New works of music, theatre, and musical theatre.
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Peter Panto
World Premiere Production Nov 20, 2024 - Jan 5, 2025 at People’s Light & Theatre Company in Malvern, PA
Alex Bechtel writes music & lyrics in another collaboration with book writer Jennifer Childs and director Bill Fennely. A wickedly funny, boisterously irreverent new trip to Neverland, written in the style of a British Panto. This delightful musical comedy is fun for ages 5-105. Boo the villain, cheer for Peter, Wendy and the Lost Kids, and come home with a smile on your face and your pockets full of Swedish Fish.
World Premiere Sept 11-22, 2024 - Philadelphia Fringe Festival Curated Production
A collaboration with Pig Iron Theatre Company and director Eva Steinmetz (Penelope, The Appointment), Poor Judge is an experimental dance-theatre fantasia from the mind of Pig Iron co-founder Dito Van Reigersberg and the music of alt-rock icon Aimee Mann.
Alex Bechtel serves as Arranger/Music Director of Poor Judge — crafting sly and expressive new arrangements of Mann’s masterful pop-rock songs — and is also one of the cast of seven actor-musicians.
Penelope
A new solo musical created in collaboration with Director Eva Steinmetz and Performer Grace McLean. An adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey from the point of view of Odysseus’ waiting wife.
Penelope is a theatrical love letter to all those who wait. For someone they love. For something they believe in. And hope that the wait will end well. Hilarious, moving, mysterious, and touching - Penelope is a musical for one actor and a five-piece band unlike any you’ve ever seen.
Penelope had its world premiere at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in September 2023, an extended hit run at Signature Theatre in DC in March-April of 2024, and was performed in concert this summer at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre, NYC.
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Penelope in The New York Times
Laura Collins-Hughes of The New York Times visited rehearsals at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival to interview Alex and his collaborators about the piece, and their collaboration.
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The Appointment - Off-Broadway 2023
Lightning Rod Special’s THE APPOINTMENT, featuring music & lyrics by Alex Bechtel, received an Off-Broadway remount at the WP Theatre in January of 2023. The show played to sold-out houses and received critical acclaim:
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Alex Bechtel is a composer, actor, sound designer, writer, director, teaching artist, and multi-instrumentalist. Recent work includes: Music & Lyrics for Lightning Rod Special’s The Appointment (NYTimes, Vulture, TimeOut NY “Best of 2019” lists), People’s Light & Theatre Company’s Alice in Wonderland: A Musical Panto, Shakespeare in Love: the Play and Sleeping Beauty: A Musical Panto, Arden Theatre Company’s The Light Princess and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s Two Gents, Henry V, Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, Midsummer, Much Ado and Twelfth Night. Bechtel is a graduate of The Pig Iron School (Inaugural Class, 2013) and The University of the Arts (BFA 2008). He has received Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Music Direction, Outstanding Ensemble of a Musical, Outstanding Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, and Outstanding Original Music. In 2015, he was awarded an Independence Fellowship in the Arts to engage in a one-on-one creative intensive with Kentucky-based New Music composer Rachel Grimes on new approaches to the use of music in theatre. Bechtel is the creator/composer of The West, Philadelphia Nocturne, and Cheer Up, Dostoevsky. His music has been featured on NPR’s ‘Newsworks’ on WHYY, and in many short films and web series. His new musical Penelope, a collaboration with performer Grace McLean and director Eva Steinmetz, has received productions at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and Signature Theatre in D.C.
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photos: (clockwise from top) Johanna Austin, Kate Raines/Plate 3 Photography, Leigha Kato, Kate Raines/Plate 3 Photography