If skiing, ice skating, sledding and ice fishing are not at the top of your idea of winter fun, then maybe you can be tempted to head indoors to Goodspeed’s innovative Festival of New Musicals. For the twentieth year, Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam is presenting musical theater in a grand style, Martin Luther King weekend, January 16-18, 2026 and there is no need to bundle up in scarves, mittens, ear muffs and winter boots to partake in the entertaining fun.
The temperature will be toasty and the offerings HOT! You are invited to experience a trio of brand new musicals, cabarets, seminars on educational theatrical topics and a special 20th Anniversary Festival Concert. The weekend will support the development of musical theater artists, coordinated by the Goodspeed’s Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre. If you are a lover of new creations, with a spotlight on discovering new writers and performers, this is the “testing ground" with your name in lights.
If you want to be an insider, an influencer, a front runner on the newest and the best, the excitement begins Friday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m.with “Miss Hysteria,” a true tale of a young 19th century actress, Louise Gleizes, who agrees to perform acts of hysteria, only to discover her bid for freedom comes with restraints she never anticipated. This powerful and passionate story has book and lyrics by Laura Schein and Ben Zeadman and music by Zeadman. A cabaret of Rona Siddiqui music will follow at 10 p.m.
Be sure to take your multi-vitamins on Saturday for a full day starting at 1 p.m. and night of treasures, including theatrical themed seminars, a Festival Concert, the second staged reading “F Word” by Alyssa Payne for music and lyrics with book by Sara Matin, followed by a Concert at 9:30 p.m.. Come meet Tessa, a teenager who encounters a future and a family as she ages out of the foster care system.
Sunday afternoon introduces a belly full of laughter with "Foolproof” at 1 p.m., a musical about a trio of sisters, Mo, Mary and Curly (think the Three Stooges Meet Sherlock Holmes) who need to solve a mystery and earn a reward to save the family business. With a book by Megan Loughran and Sonya Hayden and lyrics by Loughren and music by Hayden, you will become toe-tapping fools all the way to the festival's final event, a Q and A with all three sets of composers.
A variety of tickets are available by calling 860-873-8668 with single tickets for each reading ($30, students $15), cabaret ($20), and Festival Concert ($30). The Gold Package ($156) includes all three musicals, several seminars, the Concert and Meet the Writers Q and A. The Silver Package ($81) includes all three staged readings. Package can add the Friday cabaret($18) and the concert ($35), as well as the pre-show dinner at the Gelston House ($36) by going online to www.goodspeed.org. You are also invited to become a “Friend” of the Festival and take part at a special level of participation.
Musical theater students from the Hartt School and Western Connecticut State University will perform the readings and help develop the musicals. Indulge your passion for musical theater by grabbing the coat tails of this outstanding opportunity and learning first hand the latest and best insider knowledge available. Enjoy!
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