Readings

29 posts

The Magnificent Seven @ Urban Stages

Readings The Magnificent Seven Uncategorized

I’m so excited to be sharing our draft of The Magnificent Seven in a free reading at Urban Stages next Monday, July 15 at 8pm. No reservations necessary, so come on up/down/over/in and hear what we’ve been working on!

Julia and I are so happy to be working once again with director Nikki DiLoreto (with whom we worked when we first developed the project with Fresh Ground Pepper and who has gone on to work on Kiss Me, Kate and the upcoming Soft Power), movement consultant Sunny Hitt (with whom we’re excited to work for the first time), stage manager Melissa Erickson (with whom we just worked on last month’s reading of REB+VoDKa+ME), and music director Rich Silverstein (with whom we work always)!

We’ve got a magnificent cast of new and returning faces, as well, including Kim Blanck (Octet, Alice By Heart), Ally Bonino (Elevator Heart), Nikita Burdein (UCB & The Magnet), Rachel Flynn (Ever After @ The Alliance, Heathers), Kendyl Ito (Soft Power, Wild Goose Dreams), Ellen Condon Macy (Elevator Heart), Madison Mullahey (Mary Poppins national tour), Allison Posner (The Last Song of Eddie Scourge), Lynne Marie Rosenberg (“Famous Cast Words” on All Arts), Ryan Speakman (Hunchback @ Argyle), and Tatiana Wechsler (Benny & Joon @ Paper Mill.)

If you can’t make it, the complete demo will be coming very soon to fulfill all your psycho-gymnastics fantasies!

REB+VoDKa+ME reading

Readings REB+VoDKa+ME

Come on down/up/over to the National Opera Center on Monday, June 10 at 3pm to hear the newest draft of REB+VoDKa+ME!

We’re so thrilled and grateful to be working with actors Renée Albulario, Delaney Amatrudo, Matthew Berzon, Mackenzie Dade, Manoel Felciano, Sam Heldt, MinJi Kim, Lily Lester, David Merino, Elexis Morton, Jeanna Phillips, and Tatiana Wechsler – we had our first rehearsal tonight and they are amazingly hardworking and talented and game to take on this sometimes crazy material!

If you’re interested in attending the reading, send us an email at gordon.julia.musicals@gmail.com.

Frank Young Fund for New Musicals Grant

In the News Readings Something Blue

The wonderful folks at The National Alliance for Musical Theatre have awarded the wonderful folks at Diversionary Theatre with a Project Development Grant from the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals to support an upcoming workshop of Something Blue!

I’m so excited to head back to San Diego in the near future to work with Matt Morrow once again – and so grateful for the continued support of NAMT. More info coming soon!

Back to The Civilians!

Readings REB+VoDKa+ME

Julia and I are so happy to be bringing REB+VoDKa+ME back to our roots with The Civilians for a reading this June, with support from the Discovery Grant from OPERA America, generously sponsored by the Virginia B Toulmin Foundation.

The show was first written in The Civilians’ R&D Group in 2015-2016 and first seen in the 2016 FINDINGS Series. We are back (with a non-threatening vengeance) this time around with director Annie Tippe (herself an R&D Group alum) and music director Rich Silverstein.

The reading will take place on Monday, June 10 at 3pm at OPERA America’s National Opera Center at 330 7th Avenue, 7th Floor.

Casting and reservation information soon to come!

London calling!

Readings

If there’s anything I’ve learned as a writer it’s that musical theatre can and will take you anywhere.

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to spend a few days in London with a new (and still kinda top secret) project. I was hired as a bookwriter in early March and wrote two drafts over the course of a month and got to hear the most recent draft (and even make some major changes to it) over a two day reading process. It was bonkers and wonderful and overwhelming and I spent the whole trip pinching myself.

I feel so lucky to have gotten to spend time in a room with director Tim Welton and actors Chris Coxon, Samantha Dorrance (Disney Channel UK’s My High School Musical), Fra Fee (The Ferryman, West End & Broadway original casts; Courfeyrac in the Les Miserables film), Tori Hargreaves, Melody E. Jones, Claire Marlowe (UK tour of Titanic), Katie Pritchard, Anna Stolli (UK premiere of Little Women), and Simon Willmont (Blood Brothers in the West End).

I’m hoping that sometime soon I’ll get to share more about this project, but in the meantime I’m so grateful to have had this experience (and I’ve got to get back to writing a third draft before the month is out!)