Welcome to Part 2 of our special coverage of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's 37th Annual Festival of New Musicals.

Each year, the NAMT festival shares 45 minute preview performances of 8 new musicals in development. Part 2 of our NAMT coverage features conversations with the writers of 4 of the 8 shows in this year’s festival: The King of Harlem by John-Michael Lyles and David Gomez, Roja by Jaime Lozano and Tommy Newman, Wakeman by Jenn Grinels, and Alice Bliss by Karen Hartman, Jenny Giering, and Adam Gwon.

We also share demo recordings of a song from each of these musicals so you can get a taste of the sound of each show.

From The King of Harlem you’ll hear “Federico” performed by John-Michael Lyles on vocals and guitar.

From Roja you’ll hear, “I Will See You Again (Te Veré Otra Vez)” with music and lyrics by Jaime Lozano and Tommy Newman, featuring Mayelah Barrera. This recording is from the album “Jaime Lozano & The Familia: Songs by an Immigrant Vol. 3” released by Concord Theatricals Recordings.

From Wakemen, you’ll hear “The Trio Song” performed by Jenn Grinels, Ari Notartomaso, and Beverly Anderson.

And from Alice Bliss, you’ll hear “Prologue/One More” performed by Jenny Giering.

One of the most exciting parts of NAMT is that it serves as a hub for musical theatre writers and producers.

While we were there, we also ran into and interviewed S. Todd Townsend and Kim Kibly, two of three writers of the musical Big Quarterly. Big Quarterly was a NAMT Recommended Musical. While it was not among the eight musicals selected for the festival, the panelists who reviewed the NAMT submissions were so struck by the work that they published a list of shows they feel should be shared with the musical theatre community. Big Quarterly was on that list.

Big Quarterly was developed at Berklee NYC in the Writing and Production for Musical Theatre program, and we also interviewed Dan Marshall, an associate professor who helped develop the show.

After that interview, you’ll hear the song “Opening” from Big Quarterly.

And finally, we ran into friends of the pod Harrison Bryan and Brandon Zellman, co-creators of Balls: The Monster Catchin’ Musical.

After their interview, we’ve included an excerpt of the song “What the World Should Be”, that features the show’s villain, Warlordturtle, performed by Harrison Bryan.

If you haven’t already, check out Part 1 to hear interviews with the other NAMT writers, as well as more bonus content from musical theatre creators who were present at the festival.

Connect with NAMT:

Website: https://namt.org/

Instagram: @namt_org

Connect with New York Theatre Barn:

• Twitter: @nytheatrebarn

• Instagram: @newyorktheatrebarn

• Facebook.com/nytheatrebarn

• nytheatrebarn.org

• Pauls’s personal instagram: @paulsmacs

• Teresa’s personal instagram: @terijoyeaux