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Monday 15 July

Tuesday 16 July


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Copyright 2024 Music Theatre Futures
Australia’s Place in the International Landscape
This panel discussion is a rare opportunity to hear from producers and professionals working on the business side of show business, from around the globe. Don't miss an exclusive interview with the three-time Tony award-winning producer Eva Price! Eva's incredible productions have garnered 6 Olivier Awards, 2 Grammy Awards, 2 Emmy Awards, and 19 Tony Awards and she has some pearls of wisdom to share with you at Music Theatre Futures. Eva's interview with Carmel Dean will be shared before our panel discussion.

Hosted by Broadway Music Director, Arranger and Supervisor Carmel Dean, this insightful conversation will feature Australia/UK producer Maryann Wright, Australia/New York producer Neil Gooding and Glenn McGuinness, Head of Business Affairs at Michael Cassel Group. They will delve into topics such as creating and touring new work in New York, the West End and Australia, the realities of international touring, the impacts of Covid on business opportunities for musicals, Australia’s changing role in the global musical theatre marketplace and more.


EVA PRICE
EVA PRICE is an NYCLU/ACLU honoree and a three-time Tony award-winning, and two-time Olivier award-winning producer. Her productions have garnered 6 Olivier Awards, 2 Grammy Awards, 2 Emmy Awards, and 19 Tony Awards. Current: & Juliet (Broadway, 9 Tony nominations); Titanique (Off-Broadway, Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Musical) The Hip Hop Nutcracker (Touring Live Show, Disney +). Upcoming: Take the Lead (Paper Mill Playhouse). Selected credits: Redwood (La Jolla Playhouse), A Transparent Musical (Center Theatre Group); Mindplay (Arena Stage & Geffen Playhouse); Jagged Little Pill (2 Tony Awards); Oklahoma! (2 Tony Awards, 2 Olivier Awards, Best Musical Revival, National Tour, West End); Tina - The Tina Turner Musical; What the Constitution Means to Me; Angels in America (Tony-winning Broadway Revival starring Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield); Dear Evan Hansen (6 Tony Awards, 3 Olivier Awards); Peter and the Starcatcher (5 Tony Awards) along with several solo shows and critically acclaimed concerts starring The Temptations & The Four Tops; Kathy Griffin; Lewis Black; and Hershey Felder.  



CARMEL DEAN
CARMEL DEAN is an award-winning, in-demand and multi-faceted musician working in the theatre industry across Broadway/New York, the UK and Australia.  

As a Musical Supervisor and/or Arranger her recent projects include the new Broadway musical The Notebook, with music by Ingrid Michaelson, and the recent Broadway revival of Funny Girl starring Lea Michele. Carmel was also Musical Director for the Broadway musical If/Then, starring Idina Menzel, and was Music Supervisor of the subsequent National Tour.  

Her first musical as composer, Renascence, was produced Off-Broadway by the award-winning Transport Group and was named Best New Musical at the 2018 Off-Broadway Alliance Awards. Her song cycle Well-Behaved Women, featuring powerful historic women characters, premiered to sold-out performances at Joe’s Pub in New York City, and subsequently received a critically-acclaimed run in Sydney, Australia.  

Carmel is a native of Perth, Western Australia, and received a B.Mus. from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). In 2001 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States, and subsequently graduated from NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program with a MFA in Musical Theatre Writing. She is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Workshop. 

Carmel currently resides in New York City.


MARYANN WRIGHT
Maryann Wright is a theatre producer working primarily in Australia and the UK. She is passionate about developing new musicals, and harnessing the UK-Australia diplomatic connection to further creative development opportunities between the two countries. 

Maryann is currently co-producing and re-developing Australian musical, The Hatpin, as an all-female, all-Australian cast chamber musical with Grace Taylor in the UK. Following a successful first workshop in July 2023 at the Royal Academy of Music, they were awarded a £30K Arts Council England grant in partnership with the Australian High Commission to produce a second workshop at Australia House in 2024.  

In May 2024, Maryann and collaborator Grace Taylor will produce a Cultural Showcase premiering new Australian musical work sung by Australian stars of the West End at Australia House, for the Australian High Commission. This offers an important diplomatic opportunity to platform Australian cultural excellence in the heart of the UK’s theatre capital.  

Other musicals in development include: Australian musical Dreamsong (May 2024 workshop and showing), Paper Stars (2024 development), and Bleed (new commission). Additionally, Maryann offers theatre consulting on a freelance basis, and is currently the development producer for The House That Dan Built, securing international festival tours for the company. She is a recipient of the 2023 Beam Showcase Bursary, and has completed various Stage One Workshops. 

Maryann is in beta stages assembling an Australia-UK International Development Fund that will see mid-career Australian musical writers paired with Australia’s best dramaturgs and musical supervisors to workshop their musicals in an intensive development period, followed by a showcase to the UK theatre market. This is an important talent pipeline project to give Australia’s best new work the development opportunities needed to become international hits. 


NEIL GOODING
Neil Gooding is an international theatre Director, Producer and Writer. He was the originating Chairman and one of the founding members of Hayes Theatre Co in Sydney, is the head of New Musicals Australia and in 2002 established his company, Neil Gooding Productions (NGP). Neil has been awarded a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Law, both from the University of Queensland. 

As a director, Neil was nominated for a 2009 Helpmann Award and a 2009 Green Room Award for the Australian premiere of Gutenberg! The Musical. He has also been nominated for a Sydney Theatre Critics Award for his direction of the Australian premiere of Dogfight. Other directing highlights include the Australian premiere of Stalking The Bogeyman (Old Fitz Theatre), the World Premiere concert version of Paris, the World Premiere of The Red Tree, Church And State (Asst. Director - New World Stages), Passion (Arts Centre Melbourne for Life Like Touring), the World Premiere of The Hatpin starring Caroline O'Connor which went on to perform at the New York Music Theatre Festival (as Asst. Director), Truth Beauty And A Picture Of You and High Fidelity (Hayes Theatre Co); the national tour of Thank You for Being A Friend; as well as Side by Side by Sondheim and Diciasette (starring Mark Vincent) 

As a producer, Neil's work internationally includes: Back to the Future the Musical at Manchester Opera House; the New York production of Handle with Care starring Carol Lawrence; The 39 Steps (Union Square Theatre in New York); Alan Cumming's one-man version of Macbeth which ran for a special 14-week limited season on Broadway; Church And State (New World Stages, NYC) as well as being a financial investor in the Broadway productions of It's Only A Play; The Empire Strips Back and The Ferryman, directed by Sam Mendes. In London's West End, Neil was a producer of the hit Australian play, Holding the Man. 

His producing credits in Australia include: 33 Variations starring Ellen Burstyn; High Fidelity at Hayes Theatre Co; the multi Helpmann Award winning Sweet Charity (Hayes Theatre Co & national tour); Sing on Through Tomorrow (Matthew Robinson); LOVEBiTES (Peter Rutherford & James Millar); Love Letters starring Ian Stenlake and Rachael Beck and the original tour of Breast Wishes - a new Australian musical which went on to complete a six-month regional tour in 2011. 


GLENN McGUINNESS
Glenn McGuinness, Head of Business Affairs at the Michael Cassel Group, has over 25 years’ experience in the Arts and Entertainment Industry in senior executive positions working with ticketing companies, venues and retail. Following seven years managing art galleries on the east coast of Australia, Glenn joined Ticketmaster in 1998. Over the following decade, Glenn held several general management roles overseeing business development, marketing and operations. During his tenure at Ticketmaster, Glenn oversaw the entry of Ticketmaster into several new markets including Western Australia, South Australia and New Zealand. In 2005/6, Glenn managed the commercial and operational components for the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games selling a record 1.67million tickets. 

In 2010, Glenn joined Marriner Group as General Manager overseeing operations at the Regent, Princess, Comedy and Forum Theatres. Over the next seven years the venues played host to a diverse range of shows including musicals such as The Lion King, Matilda, Book of Mormon and King Kong as well as numerous concerts by local and international artists such as Madonna, Pink and Paul Kelly. 

Glenn has also worked as a consultant to ticketing companies, promoters, producers and venues across Australia providing specialist advice on ticketing, audience development, programming and maximising commercial outcomes. 

Glenn joined Michael Cassel Group in 2018 and is responsible for oversight of the Business and Legal Affairs of the Group across all markets including negotiating show rights, licences, co-production agreements, creative agreements and production agreements.