Kurt Crowley to Assistant Conduct New Musical on Broadway

Kurt Crowley at the Keyboard.

The co-creators of Alienated are thrilled to announce that composer/lyricist Kurt Crowley has been hand picked as assistant conductor for the Broadway musical "Bring it On."

This new musical was created by numerous Tony Award-winning artists: The music is by Tom Kitt ("Next to Normal") and Lin-Manuel Miranda ("In the Heights"), with lyrics by Mr. Miranda and Amanda Green and a book by Jeff Whitty ("Avenue Q").  Andy Blankenbuehler, who won a Tony for choreography for "In the Heights," is the director and choreographer.  Read the full text as announced today in the NY Times Art Beat.

Since it's Kurt's life dream to be working on Broadway the fall 2012 staged reading of Alienated will be postponed until 2013 so Kurt can focus on enjoying working with all these Tony winners!

Marc Acito Wins Coveted "Helen Hayes Award" for Best New Play

The Hayes Awards, now in their 28th year, salute the D.C. area's resident and nonresident theater during the preceding calendar year. The latest winners were selected from among 192 productions by 53 professional theaters. Acito won for his play about gay penguins, "Birds of a Feather" at the Hub Theater. Read the full story in Variety. Acito also impressed at the ceremony. Read the Washington City Paper article.

Acito Earns His Due In Adaptation of "Room With a View"

Following opening night March 11th at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, the San Diego Union Tribune wrote: "Witty writing, appealing actors, a gorgeous and well-orchestrated score: 'A Room With a View' has just about the full monty (and that’s not even counting the naked dudes who plunge into a pool onstage)."  Read more.

Broadway World called it "An Elegant Theatre Experience."

Meanwhile, Acito has been nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for best new play following the Washington DC premiere of his play "Birds of a Feather" about two gay penguins.

Marc writes some about these and other experiences on his blog.

Meanwhile, you'll be glad to know he's finished a first draft of Act I of "Alienated: The Best Alien Abduction Musical in the Universe."

Alienated Receives Workshop Grant from Regional Arts and Culture Council

"Alienated: The Best Alien Abduction Musical in the Universe" has received a major funding grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council for its upcoming staged readings.  Aaron Douglas Enterprises LLC received notification of the grant award by mail today.  "I'm very excited about the fantastic group of people we have committed to the project," said Douglas, "and I'm especially delighted to know that the people on the RACC grants panel appreciated our project's potential."

Song Sampler From the New Musical: Alienated

Scientists Discover Another Earth-Like Planet

This week scientists announced the discovery of a planet much like earth, a mere 600 light-years away! Could beings who live on that planet already be stalking us? Are we being "Alienated" even now? Stay tuned... but in the meantime, read more about this new discovery.

Kurt Crowley Musical Director of Tony-winning "In the Heights" National Tour

Some real out-of-this-world news! Kurt Crowley is conducting and is lead keyboardist of the current national Broadway tour of In the Heights.  The Tony-award winning musical finished its first US tour in early 2011. The current tour began in October of 2011 and ends in June 2012. Remember to come back to see what is happening with Kurt's new original musical-in-progress Alienated.  In the meantime, see where In the Heights is playing near you!