A host of theatre favorites took part in The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Musicals April 21, including Daveed Diggs, John Gallagher Jr., Jelani Alladin, Larry Owens, and Sarah Steele.
Also rising to this acting challenge were Nick Blaemire, John Clay III, Lora Lee Gayer, David Hull, Ana Nogueira, Natalie Walker, and Libby Winters. They presented works written and composed by Rachel Axler, Eli Bolin, Faye Chiao, Jonathan Coulton, Kristoffer Diaz, Tasha Gordon-Solmon, Adam Gwon, Julia Jordan, Michael Kimmel, Josh Koenigsberg, Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Aimee Mann, Michael Mitnick, Kate Nash, Christopher Oscar Peña, Mike Pettry, Lauren Pritchard, Matt Schatz, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Rona Siddiqui, and Libby Winters.
Click here to watch the ten short musicals now available.
This was the first virtual musical presentation following five editions of Viral Plays. The event began April 20 at 6 PM, when 12 actors shared brief orientation-style videos to allow the creative teams to get to know them better. By 7 PM, writers and composers were paired with actors and were working together to create an original musical. Actors received their scripts the following morning at 10 AM and filmed their performances throughout the day, and at 6 PM their performances began to be released on Instagram (@24HourPlays), completing the 24-hour cycle.
“After several years of producing The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, we were up for a new challenge, and we created The 24 Hour Musicals. So it was only natural that after several weeks of producing The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues, we’d be ready to have performers break into song in this new format as well,” said Mark Armstrong, artistic director of The 24 Hour Plays, in an earlier statement. “With this array of talent lined up, I have a feeling we’re about to pull off something very special, but you’ll have to tune in tonight at 6 PM and see for yourself.”
The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Musicals was produced by Coleman Ray Clark and Madelyn Paquette. Mark T. Evans served as the music supervisor.
