The Oklahoman – Sunday, April 23, 2006
Living Section

Is there a market for new musicals? Dan Meagher at Oklahoma City University decided to find out. Armed with a small budget, Meagher established a new project called “Stripped”. The idea was to reduce a musical to its bare essentials: story and music. No sets, costumes or choreography.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT), a not-for-profit service organization dedicated to the creation, development and recognition of new and classical musical theater, provided Meagher with numerous contacts. But it was anyone’s guess as to how many composers and lyricists might submit their work.

“We began in December 2005, and by February we had received 350 submissions”, Meagher said. “We heard from people in Canada, England and the United States. Most were based in New York and already had professional credits.”

A group of eight students then began the arduous task of narrowing the field to four musicals. Each would be given a forty-minute production that would include narration to fill in the plot details. The four winners are The Gift (a re-imagining of the O. Henry story), Flyer,The Musical (a tribute to the Wright Brothers), I Married Wyatt Earp (true story of Earp’s wife) and Plane Crazy (airline stewardesses in the ‘60’s).

“Ultimately, we were looking for inspiration and imagination”, Meagher said. “It’s been a very enlightening project. We have to find new names to continue the musical theater tradition."