Bucks County Playhouse of New Hope, Pennsylvania, will host the world premiere production of the new musical adventure Other World. The musical, with a book by Hunter Bell and music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and Ann McNamee, will begin performances March 13, 2020, ahead of a March 28 opening.
The musical follows Sri and Lorraine, who suddenly find themselves transported into Sri's favorite video game. The unlikely pair navigate other gamers, challenges, nad more as they find their way home.
Adrienne Campbell-Holt will helm the production, leading a creative team that includes choreographer Karla Puno Garcia, music supervisor Mary Mitchell-Campbell, orchestrator Christopher Jahnke, scenic designer Mary Hamrick, costume designer Tilly Grimes, lighting designer Grant Yeager, projection designer Lucy Mackinnon, sound designer Nevin Steinberg, and puppet designer AchesonWalsh Studios. Casting is by Paul Hardt.
Five-time Oscar winner Weta Workshop makes its theatrical debut as a creative consultant on the production. The workshop's Rebekah Tisch serves as art director.
The project is a reunion for Bell and Bowen, who wrote and starred in [title of show] Off-Broadway in 2006 and on Broadway in 2008, and its spiritual followup Now. Hear. This. Off-Broadway in 2012. McNamee, a newcomer to the theatre, is a singer-songwriter and music theorist as well as an alum of bands Flying Other Brothers and Moonalice.
"There’s so much energy and passion around Comic Cons, the gaming community, and superhero action-adventure stories,” says Bell. “To tap into all of that and make an original musical comedy in a fantastical world is beyond thrilling. We’re also really proud to be creating a family-friendly show where battles and conflicts are represented with creative non-gun alternatives."
Other World will be the third world premiere musical produced at Bucks County Playhouse since its reopening in 2012, following 2017's Rock and Roll Man: The Alan Freed Story and The New World. The regional theatre has also premiered such plays as Misery, Mothers & Sons, and Ebenezer Scrooge's Big Playhouse Christmas Show.
