It's hard to find the words to describe the past month Gordon and I spent in Flint, Michigan for the world premiere of The Magnificent Seven at The Flint Rep. The show follows the 1996 U.S Women’s Olympic Gymnastics team on their quest to win team gold at the Atlanta games, imagining the gymnasts’ inner lives as they work to get their faces on the Wheaties box, all leading up to a star-making (and ankle-busting) vault heard ’round the world.
Director Catie Davis brought an avalanche of exciting ideas about how to realize a musical about Olympic gymnastics….without doing Olympic gymnastics. The cast (including Spring Awakenings’ Phoebe Strole as Kerri Strug and Come From Away’s Alex Finke as Dominique Moceanu) is wonderful across the board and the design (including lights by Jake DeGroot and set by Ann Beyersdorfer) creates a visceral, super-saturated deep-dive into the hearts and minds of the young Olympians. Duane Lee Holland Jr (an elite level gymnast himself, who trained with Dominique Dawes!) has captured elements of not only gymnastics but also the dance styles popular in the 90’s in his energetic choreography. There’s a pop rock score, there’s a Lyra hoop, there’s a quick-change into golden sequin jackets – we pack a punch into our short 96 minutes (see what we did there?) onstage. The Magnificent Seven March 31-April 16, 2023 Flint Repertory Theatre: Elgood Theatre (1220 East Kearsley Street, Flint, MI 48503) Tickets Book and Lyrics by Gordon Leary Music/Orchestration/Arrangements by Julia Meinwald Directed by Catie Davis Choreographed by Duane Lee Holland, Jr. Music Direction by Jeremy Robin Lyons Scenic Design by Ann Beyersdorfer Costume Design by Adam M. Dill Lighting Design by Jake DeGroot Sound Design by Matt Otto Props Design by Miranda Sue Hartman Stage Manager: Melissa A. Nathan Asst. Stage Manager: Rebecca MacCreery
We're so excited that, thanks to the generous support of MDSK productions, we're making a Magnificent Seven cast album! We're so grateful to be able to capture the work with did at Theatre Row this summer and share it with a wider audience. The album should be available on Spotify, itunes, Amazon, and wherever else the cool kids are finding music these days, in early 2023!
We've got production photos from our July run of The Magnificent Seven at Theatre Row! All photos© 2022 by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade. Stay tuned for more news in this space, soon!
Y'all, we are in rehearsals for an actual production of the The Magnificent Seven at Theatre Row in midtown Manhattan. There are leotards. There is choreography. There is a set painted in a color we're calling "sports blue". Being in rehearsal with this cast and creative team is a dream come true. Here's all the info! The Magnificent Seven Thursday July 7 - Sunday July 17 (Tuesdays @ 7pm, Wednesdays- Saturdays @ 8pm, Saturdays @ 2pm, Sundays @ 3pm) Theatre 1 at Theatre Row 410 West 42nd Street, NYC www.magnificentsevenmusical.com Tickets HERE. Directed by Nikki DiLoreto Music Direction by Alex Ratner Choreography by Jessica Walker Produced in associate with Steve Kyriakis Featuring: Holly Gould, Sam Heldt, MinJi Kim, Amy Linden, Ellen Condon Macy, Evan Maltby, Allison Posner, Lynne Marie Rosenberg, Libby Servais, Josslyn Shaw, Racquel Williams I'm so excited that Gordon and my show, Something Blue, will be included in the WoW's NoW festival of staged readings in Ithaca, NY. I can't wait to get to work on musical theatre in my hometown, and among such good company: EXTENDED STAY by Jenny Stafford & Scotty Arnold ONWARD AND UPWARD by Charlie Romano & Will Wegner SOMETHING BLUE by Julia Meinwald & Gordon Leary The readings will run November 4-20 at The Cherry Arts. Gordon and I had a ball chatting about gymnastics on the What Makes You Think podcast with Nicole Langevin-- check out our episode here! (And here's a fun trailer)
Gordon and my short musical Blank Slate was featured as part of a flight of new musicals at Theatre Elision in Minneapolis! Check out a nice review here. I was psyched to have my song, Time Does Not Bring Relief, featured as part of Project 2020 at The Blue Building in New York City and the Chase Young Gallery in Boston. More info about the events here.
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