Planet Eden Co-Author Kurt Crowley Musical Directing at Broadway Rose Theatre #PDX #musicals

Planet Eden's co-author, composer & musical director Kurt Crowley is currently winding down his job as musical director/pianist for a three-week sold-out run of Winter Wonderettes at the Broadway Rose Theatre in Lake Oswego.

Reviews in the Oregonian and elsewhere have been fantastic and even added performances have quickly sold out. 

Kurt's "holiday break" will include writing a song about a landing pad, but this one's for aliens -- not Santa!

Sending Planet Eden to the Academy #musicals #pdx #ufos

So you've heard of "Search for the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance?" But did you know there was an "Academy For New Musical Theatre"?

Well, neither did we until about two weeks ago.   For a mere $100 this crew of dramaturgs and lovers of all things thespian* will read a new musical, listen to three songs, and scour over a handwritten score AND provide 3-5 pages of feedback! SCORE!

To musical theatre nerds, this is sheer nirvana! They do offer a series of other services (all amazingly reasonably priced) and an annual first prize for the best musical they select.  Since our musical's not complete we can't really compete... and it will take us a year to get our book, lyrics, and the score (oy! especially the score!) into Samuel French Broadway format  (Yes, you heard me correctly, the Samuel French Broadway format.  All I can say is -- after reading the 9 pages of formatting requirements for music -- it's a darn good thing Kurt went to Harvard! Book and Lyrics only has 1 page of requirements! Yay for me!)

So, we are submitting our materials (2nd draft of the script, three recorded songs and a PDF of one handwritten song score) tomorrow -- at the final hour! Stay tuned.
*I confess to all beings present, human and alien, that I was the Vice President of my high school Thespian society, Thurston Senior High School, Springfield, Oregon, 1978-79.

What's Happening This Week On Planet Eden?

This week the Planet Eden co-authors are busy finalizing the script's second draft for submission to CoHo Productions for consideration as a co-production for the 2010 season. We're also applying to perform the show at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center.

When not performing his role as Musical Director for A Rockin' Holiday Party at the Broadway Rose Theatre in Tigard, Kurt Crowley is whipping up new melodies for five more numbers for the show.

Producer and co-author Aaron Kirk Douglas is putting the shows characters through their paces (in his mind) and trying not to giggle as he continues writing the script. He's also interviewing directors and looking forward to the PATA musical auditions in January.

Stay tuned!