The annual ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop took place in New York recently over a period of six nights. The workshop offers musical theatre writers the opportunity to present their works-in-progress before a panel of theatre professionals, including directors, musical directors, producers, critics and fellow composers.

Academy Award-winning composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz served as Artistic Director for the workshop and also participated in a panel with Brian Drutman (Senior Director, Decca Broadway), Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime), and Tom Cott (Artistic Director, Musical Theatre Works). The workshop featured excerpts from four new musicals as follows:

Flyer - Book, music and lyrics by Dan Tramon and Diana Belkowski

Chronicles the life of the Wright Brothers and the personal tragedies that helped spur their determination to innovate flight.

Buddy's Tavern - Kim Oler (music); Alison Hubbard (lyrics); Raymond DeFelitta (book)

Based on the indie film Two Family House, about the relation between an Italian-American married man and an Irish-American unwed mother who had a child with an African-American man.

Stand by the River - Mark Sutton-Smith (book, music, lyrics); Joanne Sutton-Smith (book)

A story of two slaves trying to gain freedom during Abolitionist America.

The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill and Came Down A Mountain - Frank X. Sommers (book, music, lyrics)

Based on the Miramax film of the same title, a small Welsh town rallies together to defy an English cartographer when he tells them their treasured mountain is technically only a hill.

The cast of Flyer performs an excerpt from a new musical written by Diana Belkowski and Dan Tramon about the Wright brothers.

(L to R) Carl Anthony Tramon, Dan Tramon,
Stephen Schwartz and Diana Belkowski