New York Theatre Barn's virtual New Works Series, presenting excerpts of new musicals and conversations with the creative teams, continues March 17 with selections from For Tonight and Anjou: The Musical Horror Tale. The episode streams live at 7 PM ET on New York Theatre Barn's YouTube channel.
Anjou revolves around the massacre of Saint Bartholomew in 1572 in France, fusing Renaissance-inspired melodies, modern orchestrations, and Latinx-influenced tunes. Roberto Araujo directs the modern Mexican opera with lyrics by Guillermo Mendez M. and Guadalupe Sandoval and music by Guillermo Mendez M. and an English translation by Javier Vilalta. Performers include Nathan Cockfroft, Kevin Curtis (Moulin Rouge!), Gabriel Hyman (Hamilton), Taylor Iman Jones (Head Over Heels), Michael Perrie Jr. (Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story) and Jelani Remy (Ain’t Too Proud).
Anjou was recently presented in a concept album-meets-concert format by Playbill, also directed by Araujo and featuring Jones and Remy.
The new indie-folk rock musical For Tonight , with a book by Whitney Rhodes, Shenelle Salcido and Spencer Williams and score by Salcido and Williams, explores themes of home and racial prejudice in this story of a Welsh man and a Romani woman. The expert features performances by Joey Cornish, Sam Ebenezer, Simon Gordon (Girl From The North Country, Bat Out of Hell), Michelle Beth Herman, Luke McCall (Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera), Jordan Allan Mills, and Adam Tabellija.
The episode is hosted and produced by Artistic Director Joe Barros and Associate Artistic Director Jen Sandler.