A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION full-length musical for 12 Women (+optional additional ensemble) by Amy Engelhardt & Arianna Rose by
[Full-length musical, 12 women, + optional additional ensemble]
2023 Semi-finalist, Eugene O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference
2023 Semi-finalist, Normal Avenue NAPSeries, NYC
(To listen to the demos: link on this page, under "Music Samples" in the column on the right.)
A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION is a musical adaptation of the full-length play THE...
2023 Semi-finalist, Eugene O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference
2023 Semi-finalist, Normal Avenue NAPSeries, NYC
(To listen to the demos: link on this page, under "Music Samples" in the column on the right.)
A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION is a musical adaptation of the full-length play THE...
[Full-length musical, 12 women, + optional additional ensemble]
2023 Semi-finalist, Eugene O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference
2023 Semi-finalist, Normal Avenue NAPSeries, NYC
(To listen to the demos: link on this page, under "Music Samples" in the column on the right.)
A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION is a musical adaptation of the full-length play THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION by Arianna Rose.
At the unveiling of the million-dollar renovation of their renowned Cone Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Modern Art, long dead sisters Etta and Claribel Cone suddenly materialize. "Family friend" Gertrude Stein and her paramour Alice Toklas (equally dead) also pop up, uninvited (much to Etta’s dismay). Their mission: to settle once and for all how the “Friendship” between Etta and Gertrude fell apart. Their younger selves appear to help them sort it all out. The surrounding artwork miraculously comes to life, with each woman represented by a painting with special significance for them. Etta struggles with her feelings for Gertrude and her modern proclivities, at direct odds with her Victorian mores. Through a series of evocative vignettes, we are transported back to Baltimore, Paris and Italy at the turn of the century to learn what derailed the relationship (and suspected affair) and how Gertrude and Alice came to be a couple. The musical is non-linear, moving between present time in the Cone Wing, past memories with the younger selves of the four women, with artwork that also represents the women that comes alive to comment on and move the story forward. Fantasy sequences are created when past and present merge. At its heart, A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION is about learning valuable, timeless lessons of love, and covert and overt feminism in a time when women were expected to be heterosexual homemakers.
Featuring a cast of twelve women of any race and ethnicity, the score is written for a modern rhythm section (pop/rock) with strings for a more chamber-like, period feel.
2023 Semi-finalist, Eugene O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference
2023 Semi-finalist, Normal Avenue NAPSeries, NYC
(To listen to the demos: link on this page, under "Music Samples" in the column on the right.)
A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION is a musical adaptation of the full-length play THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION by Arianna Rose.
At the unveiling of the million-dollar renovation of their renowned Cone Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Modern Art, long dead sisters Etta and Claribel Cone suddenly materialize. "Family friend" Gertrude Stein and her paramour Alice Toklas (equally dead) also pop up, uninvited (much to Etta’s dismay). Their mission: to settle once and for all how the “Friendship” between Etta and Gertrude fell apart. Their younger selves appear to help them sort it all out. The surrounding artwork miraculously comes to life, with each woman represented by a painting with special significance for them. Etta struggles with her feelings for Gertrude and her modern proclivities, at direct odds with her Victorian mores. Through a series of evocative vignettes, we are transported back to Baltimore, Paris and Italy at the turn of the century to learn what derailed the relationship (and suspected affair) and how Gertrude and Alice came to be a couple. The musical is non-linear, moving between present time in the Cone Wing, past memories with the younger selves of the four women, with artwork that also represents the women that comes alive to comment on and move the story forward. Fantasy sequences are created when past and present merge. At its heart, A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION is about learning valuable, timeless lessons of love, and covert and overt feminism in a time when women were expected to be heterosexual homemakers.
Featuring a cast of twelve women of any race and ethnicity, the score is written for a modern rhythm section (pop/rock) with strings for a more chamber-like, period feel.