STUNT GIRL was a hit at the Manhattan Theatre Club reading. Look for more exciting news soon! LINCOLN IN LOVE was just presented as part of the new works festival at the Village Theatre in Seattle where SAVING AIMEE will be appearing this fall.
- Listen To My Heart:
The Songs of David Friedman 
- Musical Revue
-
A journey deep inside your heart can be thrilling, unexpected, even life changing—and always worth the trip. The music of composer David Friedman captures this journey with hope, inspiration, humor, and compassion in this exhilarating and moving review of his music: LISTEN TO MY HEART.
Performed by artists as diverse as Diana Ross, Barry Manilow, Nancy LaMott, Petula Clar, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Jason Alexander, David's songs have become standards throughout the worlds of television, radio, recording, and cabaret. Recently, Barry Manilow said in a letter to David, "Of all the songs I've ever sung, yours continue to get the most emotional response."
LISTEN TO MY HEART originally ran Off Broadway, Upstairs at Studio 54, and went on from there to have American productions in Milwaukee, Tulsa, Indianapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Buffalo, Washington D.C., and Baltimore, as well as International Productions in England, Ireland, Germany and Australia. Most recently seen at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, LISTEN TO MY HEART is currently preparing a Tampa production that will tour and then return to New York.
- Chasing Nicolette
- Book and Lyrics by Peter Kellogg
Music by David Friedman -
This funny yet touching new musical charts the contemporary and timely story of the love between a Christian count and a Muslim princess in a "modern" time of war, hatred, and prejudice — except the year happens to be 1224.
Based on the French Romance "Aucassin and Nicolette," CHASING NICOLETTE confronts the two lovers with endless obstacles: angry parents, murky dungeons, swashbuckling swordplay, a man-hungry convent school graduate, and one very put-upon servant. This new work boasts a melodic score that is both romantic and quirky, and a surprising book that will charm you with every word.
With critically acclaimed performances at the Westport Country Playhouse, The Prince Musical Theater in Philadelphia (where it won the Barrymore Award for Best Score) and on the Mainstage of The Village Theatre in Seattle, CHASING NICOLETTE is slated for a Broadway opening in 2011.
- Stunt Girl
- Book and Lyrics by Peter Kellogg
Music by David Friedman -
She was a groundbreaking investigative journalist, an intrepid world traveler, and a captain of industry — all in a time before women had the right to vote. Nellie Bly was the original sensation, before tabloid television, before the paparazzi, back when the news business was new.
This remarkable woman is brought to tuneful life in a rollicking new musical about her life and loves, her fascinating times, and her struggles to "have it all" which are as perhaps even more relevant today than they were then.
Having been seen in a critically acclaimed mainstage production at The Village Theatre in Seattle, STUNT GIRL was most recently presented on June 7, 2010 as a Staged Reading at Manhattan Theatre Club in New York, directed by the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of NEXT TO NORMAL, Brian Yorkey. Response was tremendous, and STUNT GIRL appears to be headed for a Broadway opening next year.
- Goodbye and Good Luck
- Book by Melba Thomas
Lyrics by Muriel Robinson
Music by David Friedman -
Based on the beloved short story by Grace Paley, set on the lower east side of Manhattan in the era of the Yiddish theater, GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK tells the story of Rosie Lieber, a young girl whose life is upended and set on a new track when she loses her job in a sweatshop because she insists on sitting by a window. Her search for her "window" leads to a cashier's job at a famous Second Avenue Yiddish theater, and a lifelong involvement with its charismatic and considerably older star.
Filled with the local color of a bygone era, this is the story of an "ordinary" girl who makes "extraordinary" choices that lead to a life of surprising twists and turns.
- King Island Christmas
- Libretto by Deborah Brevoort
Music by David Friedman -
KING ISLAND CHRISTMAS is a musical celebration about a remote community in the Bering Sea of Alaska whose members pull together during a winter storm to overcome adversity and achieve the seemingly impossible.
KING ISLAND CHRISTMAS can be performed as easily by 18 people as by 200, making it the perfect piece for everyone from professional theater companies, to community theaters, church and school groups. Ecumenical in its story, KING ISLAND CHRISTMAS leaves nobody out and can be appreciated by people of all backgrounds, making it especially effective for fundraising events designed to bring entire communities together.
With an unforgettable musical score that leaves the audience humming and singing for days, KING ISLAND CHRISTMAS has audiences leaping to their feet everywhere. KING ISLAND CHRISTMAS is an American holiday tradition in the making.
With over 40 productions worldwide, KING ISLAND CHRISTMAS has most recently been seen in a New York State Theater Institute production directed by Patricia Birch. This year, KING ISLAND CHRISTMAS is slated to be produced in numerous locations from Alaska to Nova Scotia.
- Lincoln In Love
- Book and Lyrics by Peter Kellogg
Music by David Friedman -
It's a crucial moment in young Abe Lincoln's life - the fledgling lawyer has served his first term in the Illinois state legislature and he's mourning the death of his fiancée, Ann Rutledge. Enter socialite Mary Todd, who has arrived in Springfield to visit her sister and to find a husband suitable to her cultivated taste and ambition. While at first she finds Lincoln coarse and uncivilized, Mary sees his great potential after his first major trial. Their on-again, off-again relationship is just one of the challenges and events that shaped the young Lincoln into the leader he would become.
Most recently seen in two staged readings, one at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. and the other at the Goodspeed Opera House, LINCOLN IN LOVE will next be presented as part of the new works festival at the Village Theatre in Seattle on Sunday, August 15.
- Desperate Measures
- Book and Lyrics by Peter Kellogg
Music by David Friedman -
Johnny Blood, a young cowboy, is sentenced to hang for killing a man in a bar fight. When his sister, Susanna, a novice nun from a nearby mission, comes to town to plead with the governor for Johnny's life, the governor finds Susanna's beauty irresistible. So he tells her he will free her brother if she agrees to sleep with him. At first, Susanna refuses, but the clever sheriff comes up with a plan: Susanna will accept the governor's proposal and then, under cover of darkness, one of the local "saloon girls" will take her place. And that's when the plot gets interesting.
The winner of the Best Book Award in the NYMF Festival, DESPERATE MEASURES has had successful productions in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Buffalo and Wisconson. With just 6 characters, it is the perfect piece to license for everything from major theater companies and Shakespeare theaters, to community theaters and schools.
- Saving Aimee
- Book and Lyrics by Kathie Lee Gifford
Music by David Friedman and David Pomerant -
Aimee Semple McPherson was the world's most famous and controversial evangelist. Beloved by the masses, she had thousands of documented "miraculous" healings to her credit, a church that held 5 services a day with 5,000 attendees at each, a mission that fed 1.5 million starving Los Angeles citizens during the Great Depression, and a ministry that that welcomed people from all walks of life from Hollywood stars to prostitutes, gypsies, homosexuals and members of the Ku Klux Klan. As beloved as she was, Aimee was equally derided for a scandalous, "tabloid" life that included 3 husbands, a Hollywood lifestyle, "shameless" sermons with Broadway-like costumes and sets, countless love affairs, drug addiction, and ultimately an indictment on a corruption of public morals charge that became the trial of the century.
Sinner or Saint? This is a question we still ask today about many of our great religious leaders whose private lives don’t seem to live up to their public moral standards. With a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and music that soars and entertains, SAVING AIMEE is a powerful story that asks questions that are more relevant than ever today.
SAVING AIMEE was last seen in a critically acclaimed production at the Signature Theater in Washington D.C., starring Carolee Carmello. A 2011 opening on Broadway is planned, with Carolee repeating her star turn.
- Party Animals
- Book and Lyrics by Kathie Lee Gifford
Music by David Friedman -
A delightful children’s musical, based on the CD of the same name, PARTY ANIMALS is the story of a little girl who is trying to figure out who to invite to her birthday party. With songs that are entertaining, touching and danceable, PARTY ANIMALS addresses issues of fairness, friendship, behavior and love that pertain to all families with small children. Entertaining for children and parents alike, the show, the CD, and now the children's book, are sure to become part of your most cherished collection.
Party Animals was originally produced at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. It is currently preparing for a tour of Florida, and is available for licensing by children’s theater companies catering to little ones
DAVID FRIEDMAN...composer, author, speaker