Hartt Students Take the Stage at Goodspeed Festival of New Artists

Hartt students perform in "Harmony, Kansas," part of the 2012 Goodspeed Festival of New Artists. Photo courtesy of Goodspeed Musicals.

The Eighth Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Artists begins its three-day festival of three new works on Friday, Jan. 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Goodspeed Opera House with a staged reading of Nine Wives, followed on Saturday, Jan. 19, at 7:30 p.m. with Come From Away, and concluding Sunday, Jan. 20, at 1 p.m. with Princesses: A New Rock Musical. 

Through their partnership-in-training, Hartt music theatre students will share the stage with Equity professionals as they perform these staged readings and also perform in the weekend's post-reading cabarets.

Nine Wives is based on the novel of the same name by Dan Elish, who wrote the show's script and co-wrote the lyrics. Douglas J. Cohen (The Gig, Glimmerglass, both at Goodspeed's Norma Terris Theatre in Chester and No Way to Treat a Lady at TheaterWorks in Hartford) composed the music and co-wrote the lyrics.

The show centers on Henry Mann, a 32-year-old bachelor who discovers that the love of his life has met someone new and is about to get married. What’s worse, he’s been invited to her wedding. What follows are Henry’s frantic attempts to find a woman he can take as his date – a potential future wife – to prove to his ex-fiancée (and the world) that he too is ready to move on.

Come From Away, which has a book, music and lyrics by David Hein and Irene Sankoff, is described as a rock musical centering on "when 38 planes from around the world were diverted to a small, Canadian community on Sept. 11, 2001 – doubling its population in an instant. While the world witnessed the worst acts of humankind, the stranded passengers had their faith in humanity restored by the spirited people who comforted those who had come from away."

Princesses: A New Rock Musical with a book by Janece Shaffer, Emma Lively and Tyler Beattie and music and lyrics by Lively and Beattie, is described as: "Four outrageous princesses escape the confines of their castle walls and shock the fairy tale world with their unconventional ways." The show is inspired by the Brothers Grimm tale, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses."

Tickets are $15 per show, $10 for students.

Two festival packages that include other events during the weekend also are available.

The Gold Package for $89 is a pass to all weekend events, including the three staged readings; cabaret performances of new artists on Jan. 18 and 19 at 10 p.m.; a panel discussion with musical theatre artists; and a choice of festival seminar sessions on Jan. 19 from 10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at the adjacent Gelston House.  A preview of a new musical headed to The Norma Terris Theatre in Chester in 2013 will take place Jan. 19 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Goodspeed Opera House; a Jan. 19 pre-show dinner takes places at 5:30 p.m. at the Gelston House; and a Meet-the-Writers reception is scheduled for Jan. 20 at 3:30 p.m.

The Silver Package for $69 includes admission to all three staged readings, the new musical preview and the Meet-the-Writers reception.

For additional information, call 860.873.8668 or go to www.goodspeed.org.

Free Goodspeed Opera House tours will be offered throughout the weekend.

There also will be a symposium on Noel Coward on Jan. 19 at 4 p.m. at the Goodspeed Opera House, which is free and open to the public. 

The "New Artists" program is being held throughout the Goodspeed campus Jan. 7 to 20. During the first week of the program, three teams of writers and composers dedicated their time to further writing and composing their musicals in development. Senior students from The Hartt School and The Boston Conservatory have been joining them for rehearsals and continued development of the material.