Sheridan College’s Canadian Music Theatre Project (CMTP), under the leadership of Michael Rubinoff, Associate Dean of Visual and Performing Arts, is an international centre of excellence for the development of new musicals in Canada. Since its inception in 2011, 15 shows have been incubated, with four having enjoyed their professional premieres (Come From Away, The Theory of Relativity, Prom Queen and Marathon of Hope) and one opening on Broadway in 2017 (Come From Away).
The CMTP Festival of New Musicals provides the public with the chance to be among the first to witness new works in development. Sheridan’s Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance Class of 2017 has been workshopping three new musicals this semester, under the guidance of leading theatre practitioners.
Forty-five minute, staged readings of the following three musicals will be presented with each creative team introducing their projects:
Rumspringa break! An Am-ish Musical
Book by Matt Murray, Music by Colleen Dauncey, Lyrics by Akiva Romer-Segal
Direction by Steven Gallagher, Musical Direction by Wayne Gwillim
When Amish twins Hannah and Ruth leave the comfort of their strict, sheltered community to explore the outside world for the first time, things don’t go as planned. Desperate, penniless, and stranded in the big city’s roughest neighbourhood, the naïve sisters must rely on their faith, the outlandish locals, and each other to survive. As chaos and hilarity ensue, their faith and their relationship are tested. This musical contains strong language and mature themes.
Small Wonder
Book by Morris Panych
Lyrics by Morris Panych, Anika Johnson and Britta Johnson
Music by Anika Johnson and Britta Johnson
Direction by Morris Panych, Musical Direction by Paul Moody
Ambrose Small, the famously disappearing Toronto theatrical entrepreneur, faced with debts and obligations to both the gangsters and the cops, decides to cash in his considerable holdings and escape, somehow by magic, into thin air. Set in 1919, the musical embraces a period of Toronto history, seemingly upright and sober, whose underbelly is anything but. Ambrose Small is in the final planning stages of his departure, when a young woman from a small town shows up looking for a part. It’s what else she’s looking for that places her centre stage in this criminal misadventure.
The Journey That Saved Curious George
Book by Jen Shuber, Music and Lyrics by Nicky Phillips
Based on the Book by Louise Borden
Direction by Ann Hodges, Musical Direction by Aaron Eyre
Curious George, the beloved monkey of children’s books, is famous for his narrow escape from danger in his well-known stories. What is not well known is how he symbolically safeguarded his own creators in times of danger. Margret and H.A. Rey were Jewish immigrants who fled Paris in 1940 with not much more than the Curious George manuscript on their backs. This is the story of how they escaped Nazi occupied Europe and brought Curious George safely to America narrowly escaping danger themselves. A husband and wife finding a way against all odds to find joy in a time of despair through creating their artwork and stories, determined to get to safety while protecting their life’s work and ultimately bringing a little monkey to millions of children for years to come.
The reading will take place at Sheridan College on October 13th at 7:30 PM and October 14th and 15th at 7:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased at the Sheridan College Box Office in person or online.
