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

Friday, January 17, 2025

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.

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Seminar Sessions

1:00pm - 4:30pm - Chester Meeting House (4 Liberty St - Just two blocks from the Terris Theatre)

Oy Band

7:30pm - The Terris Theatre

Book, Music, & Lyrics by Bonnie Gleicher

When a vocal group of four Orthodox Jewish girls from Brooklyn come of age and can no longer sing in front of men, they disguise themselves as a boy band to perform for the whole forbidden world. Oy Band is the new empowering musical about the visceral need to do what you love and to discover who YOU really are... by pretending to be someone else.

Cheeyang Ng: Legendary

10:00pm - The Terris Theatre

Legendary is Cheeyang’s journey in unpacking and processing the trauma of moving to a new country alone, leaving everything they knew behind while navigating a completely different culture, at the same time, trying to prove to everyone that the decision was worthwhile. Legendary weaves the mythological stories that they grew up with alongside their experiences immigrating to America, in a discovery to understand loss, ambition and self.

Born and raised in Singapore, Cheeyang Ng (they/them) is an award-winning singer-songwriter who writes at the intersection of queer, Asian and immigrant stories. They have performed around the world, including Lincoln Center with Carole King and Carnegie Hall with a cappella group Vocalosity. They are the first Singaporean to headline a concert at Joe's Pub, Feinstein’s/54 Below and Millennium Stage at Kennedy Center showcasing their original music. Their songs have been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and London.

Sunday, January 19, 2025

The Carol of the Bells

1:00pm - The Terris Theatre

Book, Music, & Lyrics by Nevada Lozano

Christmas is the favorite holiday of the Bell family, most particularly the youngest daughter, Silver. After learning it may be the last Christmas with her grandmother, Silver sets about to reunite the entire family for one final Christmas – despite her parent’s recent divorce, the estrangement of her delinquent brother, boy-obsessed sister…and her dad’s new girlfriend crashing the festivities. Direct from its hit cabaret performance at last year’s Festival, The Carol of the Bells is an irreverent, heartwarming, yuletide musical comedy that will have your heart growing three sizes.

Meet The Writers Q&A

3:30pm - The Terris Theatre

Exclusive Gold Package Event

The Festival weekend culminates in a question-and-answer session with some of the writers and creative teams behind R&J: Fire on the Bayou, Oy Band, and The Carol of the Bells.

Date: January 17-19, 2025

Location: The Terris Theatre, 33 N Main St Chester, CT 06412

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