Don't miss your chance to see the next big hit at Goodspeed's 19th Festival of New Musicals! The Festival has launched more than 50 new musicals into the universe, sending them across the country, to Broadway, and around the world! Join us for a weekend filled with insider events, seminars, cabarets, and three staged readings of brand-new works as the brightest writers and performers collaborate to create the future of America's greatest art form.

For the first time, the Festival will be held at The Terris Theatre in Chester, a charming town filled with unique shops and restaurants!

Schedule of Events

R&J: Fire on the Bayou

7:30pm - The Terris Theatre

Conceived by Kevin Ramsey
Adaptation by Kevin Ramsey & Nygel D. Robinson
Music & Lyrics by Nygel D. Robinson & Kevin Ramsey

Romeo. Juliet. Capulets. Montagues. The world’s most famous romance takes on new meaning set against the revelries of modern day Mardi Gras. Adapted from one of the greatest plays of all-time, and featuring a jazz-and-blues score that evokes the spirit of New Orleans – R&J: Fire on the Bayou breathes new life into the timeless tragedy of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers.

Oliver Houser: Wunderkind

10:30pm - The Terris Theatre

Set in a Jewish American family in the early 20th century, Wunderkind is an original piece that follows Hans, a young piano prodigy endeavoring to break free of his father’s crippling expectations and claim his creative voice. A timeless story of forgiveness and redemption with a rhapsodic score, Wunderkind expresses the universal theme of becoming who we are.

Winner of the inaugural Stephen Schwartz Award, the ASCAP Foundation Sammy Cahn Award and a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, Oliver Houser (he/him) is an intersex musical theater artist who is passionate about creating original life-affirming work that facilitates healing and connection. Oliver has headlined at the Kennedy Center and presented his musicals at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Village Theater, Nashville Repertory Theater, Red Mountain Theatre Co, London's Other Palace Theatre, the NAMT Festival and beyond. Oliver’s original musical XY was one of three finalists for the Relentless Award, the largest prize presented to an unproduced musical. The piece will premier at London’s Park Theatre in 2025.

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