NYMF Announces 2008 Next Link Selections

The selections for the New York Musical Theatre Festival‘s Next Link Project, to be seen September 15-October 5 at various New York City venues, have been announced. This year’s selection committee featured Lynn Ahrens, Hinton Battle, Norbert Leo Butz, Michael Korie, Audra McDonald, Michael Mayer, Susan Stroman, and Elizabeth Williams.

Following are the selections:

About Face
Book by and Lyrics by David Arthur, Music by Jeffrey Lodin
Suggested by Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and set amid the sexually charged hijinks of a mid-1950s college campus, this rollicking, romantic comedy finds Coach Benedick and English Literature Professor Beatrice Stanton waging their “merry war of wits.”

Bedbugs!!! The Musical
Book and Lyrics by Fred Sauter, Music by Paul Leschen
A hell-bent exterminator must save New York City from the mutant bedbugs she accidentally creates in this 80’s inspired rock musical fantasy.

Castronauts or: How I Killed Fidel
Book and Lyrics by Bobby Houston, Music by Randy Courtes
When Fidel Castro pays a surprise visit to an underground cabaret in Havana, presiding drag queen “Lolita” nearly chokes him with a maraschino cherry, sparking a coup d’etat and a hasty ocean crossing to Miami.

CYCLONE (and the Pig-Faced Lady)
Book and Lyrics by Dana Leslie Goldstein, Music by Rima Fand
Sally Kaplan is the creator of a hit underground comic book, but when tragedy strikes she must choose between hiding in her comic-book world or somehow becoming the hero of her own story.

F**king Up Everything: The Musical
Book, Music and Lyrics by Eric Davis
What’s the difference between f**king up everything and getting everything you ever f**king wanted? Find out in this boy-meets-girl comedy of errors packed with nasty lyrics, tasty hooks and a dash of punk rock.

Jason and Ben
Book, Music and Lyrics by Matthew Loren Cohen
A chance encounter one cold Christmas Eve leads songwriters Jason and Ben to question each other and themselves in this new indie rock musical about the violence that lies within.

The Jerusalem Syndrome
Book and Lyrics by Laurence Holzman & Felicia Needleman, Music by Kyle Rosen
Zaniness ensues when tourists in Israel fall prey to the real-life psychological phenomenon, the Jerusalem Syndrome, suddenly believing themselves to be Abraham, Moses, Jesus, John the Baptist and not one but two Virgin Marys! The result is a madcap musical adventure of biblical proportions.

Love Jerry
Book, Music and Lyrics by Megan Gogerty
The relationship of two adult brothers is tested in this unblinkingly honest folk musical that explores the long-term effects of child abuse on a family.

Midnight, South Carolina
Book, Music and Lyrics by James Goode
Hamlet is re-imagined and revolutionized in the firestorm of the 1960s struggle for Civil Rights.

To Paint the Earth
Book and Lyrics by Daniel F. Levin, Music by Jonathan Portera
Life in the Warsaw Ghetto is seen through the eyes of Chaim, a young painter, who witnesses a community clinging to life in the midst of death and finding in each other the strength to ultimately fight back.

Twilight in Manchego
Book, Music and Lyrics by Matt Gould
Tragedy shatters a small town and forces an extraordinary elementary school teacher to finally put his haunting past to rest.

Wood
Book and Lyrics by Dan Collins, Music by Julianne Wick Davis

A modern day re-imagining of A Midsummer Night’s Dream complete with spandex clad color guard enthusiasts, shirtless Christians, quarreling divas, under cover mothers and a sassy trio of Fairies who sing, dance and put En Vogue to shame, all from the stalls of a public men’s room!

For more information, visit www.nymf.org.