12th Annual Village Originals Festival of New Musicals

Village Originals is a nationally renowned new musical development program, and The Annual Festival of New Musicals is the event that launches a hand-full of fledgling musicals into the musical landscape. Steve Tomkins, Village Theatre artistic director comments, "We’re thrilled with the interest in our program from around the country and we continue to steadily increase what we are capable of through Village Originals. This is the stuff we live for; we love developing new musicals at Village Theatre!"

Two musicals, Next to Normal (previous title Feeling Electric)and Million Dollar Quartet had their start through the Village Originals Festival of New Musicals and went on to win multiple Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize (Next to Normal). Other recent musicals that got their start at the Festival and went on to Village Theatre’s Mainstage season include: Iron Curtain, It Shoulda Been You, Anne of Green Gables, Chasing Nicolette and The Gypsy King. In 2011 the new musical Trails had a reading at the Festival and it will premiere on Village Theatre’s Mainstage on March 13, 2013.

This year, the Festival features five new musicals in reading format–fully sung with script in hand performed at the Francis J. Gaudette Theatre