New Musicals Midwestern Gothic and Silver Belles in Development at Signature Theatre
(© Erika Sherk)
The new musicals Midwestern Gothic and Silver Belles are in development at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia. Invitation-only readings of the shows were held last week.
Midwestern Gothic features a score by Josh Schmidt and Royce Vavrek. Commissioned as part of the American Musical Voices Projects: The Next Generation program, the musical explores the "inner-barbarism supressed, then suddenly released, between a collection of folks inhabiting an isolated rural American town." The cast for that workshop included Maria Egler, Lesley Hamilton, David Little, Matthew Myers, Anthony Nuccio, Graham Rowat, Paul Scanlan, Stephen Gregory Smith, Russell Sunday, and Emily Zickler. It was directed by Matthew Gardiner and musical-directed by Timothy Splain.
Silver Belles, written by Matt Conner, looks at life, loss, and love in Sylva Ridge, Tennessee as a group of women produce a Christmas pageant. The cast for the workshop included Sandy Bainum, Ilona Dulaski, Catie Flye, Rayanne Gonzales, Helen Hedman, and Dan Manning. It was directed by Eric Schaeffer and musical-directed by Warren Freeman.
The AMVP, founded in 2006 thanks to a generous grant from The Shen Family Foundation, is the largest single musical-theater commissioning and producing initiative of any U.S. theater. It has commissioned 14 works to date (nine under "The Next Generation", which supports emerging composers).
