[title of show] is a one-act musical, with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and a book by Hunter Bell. The show chronicles its own creation as an entry in the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and follows the struggles of the author and composer/lyricist and their two actress friends during the initial brief (three-week) creative period, along with subsequent events leading up to the show's production.
[title of show] was chosen for production by the Musical Theatre Festival and premiered there, in September 2004, in New York City. It later ran off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in 2006, earning a second limited run the same year, then played at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre in 2008 for 13 previews and 102 regular performances. Writer/stars Bowen and Bell, as well as director Michael Berresse all won Obie Awards for their work on the off-Broadway production, and Bell was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.
The musical spawned a recurring video blog about the show's journey to Broadway called The [title of show] Show.
History and productions
[title of show] was conceived by friends Bowen and Bell during the spring of 2004 after Bell received an announcement for the inaugural New York Musical Theatre Festival. With the deadline just three weeks away, Bell began drafting the script with Bowen writing the lyrics and music. Due to the severe time constraints, and because the Festival required only the submission of a script plus four songs, Bowen wrote most lyrics without any accompanying melody, planning to finish the songs later. Nevertheless, many of these lyrics have remained intact through several incarnations and revisions to the show.
Bowen and Bell, determined to write an original musical rather than adapt an existing play or movie, discovered almost immediately that their conversations about what to write were more interesting than what they were actually writing. As the idea to document the creation of the show itself ("a musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical") became clearer, Bell and Bowen expanded the script based on their writing experiences with friends Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff. [title of show] has since become a post-modern work-in-progress, with updates and changes to each new production reflecting the circumstances the cast and the show have experienced. Larry Pressgrove is the musical director and orchestrator in all productions to date.
Early performances
The first three performances of [title of show], at the Manhattan Theatre Source in the summer of 2004, were produced by Laura Camien. The cast included Bowen, Bell, Blackwell, and Stacia Fernandez, playing the role of "Stacia". Bowen and Bell convinced several Broadway stars to participate in a recurring plot device by leaving recorded phone messages rejecting offers to star in the show. Messages featured in the Theatre Source and Festival performances included Idina Menzel, Marin Mazzie, Sutton Foster and Emily Skinner.
The production premiered at the 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival on September 22, 2004 (also produced by Camien), at the Belt Theatre, and ran for six performances as scheduled. Heidi Blickenstaff replaced Fernandez, who had accepted the understudy role to Beth Leavel in the Broadway production of The Drowsy Chaperone. While her character's name remained "Stacia" for the Festival performances, thereafter it became "Heidi", and the role was modified to reflect Blickenstaff's experiences while helping to expand and evolve the show.
A year of expansion and revision followed. Kevin McCollum agreed to produce [title of show] for professional presentation after seeing it performed at the Festival. Five new songs were added: "Monkeys and Playbills", "What Kind of Girl is She?", "Festival Medley/September Song", "Secondary Characters" and "Nine People's Favorite Thing". "The Wall", originally sung by Jeff and Stacia at the Festival, was rewritten as a solo for Heidi with new lyrics, and a new name, "A Way Back to Then." Changes to the book included the addition of the conflict between Susan and Heidi (as introduced by "What Kind of Girl Is She?") and the combined music and scenes "Awkward Photo Shoot" and "Change It, Don't Change It." Both reflected the tension among the cast members that had begun to set in since the Festival's performance and their uncertainty about an off-Broadway run.