Todd Almond

"An extraordinary oral history of the making of a modern musical masterpiece." - Buzz Magazine"Fascinating … Provides a rare insight into the very process of theatre itself." - The Irish TimesThe incredible journey of a musical from potential disaster to success, and the Broadway industry that managed to stay alive during the pandemic shutdown of 2020-22. Despite historic, seemingly insurmountable setbacks of four openings, Bob Dylan and Conor McPherson’s musical Girl from the North Country became a critical Broadway hit. Hailed as an experience “as close as mortals come to heaven on earth,” by The New York Times, the musical weaves two dozen songs from the legendary catalogue of Bob Dylan into a story of Duluth during the Great Depression, to create a future American classic. Opening on Broadway in the middle of an unprecedented moment, Slow Train Coming is a book about pressing on in the face of extreme adversity. Todd Almond’s behind-the-scenes oral history weaves his personal first-hand account of starring in the show with exclusive interviews and reflections from fellow cast members and the creative team. Together they follow the show from its beginnings at New York’s Public Theater where it emerged as an underdog-of-a-show, through a fraught jump to Broadway against a backdrop of the emerging Covid-19 pandemic and the longest shutdown in Broadway history, which resulted in the theatre industry’s subsequent fight for survival. Told through personal stories, anecdotes from the cast, production shots, behind-the-scenes photos, and insights from the creators, this book is both an inside look at a perilous moment of one of America’s proudest institutions, Broadway, and a true story of American grit and determination lived by the company of this quirky musical-that-could.

A coming-of-age story set in Calhoun Hall, The Earth is Flat follows purple-haired Ethan as he takes his first tentative steps toward self-knowledge. Day one he meets his roommate, Derek, who's popular, social, and seems to have it all together. Day two, Ethan's brother dies in an accident, sending Ethan back home to deal with his ambitious sister and his pill-addicted mother. While there, Derek and Ethan write letters in which Derek reveals he's become obsessed with conspiracy theories about the earth being flat. When Ethan returns to college, he and Derek share a kiss, but Derek isn't gay, and Ethan's embarrassment propels him further toward the theories. Will Derek and he ever repair their friendship? Will college ever be "normal"?

Set in Nebraska in the '90s Will a bit of a social outcast and Mike the popular football player figure out that there is more to life than what high school has taught them. Days after graduation they explore their relationship and begin to ask themselves where their lives begin. Based on the album by Matthew Sweet Girlfriendis a pop/rock musical for everyone who's lived in a small town and feels for their first love.

Mom found her soul-mate on Facebook and he lives in Iowa. So Becca says goodbye to her beloved math teacher bulimic best friend neighborhood pony and her mildly deficient teenage life and she follows her wayward mother to a new uncharted beginning. But in this fanciful absurdist and intoxicating musical play from the imagination of Jenny Schwartz and Todd Almond nothing can prepare them for what they'll find.

In this chamber musical version of Sarah Ruhl'sMelancholy Play Tilly's melancholy is of an exquisite quality. She turns her melancholy into a sexy thing and every stranger she meets falls in love with her. One day inexplicably Tilly becomes happy and wreaks havoc on the lives of her paramours. Frances Tilly's hairdresser becomes so melancholy that she turns into an almond. It is up to Tilly to get her back.

Tilly's melancholy is of an exquisite quality. She turns her melancholy into a sexy thing and every stranger she meets falls in love with her. One day inexplicably Tilly becomes happy and wreaks havoc on the lives of her paramours. Frances Tilly's hairdresser becomes so melancholy that she turns into an almond. It is up to Tilly to get her back.