretching back over two decades!) to do a cold reading and see what we have!

Beyond being excited about what we’ve written, tonight was the best reminder that there’s nothing like longstanding collaborations with wonderful actors who know your work and know your heart to make you feel invincible (and not at all embarrassed, which is how I normally feel hearing anything for the first time.) I feel so lucky to have LaRaisha Dionne, Sukari Jones, Allison Lian, Ellen Macy, Allison Posner, Lynne Marie Rosenberg, Libby Servais, and Rich Silverstein as an integral part of my writing and my life!

(And the verdict from the read? These Familiar Spirits is a moooooood. Now back to writing!)