Shira Friedman
The cast of Held performing at the 2016 New York International Fringe Festival.
A musical that was conceived and developed here in Madison is making its debut at the New York Musical Festival in New York City.
Kelly Maxwell and Meghan Rose’s Held: A Musical Fantasy was one of 10 musicals chosen out of 300 entries to receive a developmental reading at the prestigious national workshop.
In the play, three childhood friends find themselves trapped in a place where time stands still and the only way out is unthinkable. Traveling on a twisted timeline, the three individuals eventually discover what really holds them together. Presented with piano, cello and upright bass accompaniment, the 80-minute piece will be performed three times over the course of the month-long festival, with an opportunity for feedback from the audience after each performance. “We are just so thrilled that this show will have the chance to continue to live and grow,” says Maxwell. “I hope we’ll do Madison proud.”
Although Rose has relocated to New York City, she and Maxwell still collaborate musically — as they have since 2008, when they formed the award-winning indie rock band Little Red Wolf. In 2014, they segued to working together in musical theater, as the lead and music director, respectively, in a Mercury Players production of Xanadu at the Bartell Theatre. Then, fortuitously, the two were randomly paired together to write a 10-minute fantasy-themed musical for the experimental theater company Are We Delicious?
“I never considered myself a playwright until I participated in Delicious,” says Maxwell, who is raising two kids with her husband, John Feith, in Madison. “Now I actually have nine scripts that I’ve developed though that intensive creative process.” In one week, Rose and Maxwell created a show called I Have To, which expanded to become Held.
Tony Trout, the founder and impresario of Are We Delicious?, says he’s happy to see a Delicious show succeed in larger venues, noting the show “exemplifies the success of the Madison theater community as an incubator of creativity.”
The mini-musical originally had two male characters, one female character and only one song. When the authors were asked to create a full-length show, they decided to change the cast to two women and one man. With limited props and scenery, but lush music and costuming, Held premiered in May 2015 at Broom Street. The show ended up garnering rave reviews here and was accepted into the 2016 New York Fringe Festival, receiving praise from critics. Jacquelyn Claireon of the blog NY Theatre Review called it, “A magnificent musical fantasy which takes place in another world — one also beset with unrequited love and impossible love triangles.”
Maxwell says she is pleased the upcoming reading of the musical will take place at the 50-seat Studio Theater on Theater Row in a small black-box theater, like the one at Broom Street. Maxwell and Rose also benefited from the work of an experienced dramaturg, Allison Keller, who, Maxwell says, “helped us by asking thoughtful questions about our script.”
Although the original Broom Street performers were unable to make the trip, Hannah Ripp-Dieter and Alex Van Handel are returning to the production from the Fringe cast. New York-based Joyah Love Spangler completes the trio. In order to cover some expenses for the trip, Rose and Maxwell performed duets at a July 1 benefit concert at Broom Street; they also launched a GoFundMe campaign.
Maxwell hopes the readings in New York City will raise the profile of the show and lead to further productions. “We want to see Held performed in other places by other people,” says Maxwell. “This festival is a good way to move toward taking that step. Maybe the right person will see it and love it.”
Editor's note: We corrected the name of one of the returning performers. He is Alex Van Handel, not Jake.