Staged readings of MĀYĀ, a new musical featuring a book by Eric Sorrels and Cheeyang Ng, lyrics by Sorrels, and music by Ng, begin August 22 at Theatre Row's Theatre. 2. Presented by Amas Musical Theatre and The Amas Musical Theatre Lab, the 6 PM reading will be followed by two more presentations August 23 at 2 PM and 7 PM.
Manu Narayan (Company), Kuhoo Verma (Fairycakes), Yamuna Meleth (The Office! A Musical Parody), Meetu Chilana (Cirque de Soleil), George Dvorsky (The Scarlet Pimpernel), Deven Kolluri (The Boy Who Danced on Air), and Max Chlumecky star in the readings' cast.
Arpita Mukherjee directs the readings, which tell the story of a female poet's growing awareness about the political troubles of mid-20th century India. Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh serves as music director, with Christine Viega as stage manager.
“We’ve been excited about this show for a long time,” says Amas Artistic Producer Donna Trinkoff in a statement. “It was the recipient of the 2nd Annual Eric H. Weinberger Emerging Librettist, but that was in 2020 and the pandemic put a hold on everything. It was then scheduled for the Amas Dare to Be Different Festival in January 2022, but we were forced to cancel that as well. We are thrilled to be able to help to develop this show at last.
Māyā was originally conceived at the NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program under the previous title The Golden Threshold, and was subsequently developed at Live & In Color. Millenium State at the Kennedy Center showcased the work as part of the ASCAP Musical Theatre Week.
These presentations are part of the ongoing Amas Musical Theatre Lab, a development series for writers, lyricists and composers to mount public readings of their new musicals.
