A new musical in progress about a unique Montana marriage law.
WMPAC presents a reading of Adam Gwon (music & lyrics) and Michele Lowe’s (book) new musical set in Montana, adapted from the original short story by Helena-born author Maile Meloy. The reading is directed by Marc Bruni (Broadway – Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), with music direction from Geraldine Anello, and a cast of NYC and Montana-based talent.
ABOUT THE NEW MUSICAL
Soldiers serving overseas know that if they want to marry their stateside sweethearts they can do it in Montana. It’s the only state where neither the actual bride nor the actual groom has to be present–and the marriage is legal! The Proxy Marriage follows two Montana high school seniors who act as stand-ins for these weddings: William is an aspiring composer and Bridey is the star of their high school musicals who yearns for a career on the New York stage. When senior year is done, they leave Montana to pursue their separate dreams. The story traces their increasingly complicated relationship over the next 10 years as life pulls them apart and then together again one week every August to “marry” each other. As the world changes, so do William and Bridey’s hopes and dreams. Finally, they realize that perhaps what they were longing for all along was each other.
ABOUT THE CREATORS
Adam Gwon is a composer and lyricist whose musicals include: Off-Broadway: Ordinary Days (Roundabout Theatre), Old Jews Telling Jokes (Westside Theatre); Regional: String (Village Theatre), Cake Off (Signature Theatre, Helen Hayes Award nomination; Bucks County Playhouse), Cloudlands (South Coast Repertory), The Boy Detective Fails (Signature Theatre), Bernice Bobs Her Hair (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma); West End: Ordinary Days (Trafalgar Studios). Adam’s songs have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and more, by such luminaries as Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, and Brian d’Arcy James. Honors include the Kleban Award, Fred Ebb Award, Richard Rodgers Award, Frederick Loewe Award, Second StageTheatre’s Donna Perret Rosen Award, Weston Playhouse New Musical Award, ASCAP Harold Adamson Award, and the MAC John Wallowitch Award. adamgwon.com
Michele Lowe is a playwright, lyricist, and librettist. Current projects: The Greatest developed while she was Artist in Residence at the 2017 Sundance Theatre Lab and a commission for Transport Group’s 20th Century Project with composer Zoe Sarnak. Broadway: The Smell of the Kill; Off Broadway: String of Pearls (Outer Critics nom for best play, Primary Stages), A Thousand Words Come to Mind with composer Scott Davenport Richards (Joe’s Pub); Regional: Inana (Francesca Primus Prize, Susan Blackburn finalist, Denver Centre), Victoria Musica (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), Map of Heaven (Denver Centre), Mezzulah 1946 (City Theatre). Samuel French, Dramatic Publishing, and Smith and Kraus publish her work. Michele lives in New York and works with writers, clergy, and political candidates across the country. www.michelelowe.net
Adapted from The Proxy Marriage by Maile Meloy.
The Proxy Marriage received a developmental reading at the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University in May 2017.
The Proxy Marriage was supported by Rhinebeck Writers Retreat in a 2016 residency and 2018 Triple R.
The Proxy Marriage was developed by Goodspeed Musicals in 2019.
The Last Five Years, [title of show], The Winter’s Tale, Levity, Big Sky Theater Workshop