What if one of the strangest events in history was already basically a musical comedy?

On this episode of NEW@NAMT, host Jean-Paul Yovanoff and co-host Skye Cone Ivey sit down with writers Tyler Joseph Ellis, Jacob Ryan Smith and Daniel Mertzlufft to talk about The (Disaster) Marathon of 1904, their new musical inspired by the very real—and deeply unbelievable—marathon at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics. Told by Pheidippides, the ancient Greek runner whose legend gave the marathon its name, the show turns an already chaotic race into a story of epic and ridiculous proportions, packed with humor, heart and, naturally, “sole.”

The writers share how the musical began with a screenshot of a Tumblr post chronicling the bizarre events of the 1904 race, and how a project designed, in part, to make each other laugh grew into a full-scale new musical. They also dig into how comedy drives their writing process and why this particular piece of Olympic history felt almost too strange not to put onstage.

The conversation also gets into the practical question at the heart of any musical about a marathon: how do you actually stage all that running? Tyler, Jacob and Daniel talk about the theatrical possibilities of the piece, as well as their approach to casting—the musical’s nine male characters are intentionally written to be played by performers of various genders and vocal types.

NAMT Festival Consultant Braley Degenhart joins the conversation to talk about why the show stood out during this year’s Festival selection process and what she hopes lies ahead. The writers also trace the musical’s rapid development from New Musicals Lab at Christopher Newport University to a Broadway Shark Tank win, the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Grove at Goodspeed and an industry reading through New Next Now.

An Olympic disaster. Nine runners. One gloriously ridiculous race.

The (Disaster) Marathon of 1904
Book by Tyler Joseph Ellis
Music & Lyrics by Jacob Ryan Smith & Daniel Mertzlufft

Learn more about the 38th Annual Festival of New Musicals, October 22–23, 2026 at New World Stages, at namt.org/festival.

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More about THE (DISASTER) MARATHON OF 1904:

https://namt.org/musicals/the-disaster-marathon-of-1904/

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How do you turn the movement of the sun into musical theatre?

On this episode of NEW@NAMT, host Jean-Paul Yovanoff and co-host Skye Cone Ivey sit down with writer Isabella Dawis to talk about Sunwatcher, the new musical she created with composer Tidtaya Sinutoke—and one of eight musicals selected for NAMT’s 38th Annual Festival of New Musicals. Set in wartime Tokyo, the show tells the story of Japanese astronomer Hisako Koyama, whose decades of painstaking sunspot observations became an extraordinary contribution to solar science.

Isabella talks about why Koyama’s story demanded to be told, the importance of placing an Asian woman scientist at the center of an epic musical, and the radical power of simply paying attention. A self-taught astronomer, Koyama spent 40 years documenting the sun and produced more than 10,000 hand-drawn observations—work that would later place her among the most important sunspot observers in history.

The conversation also dives into the musical’s inventive score, built around electronic live looping and taiko drumming. As Isabella puts it, “our score loops because the sun does”: voices and musical phrases accumulate and repeat in patterns inspired by the sun’s own cycles, turning solar science into theatrical language.

Sunwatcher moves between 1940s Tokyo, the surface of the sun and the mythic world of the sun goddess Amaterasu, brought to life by an ensemble of five Asian women and a movement vocabulary inspired in part by Japanese Noh theatre. Isabella shares how history, mythology, science and representation all became part of the same theatrical world.

One woman looked at the sun every day—and changed how we understand it.

Sunwatcher
Book, Lyrics & Additional Music by Isabella Dawis
Music by Tidtaya Sinutoke

The musical has been developed through organizations including Musical Theatre Factory, Berkeley Rep’s The Ground Floor, Goodspeed Musicals, The Civilians, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and others, and was named a finalist for both the Richard Rodgers Award and the O’Neill NMTC in 2025.

Learn more about the 38th Annual Festival of New Musicals, October 22–23, 2026 at New World Stages, at namt.org/festival.

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More about SUNWATCHER:

https://namt.org/musicals/sunwatcher/

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What happens when the thing that gives your life meaning is suddenly taken away?

On this episode of NEW@NAMT, host Jean-Paul Yovanoff and co-host Skye Cone Ivey sit down with writer Benjamin Emory Larson to talk about How to Play the Cello (Until You Don’t), his one-woman musical loosely inspired by the life of legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré—and one of eight musicals selected for NAMT’s 38th Annual Festival of New Musicals.

Written for a single singer-actress who can ideally also play the cello, the show follows an artist whose extraordinary career is suddenly interrupted and asks what remains when identity, ambition and art itself are thrown into question. Benjamin talks about what drew him to du Pré’s story and how he set out to create a piece with a tiny stage footprint and a titanic emotional impact—one that moves through loss, anger, humor and ultimately a fight for joy.

The conversation also digs into the musical’s classical-crossover score, performed with piano and cello and built from everything from dramatic original music and cinematic cello rock to classical works du Pré herself played and loved. Benjamin shares how those pieces are adapted and transformed to help tell the story rather than simply accompany it.

He also traces the unlikely origin of the musical back to the pandemic, when the shutdown of live theatre forced him to confront his own relationship to art, loss and creative identity. Those experiences eventually found their way into a musical that asks not simply how an artist survives losing the thing they love—but how they find joy again afterward.

One performer. One cello. A very small stage—and very big questions about who we are when the thing we love changes forever.

How to Play the Cello (Until You Don’t)
Book, Music & Lyrics by Benjamin Emory Larson

The musical was previously developed at Theater Latté Da’s 2025 NEXT Festival, and Benjamin received Amas Musical Theatre’s Eric H. Weinberger Award for Emerging Librettists.

Learn more about the 38th Annual Festival of New Musicals, October 22–23, 2026 at New World Stages, at namt.org/festival.

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More about HOW TO PLAY THE CELLO (UNTIL YOU DON'T):

https://namt.org/musicals/how-to-play-the-cello-until-you-dont/

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https://www.benemorylarson.com/