When Mira Magrill approached us to talk about an idea she'd had about a musical theatre event she'd been working on, I said, "wait, what? I love musical theatre! Sign us up. No wait a minute, what is this exactly?"
It turned out that Mira, whom I knew as a fantastic flute player who joined The Chelsea Symphony recently, is involved with a new organization called the Musical Theatre Factory, a group who veritably exploded on the scene just last year. The mission of MTF is to present new works in that tremulous period between ink on the page and songs in the air and full production. And present they have - in the short time MTF has been around, they have hosted no fewer than 60 budding musicals.
My enthusiasm to be involved in this idea from the start was not just based on my positive musical experiences with Mira (and soon to be the other directors, New Orchestrations co-Director Danny Abosch and MTF Founding Artistic Director Shakina Nayfack), but because I had already been exposed to the good work being done in their Midtown black box. A good friend of mine had her musical workshopped in their space (Echo, Anna K. Jacobs) to great success with a packed, enthusiastic house. As a musical theatre lover with a penchant for crazy ideas just looking for collaborations for our tenth anniversary season, how could I say no?
It could have been an easy thing to dismiss the whole idea and just continue on with what TCS does best - great music with great people. But if my time with TCS has taught me anything it's that we all do this because we absolutely adore it. We give of our time, talents, and energy to make and grow this artform that we love. I immediately recognized the same in MTF, our kindred spirits in creative collaboration.
It is with the utmost in excitement that we present to you New Orchestrations, in conjunction with the Musical Theatre Factory.
Get yourself some #NewOrchestrations!
Monday, November 9 at 8:00pm
Merkin Concert Hall
Tickets at mtf.nyc
Featuring selections from: Only Anne, Radioactive, The Firebird, The White City, and Bridges of Madison County
Starring: Hugh Panaro (Phantom), Eden Espinosa (Wicked), Ashley Park (The King & I), Jay Armstrong Johnson (On The Town), Jason Gotay (Bring It On), Beth Malone (Fun Home), Karen Ziemba (Bullets Over Broadway), Farah Alvin (It Shoulda Been You), Annie Golden (Orange Is The New Black), Kent Overshown (Porgy and Bess), Angel Desai (Company), Aidan Gemme (Finding Neverland), and an exclusive preview of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY from the stars of the upcoming national tour, Elizabeth Stanley and Andrew Samonsky