Dance At New York Musical Theatre Festival

Sep 16th, 2008 | By Blog Editor | Category: Newest Posts

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), now entering its fifth season, kicked off 21 days of theater, concerts, workshops, and master classes with the festival’s opening on Monday.

For dancers, the NYMF offers plenty of opportunities. We’ve put together a list of the NYMF’s dance productions, which are certainly worth checking out.

Visit this link to find out more about NYMF and to buy tickets.

“The Hourglass and the Poisoned Pen”

Co-Created by Mark Yonally, Andrew Pepoy, and Chicago Tap Theatre

Saturday, Septempber 27th, 8:00 pm

The Hourglass and The Poisoned Pen (photo by Josh Hawkins)
Sunday, September 28th, 1:00 pm
Sunday, September 28th, 4:00 pm
Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, 248 West 60th Street (between Amsterdam & 11th Ave), NYC, NY

Chicago Tap Theatre’s The Hourglass and the Poisoned Pen combines tap dancing, superheroes, comic-book style, and nonstop action. Elizabeth and her best friend Daphne become The Hourglass and The Secondhand, who overcome evil and triumph over a nasty boyfriend. The Hourglass and the Poisoned Pen is the Chicago Tap Theatre’s second exploration into The Hourglass story.

Read our interview with CTT’s artistic director Mark Yonally from earlier this year, when the show premiered in Chicago. Yonally talked about the newest installment of The Hourglass, and he told us about the challenges in creating narrative tap.

“Sophia’s Fall”

Music and Lyrics by Benjamin Birney.

Book and Lyrics by Rob Seitelman

Thursday, September 18th, 8:00 pm

Beelzebub and Eve (photo by Rob Seitelman)
Friday, September 19th, 1:00 pm
Friday, September 19th, 4:30 pm,
Saturday, September 20th, 9:00 pm
37 Arts - Theatre C, 450 West 37th St. (between 9th and 10th Ave), NYC, NY

Sophia’s Fall reinvents the creation tale, focusing on a love story between Lucifer and Sophia. This work of modern dance and rock looks at a well-known story in an entirely new way. Sophia’s Fall makes its world premiere during the NYMF.

You can download the complete demo soundtrack and other Sophia’s Fall extras at this link.

“Ward 9″

Story by Gregory Victor and Matt Williams.

Music by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Choreographed by Matt Williams.

Directed by Mark Robinson & Matt Williams

Thursday, September 18th, 8:00 pm

Ward 9
Saturday, September 20th, 5:00 pm
Sunday, September 21st, 1:00 pm
Sunday, September 21st, 7:00 pm
Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, 248 West 60th Street (between Amsterdam & 11th Ave), NYC, NY

Ward 9 looks at the insanity of some of history’s most famous artists and thinkers and asks, “Is there a link between genius and madness?”

The stars of this show are creative masters such as Vaslav Nijinsky, Vincent van Gogh, Vivien Leigh, Howard Hughes, Sylvia Plath, and Ludwig van Beethoven, whose music creates the score for this production. These artists and intellectuals are confined to an asylum and “treated,” an effort aimed at curing their madness.

Visit NYMF’s Ward 9 page for video clips and audio samples of this production, which makes its world premiere on Thursday.

“Wild About Harry”

Book by Susan DiLallo. Music by Dan Acquisto.

Directed by Elizabeth Lucas.

Choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, Daryl Gray, Maurice Brandon Curry, Jeff Shade and Shea Sullivan

Friday, September 19th, 8:00 pm

Wild About Harry
Saturday, September 20th, 2:00 pm
Saturday, September 20th, 8:00 pm
Sunday, September 21st, 4:00 pm
Sunday, September 28th, 7:30 pm
Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, 248 West 60th Street (between Amsterdam & 11th Ave), NYC, NY

This danced-through musical tells the story of hotelier and real estate magnate Leona Helmsley, who left $12 million to her dog at her death in August of 2007. This piece, which makes its world premiere this week, was created just for NYMF 2008.

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