THEATRE
FROM THE FIRE
(in developement)
book and lyrics by Cleo Handler
music by Justin Friello
Josefa lights a fire and prays to the gods to bring her a son, Alek. However there are terrible consequences: the parents of a young girl, Isabela, are killed in the same fire. Alek grows up and fails to become the artist his mother expected, and instead defies her by becoming an art thief. Isabela grows up to be an Inspector and is assigned to Alek's theft case. In the end, the two eventually meet for the first time, and face the essential questions about their shared past, what it means, and what they can do about it. FROM THE FIRE is a folktale about fire, family, and the power of art.
CLEO HANDLER and JUSTIN FRIELLO met in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop in 2012. Continuing on to the Advanced Workshop in 2014, they have since worked to expand and develop their full-length, original musical From the Fire. In the fall of 2017, From The Fire was selected for the Off Broadway Musical Theater Production Program at the Players Theatre, NYC, and the show was a semi-finalist in 2019 and 2021 at the National Music Theatre Conference. In spring 2020, they were featured on the podcast “Everything Theater.”
For more information, go to fromthefiremusical.com.
Production History:
Act I Reading: Winter 2015, Brooklyn, NY
1st Full Reading: Summer 2017, Ripley-Grier Studios, NY, NY
2nd Full Reading: Fall 2018, Areté Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
Sleepy HOllow (2015)
adapted by Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill
music and lyrics by Justin Friello & Lecco Morris
SLEEPY HOLLOW is a modern-day podcast-within-a-play retelling of the classical Washington Irving tale, commissioned by Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, NY as part of their On-The-Go educational theatre series which brings hour-long plays relevant to K-12 curricula into schools across New York State.
Brothers Wilbur and Webster are gearing up for the All Hallows Eve episode of their storytelling podcast and have invited local baker (and the apple of both their eyes), Jasmine, onto the show to help them tell the story of Ichabod Crane. But when things start to get spooky, the brothers realize that their guest may not be who they thought she was.
Production History:
World Premiere: Capital Repertory Theatre, Fall 2015
Production Remount: Capital Repertory Theatre, Fall 2018
ThE WIFE (2013)
book by Rocco Natale
music by Justin Friello
Developed in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, THE WIFE is a ten-minute musical monodrama about the failing marriage of a New England woman in the 1950s.
Production History:
Music only: Time Out Lounge, NY, NY, June 2013
World Premiere: BMI Musical Theatre Workshop: June 2013
OneIRONAUT (2020)
written by Kayla Zenakis and the Outer Loop Theatre Experience
with original score by Justin Friello
A one-of-a-kind cyber stage production that allows the audience to interact with characters and help them navigate a world like no other with a 24-hour international online-premiere event.
Escape to the year 2090, when nature has taken back what's rightfully hers and citizens of the world live to dream. With the help of fellow R.E.M. Lab interns, the audience follows five characters as they move through their waking and dream worlds, able to choose their own path through a hazy maze of blurred realities and even blurrier truths while trying to discover who is the OneIronaut. The journey culminates in a mind-blowing climactic event, determined by the audience.
Production History:
World Premiere: September 12-13, 2020