Theater News

Amas Announces Fall Readings of Musicals

Amas Musical Theatre, the company behind such recent shows as Zanna, Don’t!, Little Ham, From My Hometown, and Five Guys Named José, has announced the four musicals that will be presented as part of its fall 2003 “Six O’Clock Musical Theatre Lab” reading series.

The series opener is Sex! The Musical, a campy review conceived by David Coffman and directed by Devanand Janki, which will play on October 27 at 7pm, and October 28 at 3pm and 7pm. It will be followed by The Funkentine Rapture, a celebration of 1970s soul with music and lyrics by Lee Summers, book by Summers and Ben Blake, to be performed on November 3 and 4 and 7pm.

Spin: A Musical Myth, by Kilburg Reedy, will be directed by Matt M. Morrow and will star Alison Fraser (Broadway’s The Secret Garden) and Anika Larsen (Zanna, Don’t!); a modern rock musical based on the Greek myth of Arachne, the show will play on November 17 and 18 at 7pm.

The last presentation of the series will be Six Women With Brain Death, by a team of writers including Cheryl Benge, Christy Brandt, Rosanna E. Coppedge, Valerie Fagan, Ross Breese, Mark Houston, Sandee Johnson, and Peggy Pharr Wilson, with music and lyrics by Mark Houston. This rock musical, arriving in New York after successful engagements regionally and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, takes on the pop culture of the United States; it will be directed by Matt M. Morrow and will be performed on December 8, 9, and 10 at 6pm.

All performances will be held at the John Houseman Studio Theatre, 450 West 42nd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues. Admission is free. For reservations, phone 212-563-2565.