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Broadway’s Next Hit Musical

An Improvisational Performance

January 19, 2024 • 7:30 pm

Price:

$40*

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Every song is fresh. Every scene is new. Every night is different. It's all improvised and it's all funny. The hilarious Broadway's Next Hit Musical is the only unscripted theatrical awards show. Master improvisers gather made up, hit song suggestions from the audience and create a spontaneous evening of music, humor, and laughter. The audience votes for its favorite song and watches as the cast turns it into a full-blown improvised musical - complete with memorable characters, witty dialogue, and plot twists galore. Don’t miss the next great American musical - it could be written by YOU! 

*Student, senior (over age 60), or military personnel will receive a $5 discount on signature series shows at check out. Bundled discounts are available when you purchase tickets for three or more shows at a time. Please contact the Box Office at 803.407.5011 for more details.

BROADWAY'S NEXT HIT MUSICAL 

Cast
MICAELA FAGEN

HEIDI GLEICHAUF

ROB SCHIFFMANN
PAT SWEARINGEN
 
Music Director
GEORGE LUTON

Emcee
GREG TRIGGS
 
Co-Artistic Directors
DEB RABBAI

ROB SCHIFFMANN  


Co-Producers
RALPH BUCKLEY

DEB RABBAI

ROB SCHIFFMANN

GREG TRIGGS

 
Improv, Stand-up Comedy & Live Music made up ON THE SPOT!

Every song is fresh. Every scene is new. Every night is different.
It’s all improvised and it’s all funny.


The hysterical Broadway’s Next Hit Musical is the only unscripted theatrical awards show.  Master improvisers gather made up, hit song suggestions from the audience and create a spontaneous evening of music, humor, and laughter. The audience votes for their favorite song and watches as the cast turns it into a full-blown improvised musical - complete with memorable characters, witty dialogue, and plot twists galore. BNHM has been seen recently at The Triad, Tribeca Film Festival, and at the New York Musical Theater Festival, among many others.

This program will run approximately 85 minutes with no intermission
 
Director’s Note
 
The lights go down.  The overture begins.  Pretty much your typical musical theater experience so far, yes?  No!  Tonight will be different!  Why, you ask?  Because this musical has never been seen before!  In fact, it has not even been conceived, written or rehearsed!  And yet it will appear, complete with script, music, lyrics and choreography, before your eyes this evening.  This is the exciting process at the heart of Broadway’s Next H!T Musical.  We will step onstage free of any pre-performance ideas and allow ourselves to be inspired by what you, our audience, write on a small piece of paper – a story to unfold as we perform it.  We are empowered by the notion of creating a memorable song, complete with melody and lyrics.  We dance to choreography invented as it is executed.  Broadway’s Next H!T Musical, improvisation at its best, will amaze and delight you, and leave you with the experience of seeing what has never before been seen and what will never be seen again.  Broadway’s Next H!T Musical can only be described as magic!   
 
 
Visit www.broadwaysnexthitmusical.com to like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Use the hashtag #PhonyAwards to share your photos with us! 

 

WHO'S WHO IN BROADWAY’S NEXT HIT MUSICAL


MICAELA FAGEN (Emcee) is a comedian living in Brooklyn, New York. She is a graduate of the University of Florida where she is pretty sure she did more improv than actual “school”. She performs stand up, sketch comedy, and musical improv regularly at Brooklyn Comedy Collective, The People’s Improv Theater, and The Magnet Theater. She was a finalist in the comedy festivals hosted by Broadway Comedy Club and Stand Up New York. Thanks to her goldfish, Tracy, for all her love and support.





HEIDI GLEICHAUF (Performer) is an actress, singer and improviser who hails from Franklin, Massachusetts. She is a proud graduate of Hofstra University where she studied Musical Theatre and received a BFA in Theatre Performance. Recently Heidi originated the role of “Sandy” in the well-received off-Broadway musical “With or Without You”, soundtrack available on Spotify and other streaming services. Heidi writes and does voiceover work for the popular children’s YouTube channel “TBTV Toy Adventures” and has collaborated with Dreamworks Studios to create original content for their “Universal Kids” YouTube channel. Stay up to date on all of Heidi’s happenings at www.HeidiGleichauf.com.


 
EMILIE HANSON (Stage Manager) has been stage managing for 6 years. She has two children, one husband, a turtle and a cat, and so spends a lot of her free time stage managing as well. When she is not doing that, she has spent the last 8 years working at the Central Park Zoo as an educator/performer, and more recently manages theatrical outreach there.





GEORGE LUTON (Musician) is an internationally regarded pianist, composer, and music director. NYC: Alice, (Pre)Scripted, Of Sleepless Nights (The Tank). Mean Girls (Theater On the Go). Move Meant (Prospect Theatre Company) REGIONAL: Mary Poppins, Once Upon a Mattress (Island Theatre Workshop). Hair, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Spring Awakening (Purple Summer Productions). Paradise Blue (Gloucester Stage). The Abolitionist’s Refrain (Punctuate 4). WORKSHOP: Earhart, Nottingham, Stiltskin (Stage 284). The Trojan Women (Columbia University). Conditions of Readiness, Facework (In Vivo Productions). Apple and the Bear, Apple Plus (Boston Children’s Theatre). Learn more on Instagram @GeorgeLuton.music and www.GeorgeLuton.com.


 
DEB RABBAI (Co-Artistic Director, Co-Producer, Performer) is an original member and co-creator of Broadway’s Next Hit Musical. A native New Yorker, Deb has worked as an actor, improviser, singer and voiceover artist for the last twenty-five years.  Deb became the Co-Artistic Director of BNHM in 2009 and has proudly witnessed its progress into the hilarious hit it is today.  A graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, Deb spent ten years performing and teaching improvisation with Freestyle Repertory Theatre (TheatreSports New York), five years performing with ComedySportz NY and seven years with the Chicago City Limits national touring company. Deb is a highly experienced teacher of improvisation and acting, having worked at NYU, Marymount Manhattan College, The American Comedy Institute, NY Film Academy and American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC. Deb successfully created programs that teach curriculum through improvisation – these programs have been integrated into public schools in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.  Deb has appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and in national commercials for MasterCard, Wendy’s and Zyrtec. Deb has done countless voiceovers, ranging from radio and TV advertisements to video games and anime films. For more information, please visit www.DebRabbai.com.


ROB SCHIFFMANN (Co-Artistic Director, Co-Producer, Performer) has worked and toured as a professional improviser and musician for over seventeen years. As a two-time MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) Award winner and the recipient of the 2011 INNY (Improvisation News) Award for Best Improv Coach, Rob’s musical and improv talents are known across the country.  He has taught and directed improv at The School for Film and Television, Weist-Barron, and the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. A graduate of Oberlin College, Rob performed regularly with Chicago City Limits before joining Broadway’s Next Hit Musical in 2001.  BNHM’s master improvisers started their success at the famous NYC cabaret club Don’t Tell Mama as well as with the New York Musical Theater Festival.  Rob became Co-Artistic Director in 2009 and continues to perform with the hysterical troupe throughout the country and at their resident theater The Triad in NYC. Called “sharper than a pound of cheddar cheese” by reviewfix.com, Rob has showcased his skills on The Daily Download and The CBS Early Show. Rob’s musical talent is also evident with the New York based acoustic-pop band, The Hillary Step; he is the main writer, lead singer, guitarist, and Music Director. For more information, please visit www.robschiffmann.com.


 

PAT SWEARINGEN (Performer) is an actor living in New York City. His hometown of Danville, Illinois has also produced Dick Van Dyke, Bobby Short, and Gene Hackman so here's hoping some of that rubbed off on him! He is currently a featured performer and instructor at the Peoples Improv Theater in NYC.  Favorite musical performances in the field of parodies have been as Doc Brown in "That 80's Time Travel Movie", Freddie Krueger in "A Bad Dream on Elm Avenue", Caesar in "The Hungry, Hungry Games", and more traditionally as Frump in "How To Succeed.." and Crazy Old Maurice in "Beauty and the Beast". You can check out his comedy acting reel at Pat Swearingen Comedy Reel - YouTube.


 

GREG TRIGGS (Performer) Performance: Disney's Comedy Warehouse, the Brave New Workshop & Chicago City Limits. Writer/director: Disney, the NFL, the Tribeca Film Festival, the World Science Festival, Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas & the Scholastic Harry Potter series.  TV: BBC, ABC, TLC, Oxygen, the Discovery Channel & Nickelodeon. Greg’s radio show, Travels with Triggs can be heard on Catskills Public Radio or as a podcast, available on all platforms.  He also appears with and co-produces Yarnslingers, a writer's group performing memoir essays. Greg’s novels The Next Happiest Place on Earth and That Which Makes Us Stronger are available at www.Amazon.com. Blog entries and more at www.GregTriggs.com and www.StrategicEntertainmentNYC.com.