Bringing a New Musical to the Stage
After almost 2 years of writing and re-writing, Great Frontier: A Poorly Researched Musical About Lewis And Clark is finally being performed on a real off off Broadway stage! What started out as an idea for a 45 minute, one act musical, has now evolved into a 90 minute, two act, 16 song satire and I couldn’t be prouder of everyone involved!
It’s been a long grueling process, but in 2 short weeks, on July 24th, 28th, and 30th, we will be performing this show at The Hudson Guild Theater as part of the NY Theatre Festival’s Summerfest!
It has not, I repeat, it has not been easy! First of all, just putting together a rehearsal schedule that works for the director, the pianist, and the 8 person cast was a nightmare. Everyone is on a different work schedule and everyone has different personal commitments, especially during the summer.
It also is not, I repeat, is not cheap to bring a musical to life. The rehearsal spaces alone cost around $1,600. Plus there’s fees for hiring a tech person, buying costumes, and advertising. It adds up very quickly.
So how do we pay for this? Well, right now it’s all on my credit card, which means it’s next month Kevin’s problem. Since I’m not the kind of person that likes to rack up debt (I’m that guy that managed to pay off his student loans 4 years ahead of schedule), I set up a Kickstarter to help raise funds for the show. You can donate to the show by clicking here! Each donation not only helps us pay for the production costs, it also earns you cool rewards like free tickets to the show, cool artwork from my co-writer, Patrick J. Reilly, and original music by me!
It’s been a long, rewarding road and the hard work is about to pay off! It’s unreal to think that this started out as an idea in a bar back in November of 2015. It’s crazy to think that we wrote the script on my couch and in diners and delis, or that I wrote the opening number in an airport after my flight was 3 hours delayed due to an ice storm.
Now we’ve been accepted into an amazing festival here in New York City! With 92 plays it’s actually the largest theater festival in the United States, which is incredible! We have an amazing opportunity to bring this show to a real off off Broadway stage and we couldn’t have done it without the amazing cast, the director, the pianist, or our generous Kickstarter backers.
Help us make this show happen! Back us on Kickstarter! Come see a performance on July 24th, 28th, or 30th! We wrote this for you! The music is catchy and the script is jam packed with jokes!
I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Kevin Froleiks is a New York based comedian. Follow him on twitter or check out his website to find out where he’s performing next. His comedy album, Jokes I Don’t Really Do Anymore, is available for free on his website as well. You can also check out his podcast, We Wrote A Musical, on iTunes, and see his new musical comedy, Great Frontier: A Poorly Researched Musical About Lewis And Clark, at the 2017 NY Theatre Festival’s Summerfest.
