Part of the yearly Broadway Close Up series,
Bound for Broadway presents songs from new musicals that may or may not actually be "bound for Broadway" (only time will tell). Past shows that made the promised land include
Avenue Q, Next to Normal, High Fidelity, The Drowsy Chaperone, It Shoulda Been You, and
Now. Here. This. Also, a few shows have appeared Off-Broadway (e.g.,
Musical, the Musical and
Murder for Two). This is not a high success rate considering that over 100 shows have been featured, but there is something sweetly aspirational about retaining the name
Bound for Broadway. After all, as poet Robert Browning pointed out, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?"
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| Bound for Broadway host Liz Callaway |
This year's show presented four wanna-bes:
The More Things Change, with book and lyrics by Kellen Blair and music by Joe Kinosian;
LMNOP, with book and lyrics by Scott Burkel and music by Paul Loessel;
The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen, with book and lyrics by Lezlie Wade and music by Daniel Green; and
Amelie, with book by Craig Lucas, lyrics by Nathan Tysen, and music by Dan Messé.
The more interesting shows were
LMNOP and
Amelie. The press release describes
LMNOP as follows: "When letters begin to fall from a monument in town, government officials ban them one by one. Chaos ensues until a determined teenage girl rallies the community to fight for freedom of speech. This unique musical is part romance, part clever word game and part adult fable that reminds us of how precious our liberties are; how quickly unbridled extremism can take them from us; and how important it is to have the courage to stand up for what we believe." The two songs presented had clever lyrics and were wryly inviting.
