Gallery Players has often successfully produced new musicals as part of their season, such as Yank (2007) and Like You Like It (2008). To further this idea, Gallery Players has created a new program in order to directly support the development of new musicals. OVERTURES will offer staged readings of new musicals, thereby fostering the creation of new musical theatre and supporting the talented composers and writers as they refine their work. The series is helmed by theatre director and scholar, Barrie Gelles and will feature the talents of a roster of exceptional up-and-coming performers and directors.
Overtures Program Director: Barrie Gelles
The Battle of Blythe Road
Music, Lyrics, and Book by Hannah Fairchild
On stage March 16 and 17, 2026
On a Thursday night on the brink of disaster at the turn of some century, eight friends meet at a bar. They think they can do magic. They think they can see the future. They think they can save the world. They’re wrong.
From dusk until dawn, their beliefs in themselves, their faith in mysticism, and their relationships with one another will rupture. However, one of the most feared cards in the tarot deck tells us that sometimes things need to fall apart in order to heal.
The Battle of Blythe Road is a rock musical based loosely on the artists and weirdos of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Order was active at the turn of the 20th century, but their fascination with the occult and belief in the power of art to spur social change have resurfaced over and over again throughout history. The show uses music to connect the Order to the punks and hippies of the 1970s and the online activists of the post-Covid world. The show asks: why do these waves of interest in the occult keep happening, despite evidence that magic isn’t real? Why is social change always one step forward, two steps back?
An exploration of faith, social progress, and humanity’s desire to find explanations for the world around them, The Battle of Blythe Road examines our determination to get in our own way — and asks what we can do to escape the cycles of history.
Creative Team:
Hannah Fairchild is a composer, lyricist, and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. Fed up with playing grandmothers at 22, Hannah abandoned her musical theater acting BFA almost immediately after moving to New York in 2005. Instead, she pursued songwriting and terrible men throughout the mid-aughts, both of which equally led to her acclaimed art punk band Hannah vs The Many.
Hannah vs The Many recorded three albums and were about to record a fourth in May 2020, which went about as well as you imagine. Unable to perform, Hannah spent lockdown teaching herself Logic and Finale and began writing for theater and film. Since then, her scores have been featured in several horror shorts and narrative podcasts. Her rock musical The Battle of Blythe Road (which is about both socialism and the occult) was a semifinalist for the O’Neill Center Musical Theater Conference and is currently in development. Hannah was a finalist for the 2023 Jonathan Larson Grant and is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild and the filmmakers’ collective Filmshop.
“It was clear from my very first encounter with director Barrie Gelles: Gallery Players truly loves theater artists. I was honored to receive a reading in the inaugural year of Overtures, and I am thrilled to be back with Emma this fall. Gallery Players deftly handles all the logistics so the writers can focus on the work. A generosity of spirit abounds, from the directors to the cast, and I am immensely grateful for the time, talent, space, and support to develop this new musical; it is a rare gift.” – Sarah Taylor Ellis, composer – EMMA (2015)
“…having the Gallery Players and the type of support they are giving us allows us to focus entirely on the writing. Gallery Players has been fantastic about building a supportive infrastructure and for simply creating this opportunity. They’ve been so welcoming and fantastic working with all the new writers.” – Jonathon Lynch, composer – LUNACY (2014)
Past Seasons of Overtures
Shows from Overtures have gone on to Off-Off-Broadway productions, New York Musical Theatre Festival, Pittsburgh CLO, regional productions, and additional workshops.
2019
Going South
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Katya Stanislavskaya
The Heartbreak Hotel
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Rebecca Lee Lerman
2017-2018
The Giant Hoax
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Kit Goldstein Grant
Peter and the Pied Piper, a special presentation for young audiences
Music by Jonathon Lynch
Book and Lyrics by Holly Hepp-Galván
Manuel Versus the Statue of Liberty
Music and Lyrics by David Davila
Book and Lyrics by Noemi de la Puente
The Holy Cows of Credence, South Dakota
Music and Lyrics by Paul Rigano and David Rigano
Book by Mark Eugene Garcia
The Turing Test
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Jonathon Lynch
2016-2017
Baby Bumps
Music by Jeffrey Lodin
Lyrics by William Squier
Book by William Squier and Dana Hilmer
An American Hero
Music and Lyrics by Cody Cole
Book by Kenneth L. Stilson
We Are The Tigers
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Rebekah M. Allen
Echo
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Anna Jacobs
On the Air
Music By Robert Farruggia
Book and Lyrics by Robert Farruggia and Cristina Farruggia
2015-2016
20/35
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Ben Diskant
Emma
Music by Sarah Taylor Ellis
Book and Lyrics by Meghan Brown
Deployed
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Natalie Lovejoy
‘Til Death Do Us Part
Music and Lyrics by Bobby Cronin
Book by Caroline Prugh
Lobsters Live Forever
Music by Bob Kelly
Book and Lyrics by Sam Chanse
In partnership with the Leviathan Lab
Standby
Music by Amy Baer and Keith Robinson
Book and Lyrics by Mark-Eugene Garcia and Alfred Solis
Based on a Concept by Alfred Solis
2014-2015
Lunacy
Music by Jonathon Lynch
Book and Lyrics by Matt Boresi
The Yellow Wallpaper
Music by Sarah Taylor Ellis
Book and Lyrics by Lane Williamson
Closer Than You Think
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Brett Kristofferson
Based on the film Across the Tracks written and directed by Sandy Tung
Plagued (A musical comedy adventure across disease ravaged 14th century England)
Music by Nick Moore
Book and Lyrics by Daniel John Kelley
Story by Nick Moore & Daniel John Kelley
In Search of the Bandit Queen
Music and Lyrics by Kamala Sankaram
Book and Lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson
Rebuilding
Music by Mark Evans
Book and Lyrics by Andrew Farmer and Max Reuben