The New York Musical Theatre Festival

Hailed as "the Sundance for musical theatre," the New York Musical Theatre Festival (Kris Stewart, Founder & Executive Director; Isaac Robert Hurwitz, Executive Producer) has premiered 99 new musicals since its inception in 2004. The largest musical theatre event in the world, NYMF takes over midtown each fall with a slate of more than 30 full productions and some 100 special events, including readings, workshops, concerts, parties, seminars and master classes. In 2005, NYMF was awarded the $100,000 Jujamcyn Theaters Prize for its “extraordinary contribution to the development of creative talent in the theater.”

NYMF runs the theatrical gamut from hip hop and freestyle rap to dance musicals, from traditional musical comedies to edgy satires to epic dramas. NYMF was created to revitalize the musical theatre, to smash the developmental glass ceiling beneath which so many new musicals get trapped. Believing that the live feedback of an audience is an essential element in the theater – and a crucial tool for creators – NYMF creates a broad umbrella of opportunity, inviting audiences to invest in the next generation of musical theater artists.

Dubbed the theatrical “rookie of the year” by The New York Times in 2005, NYMF is the flagship program of The National Music Theater Network, and has been the launching pad for more than a dozen commercial productions in its three-year history, generating off-Broadway runs for Altar Boyz, The Big Voice: God or Merman?, Captain Louie, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Gutenberg! the Musical!, Shout! The Mod Musical and [title of show].