| Amas Musical Theatre & Amas Musical Theatre Lab To Present Developmental Readings of "The Stork Derby" A New Musical on January 17 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 12:42 pm EST 01/08/25 | |
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| AMAS MUSICAL THEATRE THE AMAS MUSICAL THEATRE LAB TO PRESENT DEVELOPMENTAL READINGS OF THE STORK DERBY A NEW MUSICAL BY DAVID ROSSMER, DAN LIPTON, JANIS HIRSCH MUSIC DIRECTION BY DAN LIPTON DIRECTED BY SHERYL KALLER FEATURING: KIM BLANCK, JIMMY BREWER, JANE BRUCE, JOSH BRECKENRIDGE,TODD BUEONOPANE, MICHAEL CASTILLEJOS, CARLOS VELASQUEZ ESCAMILLA, CAMRYN HAMPTON, KYLIE KUIOKA, SOPHIE MADORSKY, LIVVY MARCUS, JOSEY MILLER, JIMMY NICHOLAS, BLAKE SAUCEDA AND JONATHAN WAGNER FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 2025 New York, NY – Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, Artistic Producer) and the Amas Musical Theatre Lab, will present developmental readings of The Stork Derby, a new musical by David Rossmer, Dan Lipton and Janis Hirsch on Friday, January 17, 2025. In 1926, eccentric multi-millionaire Charles Vance Millar died, leaving behind a most bizarre will and testament. The bulk of his fortune would go to the woman in Toronto who birthed the most children over the next decade. And so began the incredible and true story of The Great Stork Derby. The first "reality show" where ordinary people could be extraordinary. "It's a fascinating story that falls into the ‘stranger than fiction' category," says Donna Trinkoff, Artistic Producer of Amas Musical Theatre. "The authors have woven together a compelling story with a brilliant score about the landed gentry and the newly arrived immigrants and they're striving for a better life in America. The Great Stork Derby became a public sensation that is ripe for a musical." The Stork Derby is directed by Sheryl Kaller, with music direction by Dan Lipton. The stage manager is Kelly Stillwell. The assistant stage manager is Benjamin A. Vigil. Bios Dan Lipton & David Rossmer wrote the song "How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?" for Tony Award winners Sutton Foster and Kelli O'Hara, who premiered it at Carnegie with the New York Pops Orchestra in their history-making debut performance as a duo act in November 2023. Rossmer & Lipton's original futuristic rom-com musical The Perfect Mate premiered at Pittsburgh CLO in 2024 to rave reviews and is in NYC development. Rated P ran Off-Broadway and is available from Broadway Licensing. Their song "They Don't Let You in the Opera" was written for O'Hara, whose Orlando Philharmonic performance became a viral video sensation on YouTube and Facebook, garnering over 7 million views. The song has been performed at Carnegie Hall, in the Library of Congress and with orchestras in concert halls all over the world, in several languages. Lipton & Rossmer co-created the long-running hit variety show Don't Quit Your Night Job, which began at Joe's Pub and moved to a successful run Off-Broadway. There, they wrote special material for an astounding array of entertainers: Huey Lewis, Andrea Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Julianna Margulies, to name a few. Rossmer co-wrote The Other Josh Cohen , nominated for 6 Drama Desk Awards, and most recently with Steve Rosen, penned the next chapter in the Griswold franchise, The Griswolds' Broadway Vacation, which premiered at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theater and is now headed for New York. They are also working on a new musical with Tony-winning director Casey Nicholaw. An Audible playwright for Amazon, Rossmer wrote Alexa, Why Can't You Love Me starring Judd Hirsch, which is a 5-star hit on Audible. Lipton conducted Sting's Broadway run in his own musical The Last Ship, as well as The Band's Visit by David Yazbek and, most recently, Twyla Tharp's How Long Blues at Little Island. He is an accomplished pianist who performs regularly in concert halls across the country with both Kelli O'Hara and Mandy Gonzalez. He scored the Molly Ringwald film All These Small Moments (Orion Classics), was music supervisor for the US tour of An Officer and a Gentleman, and is working on a new project with Tony nominee Dick Scanlan. Janis Hirsch is a television writer/producer, proud to have written for 6 of the WGA's top 101 TV series, including "Frasier," "Will & Grace," "Murphy Brown," "The Nanny" and most recently, "Hacks." In her five decades of writing television comedy, she's won numerous Writers Guild of America Awards, a Humanitas Prize and Emmy's. In addition to her television writing, she's rewritten or contributed comedy to films and theater including Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Hairspray (Broadway), Can-Can (Pasadena Playhouse) and the upcoming Jamie Lee Curtis film Freaky Friday 2/Freakier Friday. She lives in LA and is an advocate in the fight against Alzheimer's, which claimed her husband's life in 2022. A polio survivor, she also works to further disabled participation in all media. Sheryl Kaller is an accomplished director and Tony Award nominee known for her work on Broadway and off-Broadway productions. She has directed numerous plays and musicals, and is highly respected in the theater community. Kaller was born in New York City and grew up in a family of artists. Her father was a painter and her mother was a dancer, which gave her an early exposure to the arts. She attended the High School of Performing Arts in New York City and later studied theater at Boston University. Kaller began her career as a director in the 1990s, working on off-Broadway productions. She quickly gained a reputation for her ability to bring out the best in actors and her keen sense of storytelling. In 2002, she made her Broadway debut as the associate director of the hit musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. Kaller's breakthrough as a director came in 2008 with the off-Broadway production of Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts. The play was a critical and commercial success, and Kaller was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Director. She later directed the Broadway production of Next Fall, which received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. Kaller has also directed several other off-Broadway productions, including Sons of the Prophe by Stephen Karam, The Undeniable Sound of Right Now by Laura Eason, and The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse. In addition to her work in the theater, Kaller has also directed for television. She directed an episode of the hit series "The Americans" in 2016, and has also directed episodes of "Elementary" and "Blue Bloods." Kaller's work includes directing the off-Broadway production of The White Chip in 2024 at MCC. Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, Artistic Producer) is a non-profit, multi-ethnic theatrical organization founded in 1968 by Ms. Rosetta LeNoire. Amas ("you love" in Latin) is devoted to the creation, development and professional production of new American musicals, the celebration of cultural equity and minority perspectives, the emergence of new artistic talent, and the training and encouragement of inner-city young people. Amas celebrates its impact in pioneering multi-ethnic casting in the American Theatre and reiterates its commitment to this reflection of our diverse society. In recent years, Amas has emerged as a leading not-for-profit laboratory for new musicals, most recently Distant Thunder, The Gospel According to Heather, Hip Hop Cinderella, Romeo & Bernadette: A Musical Tale of Verona and Brooklyn, ¡Americano!, Broadway and the Bard, starring Len Cariou and Red Eye of Love, which was awarded the Joseph A. Callaway Award for Outstanding Choreography. Its production of The Other Josh Cohen received six 2013 Drama Desk nominations including Outstanding Musical, a 2013 Lucille Lortel nomination for Outstanding Musical, and a 2013 Off-Broadway Alliance nomination for Best New Musical. Other shows that Amas has developed include Distant Thunder, Triassic Parq, Wanda's World, Shout! The Mod Musical, Lone Star Love, From My Hometown, Zanna, Don't!, 4 Guys Named Jose and Stormy Weather: Reimagining Lena Horne. Amas education programs include the Rosetta LeNoire Musical Theatre Academy, Lens on Live Theatre and in-school theatre arts residencies designed in partnership with elementary, middle, and high schools. www.amasmusical.org |
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