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  Arts Center

Village Theatre is dedicated to the preservation and artistic development of musical theatre, one of our country's most enduring art forms. Village Originals is a nationally recognized program and represents one of the strongest commitments to new musicals anywhere.

Over the years, Village Originals and Village Theatre have nurtured the development of over 50 new musicals-some of which have received subsequent productions in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London and Taiwan.

Follow former Village Originals in their productions around the world!

4 a.m. Boogie Blues, (a developmental production at Village Theatre in early spring 1998), was a 1999 recipient of the Jeff Citation (a award honoring excellence in non-equity theatre in Chicago) for outstanding musical direction at The New Tuners Theatre, now called Theatre Building Chicago. Theatre Building Chicago has participated in the development of other Village Originals alums, such as Fairystories and Once Upon A Time In New Jersey.

After The Fair, (a developmental production at Village Theatre in spring 1998, and a mainstage production in March, 2001), received its London Premiere at the King's Head Theatre in 2003. It was also performed at the Spirit of Broadway Theatre in the summer of 2005.

It was named by theatremania.com as one of the 50 best Off-Broadway scores of all time . More information can be found on the official website.

The soundtrack to Anna Karenina has been officially released and reviewed by Talkin' Broadway.

You can purchase the soundtrack on Amazon.com.

The Ark opened off-Broadway on Monday, November 14, 2005.

Visit the show's website.

Read what New York Times readers had to say! (download Word document.)

Read the review in the New York Times

Barnstormer (a 2007 developmental production) received a reading at the Hartford Stage Company's festival in November 2007.

Bonnie & Clyde, (part of the 2001 First Annual Festival of New Musicals and a Village Originals developmental production in fall of 2003), received a reading at Ardelle Striker's Blue Heron Theatre in New York City in 2004. For some insight about the show, read Andrew Herron's author's notes.

Bonnie & Clyde is licensed through Summerwind Productions.

The Big Ending — the deceptively-titled first half of Village Originals Festival of New Musicals 2006 collaborative work The Big Deal — had a full production at The Rosemary Branch Theatre in London, October–November, 2006. For more details see the website of the British writing team Shrubshall & Free.

Congratulations! City Kid (a 1995 developmental production and a 1996 Mainstage show), received six NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Theatre Award nominations for an October 2006 production at the Hudson Theatre in LA.

Nominations include: Steve Tomkins (Village Theatre Artistic Director) for Director; Alex Berry (lighting designer for our upcoming Mainstage production of Disney's Beauty and The Beast) for Lighting Design; Ensemble Cast; Patrick Gandy for Music Director; Bradley Rapier for Choreography; and Eric Snodgrass for Sound Design.

Nominees were announced on Tuesday, May 20, 2008; the Awards Ceremony will be held June 30, 2008.

Visit the official City Kid website!

Cupid & Psyche, (a developmental production in February, 2001), in 2002 received a short run at Spirit of Broadway and a reading at Theatre Building Chicago. It was later given a small New York production at the John Houseman Studio in September 2003 (read the review), and a full production in the spring of 2006 with The Themantics Group in New York. The work of Cupid & Psyche's librettist, Sean Hartley, will be seen in the spring of 2008 on the Village Theatre mainstage in next season's Little Women.

Desperate Measures, (a reading at the 2005 Village Original Festival of New Musicals), was the recipient of two Excellence awards and one honorable mention at the 2006 New York Musical Theatre Festival. The Awards included "Excellence in Musical Theatre Writing" by Peter Kellogg, Book, "Outstanding Individual Performance" by Max Von Essen; the Honorable Mention was for "Direction and Choreography" by Eleanor Reissa.

The Desperate Measures writing team has also created the new musical Stunt Girl, seen on the Village Originals stage first as a reading and then as a workshop. Look for another new show from Desperate Measures' librettist Peter Kellogg this summer at Village Theatre's Seventh Annual Festival of New Musicals.

Eleanor, by Village Originals veterans Jonathan Bolt (Glimmerglass, Threads), Tom Tierney (The Dream Team, At The Back Of The North Wind, Ichabod, Jungle Queen Debutante, Narnia) and John Forster (The Dream Team), Eleanor was seen on both Village Theatre's First Stage Mainstage (1987) and Mainstage (1992), and has since been published by Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatricals. A cast recording is available from the 1999 Ford Theatre production, with Broadway performers Anne Kanengeiser (Ragtime), Anthony Cummings (Waiting in the Wings), Rita Gardner (The Fantasticks) and Steve Routman (Victor/Victoria).

Visit the official Eleanor website!

The Fabulist (part of the 2005 Village Original Festival of New Musicals) was chosen (along with 2003 Village Originals Festival of New Musicals show Like You Like It) from over 300 submissions worldwide to be presented in the 2006 Cardiff International Festival of Musical Theatre.

Glimmerglass (developmental production, spring of 1995), a Village Theatre commissioned work, was given a full production in 1999 at Goodspeed Musicals and a reading at the 2000 National Alliance of Musical Theatre Festival. A world premiere production opened at the Spirit of Broadway Theatre in Connecticut in the spring of 2008. View photos from the production!

A Hundred Years into The Heart was recently in our Festival of New Musicals — visit the official website for A Hundred Years into The Heart!

The Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center annnounced that Iron Curtain has been selected for its 2008 National Musical Theater Conference this coming July.

We staged a Workshop Presentation of Iron Curtain, (from the 2007 Festival of New Musicals) in June, 2008; read about it on Playbill Online.

A small student production of Iron Curtain was mounted at Las Positas College in April, 2008.

As announced on BroadwayWorld.com, Peter Mills, lyricist of Iron Curtain and author of Taxi Cabaret (from the 2003 Festival of New Musicals), received the 2007 Fred Ebb Award for excellence in musical theatre songwriting.

Susan DiLallo, bookwriter for both Once Upon A Time In New Jersey and Iron Curtain, is one of the recipients of the 2008 Jonathan Larson Award (reported by Playbill.com).

Jungle Queen Debutante, (a First Stage Theatre production in 1991), by Thomas Tierney (Eleanor, Ichabod, At The Back of the North Wind) was presented as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, 2007.

We held a Workshop Presentation of The Last Starfighter, (seen at the 2006 Festival of New Musicals) in ; read about it Playbill Online!

The show was also presented as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, 2007. For more information, read this Playbill.com update.

Like You Like It, (part of the 2003 Village Originals Festival of New Musicals), was mounted in July, 2007 at Theatre Under The Stars in Houston as a successful fundraiser for TUTS' Tommy Tune Awards Scholorship Program.

Like you Like It was also chosen (along with 2005 Village Originals Festival of New Musicals show The Fabulist) from over 300 submissions worldwide to be presented in the 2006 Cardiff International Festival of Musical Theatre.

It also received a reading at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2004, where it was voted a runner up for audience favorite; read the Talkin' Broadway review of the reading.

Making Tracks, (a developmental production in 2000, on the Village Theatre mainstage in spring of 2002), ran at San Jose Repertory Theatre in the spring of 2005. Download the press announcment.

Visit the official Making Tracks website.

BroadwayWorld.com recently reported that Million Dollar Quartet, (a Mainstage production in 2007), will make its Midwest debut this fall at the Owen Theatre at Chicago's Goodman Theatre. Casting and additional members of the creative team will be announced at a future date.

Winners of the 2008 Outer Critics Circle Awards were announced on May 12, 2008: Next To Normal tied with Adding Machine for Outstanding New Score! It also received nominations Best Off-Broadway Musical and Best Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley).

The show was also nominated for two Drama League Awards, including Distinguished Production and Distinguished Performance (Brian D'arcy James), but was not, unfortunately, among the winners.

The Lucille Lortel Award cememony was held May 5, 2008. Alas, Next To Normal wasn't one of the big winners, but it was heavily featured in BroadwayWorld.com's photos of the event. The show received three nominations, (reported in Playbill Online) for Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Featured Actor (Aaron Tviet), and Outstanding Lighting Design (Kevin Adams).

We read on Playbill.com that Next to Normal will be part of the 2008-2009 season at Arena Stage in Arlington, VA.

Next To Normal (formerly Feeling Electric) began as a staged reading at Village Theatre in March 2002 and a workshop June 2005.

The show received rave reviews (theatremania.com, broadwayworld.com) for a reading at the 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival starring Anthony Rapp (Rent), Amy Spanger (The Wedding Singer, Village Theatre KIDSTAGE alum), and Ben Schrader (Big River, national tour).

An off-Broadway run at Second Stage Theatre in March, 2008 also garnered critical acclaim: Theatre Mania, The New York Times, The Canadian Press, and The New York Daily News.

nor'mal, (part of the 2003 Village Originals Festival of New Musicals). On June 12, 2007, The Snapple Theatre hosted a benefit for NORMAL in Schools, a national nonprofit arts-in-education organization devoted to helping mount high school productions of nor'mal: in conjunction with programs for students of all ages teaching the devastating impact of eating disorders.

The show was also produced by the Transport Group at The Connelly Theatre in New York City from October 20–November 12, 2005. The review in Variety said: "It's rare to see such a compassionate, nonjudgmental attempt to examine why some families refuse to acknowledge that anything is amiss in their domestic paradise."

In its 2006-2007 Season, Transport Group launched an arts-in-education program called Normal In The Schools (NIS) which brings an educational version of the show to local high school students.

No Way To Treat A Lady was a developmental production at Village Theatre in spring of 1999. By the composer of Barnstormer, another Village Originals workshop, No Way To Treat A Lady was published by Samuel French. The show was well received in a run at TheatreWorks in Hartford, Connecticut in the spring of 2001, and was produced off-Broadway in 1996, receiving two Outer Critics Award nominations: Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Alix Korey) and Best Revival of a Musical. The soundtrack was recorded in 1997. The show has also toured Italy and Spain, been produced in London, Sweden, and three cities in Germany, including Berlin, and had over 100 productions in the U.S.  

Nymph Errant has, since its 1999 Developmental Production at Village Theatre, been published by Samuel French.

Once Upon a Time in New Jersey (seen on our Mainstage in 2007 and as a reading in the 2004 Village Originals Festival of New Musicals) has been performed at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, where it received rave reviews. It is also now published by Theatrical Rights Worldwide.

Susan DiLallo, bookwriter for both Once Upon A Time In New Jersey and Iron Curtain is one of the recipients of the 2008 Jonathan Larson Award as reported by Playbill.com.

One Red Flower/Letters From 'Nam, (a developmental production in the fall of 2002), received a production at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia in the fall of 2004; read the review.

Piece was recently in our Festival of New Musicals — visit the official Piece website!

This sequel to the classic tale enjoyed great popularity during the 2004 Village Theatre developmental production (mentioned on Playbill.com) and received several subsequent productions in the Seattle area in 2007, first at Centerstage Theatre followed by an outdoor presentation by the Mountaineer Players.

Saint Heaven was featured in our 2007 Festival of New Musicals — visit the official Saint Heaven website!

Searching 4 Y, (a developmental production in the spring of 2001), is now called Irrationals. This musical by Jon Marans and Edward Thomas opened an Off-Broadway run at the American Theatre of Actors on November 10, 2004. (New York Times online subscribers can read the New York Times review online.) Irrationals was also reviewed by nytheatre.com.

Snapshots will be a part of the TheatreWorks 2008-09 season in Palo Alto; the production will star our own Beth DeVries, reprising her role from our 2005 developmental production. Read more about it on BroadwayWorld.com or Playbill.com.

Snapshots by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell and Pippin among others) began as a developmental production in winter, 2005. In September, 2007, The Human Race Theatre Co and Victoria Theatre Association presented the world premiere of Snapshots at the Loft Theatre in Dayton, Ohio (-Playbill.com).

Taxi Cabaret, (part of the 2003 Village Originals Festival of New Musicals), was published by Samuel French in 2004. That same year, it also received a reading at the New York Musical Theatre Festival; read the Talkin' Broadway review.

Peter Mills, Taxi Cabaret author (and lyricist of Iron Curtain from the 2007 Festival of New Musicals), received the 2007 Fred Ebb Award for excellence in musical theatre songwriting.

For more information, read the announcement on BroadwayWorld.com.

The Tutor, (from the 2004 Village Originals Festival of New Musicals, and a 2005 workshop), won a 2004 Richard Rodgers Award for Production, after winning 2002 and 2003 Richard Rodgers Awards in the catagories of Staged Reading and Studio Production.

The show had a reading in 2005 at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and received a run in the spring of 2007 at The Spirit of Broadway Theatre in Connecticut.

Read more at the show's own website.

Ya Got Trouble, (a developmental production in the spring of 2005), played at the Meydenbauer in the spring of 2006, and received a short run at Tacoma Actors' Guild in November, 2006.

Read the Seattle Times review of the Meydenbauer production: "'Ya Got Trouble' is entertaining with a capital 'E'".