this was a PR "blog" I wrote
for the upcoming NYMF concert
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prospect's
tenth
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09.10.08
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1998
saw the founding of two ambitious new organizations:
Prospect Theater Company and Google. Over the past decade
both companies have grown tremendously.
Okay,
Google may have grown a bit more...
Their
26-acre "Googleplex" has roughly half a million square feet of office
space, while Prospect's headquarters occupy a bit over 200 square feet
on the third floor of the Ripley-Grier building.
Nevertheless, we have come a long way in ten years, and on September 21
st , 9pm at 37 Arts, we plan to celebrate our past successes, our
continued survival, and our bright future with a 10th
Anniversary concert during this
year's New York Musical Theater Festival.
I
can trace the history of our company in a long line of postcards
adorning the walls of our aforementioned headquarters. Beginning with
the earliest shows, a colorful parade of productions proceeds, season
by season, through almost thirty mainstage shows and a host of smaller
"Dark Nights" events. That line of postcards has now turned
the corner twice and is quickly running out of real estate on our
little office's walls--another healthy sign of Prospect's growth!
Almost
half of our mainstage shows have been new musicals, and as Prospect's
resident writer, I have written music and/or lyrics for ten, yes ten,
of those new tuners in as many years. The concert on the
21st will feature highpoints from each of those musicals:
Malcolm Gets will sing "Way Ahead Of My Time," from THE TAXI CABARET,
the very first show I wrote; Gavin Creel will reprise his performance
of "Highway Miles" from THE FLOOD; the cast of ILLYRIA will be on hand
for a special sneak preview of Prospect's upcoming revival.
And those are just the first three of the fourteen we'll be
re-visiting!
In
more recent years, Prospect has become a home for new musicals other
than mine--another healthy sign! The NYMF concert will also
include music from THE TUTOR, the Rodgers Award-winning show by Andrew
Gerle and Maryrose Wood; THE BOOK OF THE DUN COW, Randy
Courts' and Mark St. Germain's adaptation of the National Book
Award-winning novel; TOCK TICK, a sweet and surreal fable by Tim Nevits
and Gihieh Lee; and the haunting Dada-inspired piece, THE BLUE FLOWER
by Jim and Ruth Bauer.
The
star-studded evening, hosted by Stephen Bogardus, will include
performances by Matt Cavenaugh, Jose Llana, Adama Jacobs and more.
As Prospect begins its second decade, the prospects look
good. Who knows... perhaps in another ten years we'll have a
26 acre "Prosplex" of our own!
Musings Past
