The musicals being explored in public readings at Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT, are Hello Out There, ReWrite and Lincoln in Love. The reading casts are made up of seniors from the music theatre program of The Hartt School, plus Equity guest artists: Stephen DeRosa (Hello Out There), Jason Williams (ReWrite) and Richard Todd Adams (Lincoln In Love).

Several special events will round out the weekend. Tickets are available at the Goodspeed box office or by calling (860) 873-8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org. Tickets are $15 each for one show, $10 each for students.

This year, Goodspeed has expanded its popular Festival Package with related events. The $75 package includes admission to all three staged readings; The Noel Coward Foundation Symposium: "Creating Next To Normal" with Tom Kitt (Tony Award winner Best Original Score, Best Orchestrations), producer David Stone and director Michael Greif; "Pick-Two" festival seminar sessions; a Saturday evening pre-show dinner at the Gelston House; and a Meet the Writers Reception, which will complete the weekend's festivities. Also included in the special Festival Package is admittance to the Friday Night and Saturday Night Cabarets: informal gatherings showcasing new songs by new artists.

Michael P. Price, executive director of Goodspeed Musicals, previously stated, "It's exciting for us to see the Goodspeed campus bustling in wintertime. Our community comes alive when hundreds of musical theatre fans from around the country join the best and brightest new writers, actors and Hartt School students as they work together to create the future of musical theatre."

Here's a look at the new musicals being previewed in readings: Hello Out There
Jan. 15, 7:30 PM Goodspeed Opera House
Book & Lyrics by Eric Price
Music by Frank Terry
Director – Stephen Nachamie
Music Director – William J. Thomas
"It's the summer of 1995, a dozen years before the current financial crisis and the scandal of Bernie Madoff. Three Internet-savvy teens earn tens of thousands of dollars in the stock market using an ingenious method that may or may not be illegal. When an immigrant taxi driver loses his life savings because of the teenagers' game, he alerts the S.E.C. What was initially a high-flying summer of getting rich turns upside down as the S.E.C. chases the teens across the Internet, through the New Jersey suburbs, and all the way to Wall Street."

ReWrite
Jan. 16, 7:30 PM, Goodspeed Opera House
Book, Music & Lyrics by Joe Iconis
Director – John Simpkins
Music Director – Robert Rokicki
"This triple feature of wild musicals connects in surprising and dangerous ways. Nelson Rocks! is a pop/rock show about a young dude who needs to fix his life before the class bell rings. Miss Marzipan is a dizzy musical about a high-stakes dinner party. A little bit of blood is spilt, but it's nothing that some kitchen towels can't clean up. The Process deals with a writer on deadline to finish his musical at the Dunkin' Donuts. As his characters begin to populate the coffee shop, our friendly counter lady serves as a guide through this passionate look into one man's writing process."

Lincoln In Love
Jan. 17, 1 PM, Goodspeed Opera House
Book & Lyrics by Peter Kellogg
Music by David Friedman
Director – Gus Kaikkonen
Music Director – Micah Young
"It's a crucial moment in young Abe Lincoln's life — the fledgling lawyer has served his first term in the Illinois state legislature and he's mourning the death of his fiancée, Ann Rutledge. Enter socialite Mary Todd, arrived in Springfield to visit her sister and find a husband suitable to her cultivated taste and ambition. While at first she finds Lincoln coarse and uncivilized, Mary sees his great potential after his first major trial. Their on-again, off-again relationship is just one of the challenges and events that shaped the young Lincoln into the leader he would become."

The Hartt School students involved in the 2010 festival include Brittney Bertier, Kyle Brand, Daniel Cake, Alden Caple, Seth Eliser, Alexandra Ferrara, Stephanie Genovese, Abby Gershuny, Brock Harris, Sheldon Henry, Jacquelyn Kastrilenis, Sarah Killough, Jeffrey Mano, David Marmanillo, Emily McLoughlin, Samantha Mitchell, Patrick Morrissey, Alex Reitze, Andrea Rice, Kyle Rudolph, Cody Ryan, Jamal Shuriah, Phillip Smith, Jill Soares and Alexandra Tripp.

Dawn O'Connor is festival coordinator. Zach Bencal & Samantha Benson are the festival production assistants.

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For both Festival Package and single ticket holders, Goodspeed Opera House tours and movie musicals screenings will be offered throughout the weekend.