I’ve seen so many musicals in the last couple of weeks that it seems almost unusual to be around people who don’t burst into song every ten minutes.  That’s what happens when you spend your days and nights at NYMF (New York Musical Theatre Festival).

Now in its sixth year, the glut for gluttons of musicals ends October 18, so hurry up and check out the wide variety of offerings at www.NYMF.org ---  You’ll see what the remaining shows are and see news of those adding performances by popular demand.  And, of course, it will be interesting to see which ones have an afterlife.  Here are a few more I have seen:

Set at a boys’ prep school, ACADEMY gets high marks from me ---- and as an involving and visceral piece of theatre, it really makes the grade.  Well-written, well acted and well, just excellent all around, this coming-of-age musical is one that grabs you right away as the teens explode upon the stage, arriving for the first day of school with their suitcases and other kinds of baggage.  As the school bells ring, also ringing true are the articulated insecurities, hopes and fears of these young men away from home as they sing, “Hello, hello, my bright tomorrow.  Go and teach me how to be the man I dream to be.”  There’s a similar sense of anticipatory excitement crackling through the audience, bursting with applause of shared joyful appreciation/discovery, a feeling that this is something special.  It’s what we want to happen in theatre: we don’t just sit back and observe—we bond with them.  Early on, there’s the humor of recognized awkwardness and as the stakes become higher and we care more, the drama and tension heat up.  Pressures to succeed academically and a wager made between two of the boys, lead to intense consequences and moral dilemmas.  The Faust story is the inspiration and reference point, giving the play a kind of weight and sense of the inevitable.  Along the way, we watch the boys test themselves and each other.

At the center is first-year student Benji, recovering from personal tragedy and struggling for self-confidence, independence, and peer acceptance.  Steven Kane, a college freshman in real life, is thoroughly convincing and connected in an especially impressive, sympathetic performance, showing range.  Though the nine-member cast works superbly as an ensemble, we don’t get much chance to know some of them, and this 80-minute intermissionless play could risk expansion to give us that gift.   Wilson Bridges demonstrates true charisma - his own and that of his character, Michael - with success in really forming an arc of development.  A talented actor who ably plays the role’s required craftiness, struggle, and reflection, he is dynamic at all turns.   John Mercurio wrote the powerful book, music, and lyrics, crafting a begs-to-be-recorded score that captures - and respects - the emotions and language of youth in its uncertainty, yearning, and raw honesty.  Without being self-consciously or blatantly pop/contemporary, it feels fresh and very much a theatre score.  John Carrafa directs with integrity and compassion for the age, situations and relationships.  The cast, I reiterate, is a winning one. Slickness is anathema to those involved, I suspect. That’s why audiences will embrace this show, this company, and root for these characters.

A different kind of male bonding is what FANTASY FOOTBALL: THE MUSICAL? is all about.  This breezy, light, just-for-fun piece is high-spirited and snappy.  An interest in football is not a prerequisite to enjoy this show.  Personally, I have zero interest or knowledge as far as football goes, though I’m almost sure it’s that sport with the odd-shaped brown ball and the shoulder pads.  I’m not just being a good sport when I say I was game to give this one a try.  Sports and theatre fan David Ingber wrote songs and script, inspired by a contest run by a television channel called E.S.P.N., which is apparently not a TV network about extrasensory perception but some kind of sports channel.  And the show begins at the sports network with a star anchor, Matthew Berry, but after the introductory scene, it’s all a flashback to how he (played with pluck and sparkle by Ben Steinfeld) and a couple of college buddies work together with a struggling sports-betting operation.  The script and score score touchdowns (that’s a football term) poking fun at some qualities of young heterosexual jock types: being crass, slothful, insensitive, inarticulate, beer-guzzling, sports-obsessed, prideful, competitive, sexist, peppering their language with plenty of four-letter words… boys will be boys.  Somehow, it’s endearing here rather than obnoxious.  Enthusiasm and a wink go a long way.

Patrick Benedict is zippy and fresh in two roles, hilarious in a couple of numbers in a musical genre I have as much (zilch) interest in as I do football: rap music.  But it’s so funny and clever and such a goof that it’s a howl.  I’m unexpectedly won over again.  He also leads a spirited song celebrating the then-new phenomenon (it’s 20 years ago), “This Thing Called the Internet,” one of the score’s highlights.  Yes, it’s somehow charming to hear such a celebration from the perspective of that period.  Sam Tedaldi mines laughs with her quirky characterization and good comic timing as a religious zealot.  Christine Pedi plays the mother, which is why this fan of cabaret and Forbidden Broadway was initially interested in this show.  She’s an asset to the production, bringing feisty energy and some heart, plus her pro professionalism to her tornado of a solo, the don’t-mess-with-me “Mommy Mode.”  Emily McNamara, as the hopeful guitar-playing singer-songwriter girlfriend of one of the guys, beams in some sunshine, strength of character, and musical skill.  The 90-minute show flies by without an intermission or - as the program calls it - "half-time.”  Credit director Adam Arian and the rollicking band led by Brian Usifer for a lot of the liveliness.  This unpretentious show may not stick to the ribs like a meaty musical or have much on its mind but entertaining us, but it achieves that objective and maybe one other:  Press notes say the writer hopes to attract new audiences to appreciate musicals - sports fans who wouldn’t usually attend theatre but would be drawn in by the subject matter.  I had a good time and hope Mr. Ingber will “tackle” another show and subject real soon.

THE CURE tackles a subject that has been attempted with limited success by other creators of musicals: the world of vampires.  Do we want vampires to sing and dance?   This one is heavy going and takes things quite seriously, the doom and gloom and blood.  The dark atmosphere and mood are certainly created, and there is some talent on hand, but it’s an ambitious and lengthy show that has many problems.   The plot and character motivations and relationships are not always clear and neither is the sound: it was sometimes quite difficult to catch lyrics over the loud rock band.  They are on one side of the upper level, also used for some action and many crosses.  The cast wore head mics and I was sitting right in the front, but still had some problems deciphering words over blaring guitars and pounding drums.   Some comings and goings of characters and background action could be distracting, upstaging the main action.    The basic question is this: beyond the spectacle, behind the mystery and macabre, do we feel invested in the characters or even know them?  Is it all just too unreal and unexplained?  Perhaps we should have more of a chance to really get to know the two friends we meet in the beginning before they are so soon pulled into the world of the vampires.  Perhaps we need the pre-vampire backstory of others.  It’s a pretty big leap of faith to think two guys, troubled though they may be, would be so enticed by people they just have known briefly and been attracted to - vampires at that - to consider joining their world and giving up everything else.  The temptation is the gift of immortality if one chooses to join the crowd.  Or is it a choice?  I mean, I know musicals expect us to accept “love at first sight,” but….

The talents of the cast, particularly some strong and striking rock voices and personal magnetism, is what captured my interest.  Zak Resnick plays a writer battling a long-term serious illness and retains a romantic dignity despite the bizarre story.  Michael Buchanan, as his daring young gay friend reeling from rejection and tragedy in his family, has powerful stage presence and an even more powerful and dynamic singing voice.   With his searching, hurt eyes that beam out with longing and need, he’s magnetic.  Somehow, through sheer talent and commitment, mostly non-verbally and through movement and his own electrical current, Kyle Harris is convincing and sympathetic as his passionate, protective vampire lover.  Some lines jump out at us the way the vampires jump from the shadows to go in for the kill: “The closer you are to death, the more you appreciate life” …. “There is no wheelchair for ugly” ….. “To be mortal is a fate worse than death” …

Various elements and moments intrigue, but on the whole, the whole is not as rewarding as the sum of some of its parts and the way the parts are played by the committed actors.   But there’s talent that comes through: some strong melodies by composer-lyricist-bookwriter Mark Weiser, enhanced by another Mark, the very talented music director/keyboardist Mark Hartman (who has added so much to past theatre and cabaret shows), and the contributions by the versatile choreographer Shea Sullivan.  Adventurous director Elizabeth Lucas, admirably unafraid of emotion and risk, has her work cut out for her with this sometimes lugubrious, meandering material that seems to rely on atmosphere’s presumed seductiveness and messages more than cohesion or consistency.   Those more predisposed to the melodrama and dark side will likely be more won over, especially if they have also a fondness for heavier, grander rock music.