Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival Introduces Developmental Theater Lab

In an effort to support emerging composers, lyricists and librettists, the Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival will select a new work that is ready to be explored musically and dramatically and bring it to the stage with a professional creative team and cast.

Projects at various stages of development will be considered. The application deadline is June 1, and the festival’s artistic board will make its selection in June. Each member of the selected creative team will receive a $1,000 honorarium, transportation to the festival, and lodging.

The performance will take place Friday, August 7, at 7:30pm.  It will be produced by festival Artistic Director Joey Chancey, who is the Assistant Conductor for the highly anticipated Broadway revival of Gigi this season. Chancey recently conducted and played piano for the Broadway hit Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and for the 2012 revival of Annie. The production will be directed by Broadway's Lisa Clarson, an accomplished director and choreographer.

The Ballad of Little Jo (2013)

The festival has presented new works from acclaimed musicians for the past two seasons. In 2013, the festival produced The Ballad of Little Jo by Grammy Award-winner Mike Reid and Sarah Schlesinger, a lyricist and librettist who has garnered multiple awards for her work. Last season the festival presented WAS by Joseph Thalken and Barry Kleinbort. The 2015 season marks the first time the festival will present a new work from an undiscovered talent.  

The festival’s new works production is funded by a generous grant from an anonymous donor.

For more information about the Developmental Theater Lab and to submit an application, visit http://www.buckhillskytopfest.org/NewWorks.html.

The Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival, now in its sixth season, will take place from July 31 to August 9. The festival will present world-class artists in the fields of jazz, musical theater, cabaret, chamber music, and pop. Events will take place at Skytop Lodge, Buck Hill Falls, Pocono Mountain East High School, Notre Dame High School, and East Stroudsburg University. 

Ann Hampton Callaway to Perform at Buck Hill Falls

The Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival and Pocono Community Theater are pleased to present Tony-nominated entertainer Ann Hampton Callaway in concert on Saturday, May 30, at 6:00pm, at the Buck Hill Falls Tennis Tea. 

Tickets are $40, and VIP tickets are $50. VIP tickets include a champagne meet-and-greet with Ms. Callaway after the performance. Audience members are invited to attend a price-fix dinner at the Fairway Grille following the event. Reservations are required. The cost is $30 per person, excluding tax and gratuity. The regular dinner menu will also be available. 

Patrons of the Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival who donate $2,500 or more to the festival will receive two VIP tickets, and patrons who donate $5,000 or more will receive two VIP tickets and a complimentary dinner at the Fairway Grille after the show. Donate online at buckhillskytopfest.org.  

Ms. Callaway is one of the leading champions of the great American Songbook, having made her mark as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, TV host and producer. Her unique singing style blends jazz and traditional pop, making her a mainstay in concert halls, theaters and jazz clubs as well as in the recording studio, on television, and in film. She is best known for Tony-nominated performance in the hit Broadway musical Swing! and for writing and singing the theme song to the hit TV series The Nanny. Ms. Callaway is a Platinum Award-winning writer whose songs are featured on seven of Barbra Streisand's recent CD's. The only composer to have collaborated with Cole Porter, she has also written songs with Carole King, Rolf Lovland and Barbara Carroll, to name a few.

For tickets to the Ann Hampton Callaway concert, visit PoconoCommunityTheater.org/event/ann-hampton-callaway. 

To make a reservation for dinner following the show, call the Fairway Grille at 570-595-3535 and mention the Ann Hampton Callaway event.

The Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival will present world-class artists in the fields of jazz, musical theater, cabaret, chamber music and pop from July 31 to August 9. Events will take place at Skytop Lodge, Buck Hill Falls, Pocono Mountain East High School, Notre Dame High School, and East Stroudsburg University. 

For information and tickets, visit buckhillskytopfest.org.