What’s hot at Broadway Licensing Global? Check out the top trending titles of the week from Broadway Licensing, Dramatists Play Service, and Playscripts.
The Mountain Song Book, Music, and Lyrics by PigPen Theatre Co.
The Mountain Song is the tale of a carpenter who climbs mountains and traverses rivers in order to attend his daughter’s wedding – without a clue as to where it’s taking place.
Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
Drama critic Mortimer Brewster’s engagement announcement is upended when he discovers a corpse in his elderly aunts’ window seat. Mortimer rushes to tell Abby and Martha before they stumble upon the body themselves, only to learn that the two old women aren’t just aware of the dead man in their parlor, they killed him! Between his aunts’ penchant for poisoning wine, a brother who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, and another brother using plastic surgery to hide from the police—not to mention Mortimer’s own hesitancy about marriage—it’ll be a miracle if Mortimer makes it to his wedding. Arsenic and Old Lace is a classic black comedy about the only thing more deadly than poison: family.
The Wizard of Oz adapted by Erin Detrick
When Dorothy drops into the Land of Oz, only one thing is certain: she’s got to find a way back to Kansas. A funny and fast-paced journey down the yellow brick road ensues, as Dorothy and her new friends travel to the fabled Emerald City to meet the Great Oz. When Oz demands a steep price for sending her home, a perilous new adventure begins. Full of ensemble possibilities, this imaginative adaptation captures the heart of L. Frank Baum’s classic tale.
A Bad Year for Tomatoes by John Patrick
Fed up with the pressures and demands of her acting career, the famous Myra Marlowe leases a house in the tiny New England hamlet of Beaver Haven and settles down to write her autobiography. She is successful in turning aside the offers pressed on her by her long-time agent, but dealing with her nosy, omnipresent neighbors is a different matter. In an attempt to shoo them away, and gain some privacy, Myra invents a mad, homicidal sister—who is kept locked in an upstairs room, but who occasionally escapes long enough to scare off uninvited visitors. The ruse works well, at first, but complications result when the local handyman develops an affection for “Sister Sadie” (really Myra in a fright wig) and some of the more officious ladies decide it is their Christian duty to save the poor demented Sadie’s soul. In desperation Myra announces that her imaginary sibling has suddenly gone off to Boston—which brings on the sheriff and the suspicion of murder! Needless to say, all is straightened out in the end, but the uproarious doings will keep audiences laughing right up to the final curtain, and then some.
Gone Missing Created by The Civilians, Written by Steve Cosson from Interviews by the Company, Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman
A wry and whimsical documentary musical of loss devised from interviews with real-life New Yorkers by The Civilians, the acclaimed New York-based company. This collection of very personal accounts of things “gone missing” —everything from keys, personal identification and a Gucci pump to family heirlooms, your dog and your mind—creates a unique tapestry of the ways in which we deal with loss in our lives. A flexible company of six performs more than thirty characters, intertwining these stories of lost objects with tales from some unusual “finders,” ranging from a retired NYPD cop to a pet psychic. Set against eclectic and tuneful songs by Michael Friedman, Gone Missing is about the little things in life —seen largely.
