"CREATIVE HORIZONS": PARTNERS: MICHAEL L. RICCIARDI and JOHN D. NUGENT: News About Us

One of the newest musicals from Creative Horizons " A LITTLE BIT OF BROADWAY" is being considered as a production next season as a "World Premiere" at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia. The Barter Theatre that goes back to the mid 1930's got it's name from it's depression policy of allowing out of work Virginians during the depression to "barter" for admission to musical shows there for things other than cash and maintains that policy for at least one weekend of a production for each musical that they produce. So with all fingers crossed, we ship off our musical to them, The impressive thing here is that it normally takes nine months for the Barter Theatre to consider anything. After looking over the synopsis, sample scene and CD they wanted to see the script ASAP. This musical features the songs "OPPORTUNITY" and "THATS THE WAY THE COOKIES CRUMBLE" Stay tuned for the latest news.

Work continues on the new musical for CREATIVE HORIZONS. It's a small cast, simple set musical called "A LITLE BIT OF BROADWAY" and the writing on the libretto is almost finished while the score continues to progress as well. Songs from this musical include "OPPORTUNITY" . "THAT'S THE WAY THE COOKIES CRUMBLE", "WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND and "THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF BROADWAY IN ALL OF US". The story concerns a famous "Tin Pan Alley" songwriter named Chester Moore who was a contemporary of Irving Berlin , Al Sherman and Jerome Kern. He's never had the opportunity to write a Broadway show. Months before his own demise, Chester is given a chance to write the finale song for a troubled musical. It makes the show a smash and the songwriter is so delighted that he changes his will to bequeth the rights to his many songs to the performers of this show. Theirs is the opportunity of a lifetime. They get to be the writers, the actors and the producers of a musical biography of one of the greatest song writers who ever lived. Exciting theatre at its best! More news later! This will be an exciting show!

Huntington Outdoor Theatre in West Virginia has expressed an interest in two of our shows. The first is "The Traveling Companion" based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen and the other is "The Runaway Heart: which tells the story of Jenny Lancer-- the girl who's left six bridegrooms at the altar in the same small Georgia town. It is up to Professor Time, Professor Fate and Lady Luck to teach her the lesson she needs to learn. More details later.

Creative Horizons has begun work on another musical property this time it's KNOCK, KNOCK ON HEAVEN'S DOOR"-- a musical revue that relates just what might have happened as some of the famously notorious of world history tried to talk their way into heaven. Book, music and lyrics will be by Michael Ricciardi and John D. Nugent. The first song "You Wouldn't Believe" is now completed.

Contact has been made with some of the veterans of the grand and Glorious Gallery Theatre in Ontario, California. It's been twenty years, since the grand old theatre has passed from its original location, but grand memories abound. Michael Ricciard's first musical "THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ" premiered there in July of 1980. "ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY" premiered there in the summer of 1984. Josh and Jared Shipley, (now a Disney imagineer )with sister Angela, dear Tim Corvin plus Rick Simpson Ron Vandermolen have been contacted. Creative Horizons is re-releasing both of these grand old musicals this fall. Director and founder Mark Shipley for whom "THE RUNAWAY HEART" is being dedicated is now living in Hawaii.

Creative Horizons has found a new set of potential investors for its many musical projects. We are preparing new material as quickly as we can. Right now we have available:

SEVENLY-- an eclesiatical musical spoof. The millennium has arrived and the devil is locked away. In the meantime, the poor stupid Seven Deadly sins have an emergency meeting. One of them needs to become the new leader of evil while the devil is imprisioned-- now there's a prospect that could really screw up the now peaceful world. To combat this, the Seven Virtues decide to pull a fast one on these birds enticing them to a fictional town in Ohio called what else-- "Temptation" A real complication ensues when the virtue of Courage and the Deadly Sin of Sloth fall in love. Great songs and great fun.

THE RUNAWAY BRIDE-- inspired by real events from the headlines, this is the story Jenny Lane-- who has just walked away from her sixth wedding day ceremony (in real life it was seven) in the same Georgia town called Wannabee. She's even staged her own kidnapping. There the reality stops and the musical fantasy begins. Now good old "Professor Time" and "Professor Time" become concerned. Their reputations and marriage in general is in serious trouble if this all gets out. So Time and Fate decide to force Jenny into a little "Christmas Carol" type journey to face each of the grooms she has walked away from and whose lives have been compromised or ruined. She must choose one of these men. Great songs like "Comfortable Shoes" "Time Waits For No One" and "Tree of Dreams" The play is dedicated to Mark Shipley who was the owner of the Gallery Theatre in Ontario, Ca where Michael Ricciardi started writing musical theatre back in 1980.

There is also "THE WILD SWANS" based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale, "BROADWAY ANGELS" -- a spoof about nuns who inherit an abandoned Broadway theatre and put on a show.
"EDGAR, ALAN & POE"--a musical fable about three ravens who through a deathbed miracle become human and now must find their own way in a human world. If they live right, they will get smarter and their heart will become wiser. But if they fall into greed, all bets are off.

"A LITTLE BIT OF BROADWAY"-- Six Broadway hopeful;s are selected by an aging tin pan alley song writer who has never had a Broadway show featuring his songs. His will states that he is giving them the money to make this dream come true. As they go through his many songs, they begin to piece together the story of his remarkable life.
The older musicals of our group including "ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY", "A MOMENT WITH MISTER "C", "SKYLARK" and "THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ" continue to be available. Look for the links to the My Space pages for each musical. A production of "THE RUNAWAY HEART" is scheduled for this October. More details soon.

Creative Horizons wishes to announce the completion of the libretto for one of its nnewest musicals "THE WILD SWANS" Based on the classic fairy tale written By Hans Christian Andersen, the creative team of Michael Ricciardi and John D. Nugent have taken another Hans Christian Andersen story and adapted it for the Broadway stage. The original story while delightful had to be really adapted and re-developed to allow it to be successful in a two act musical structure. The story tells of a powerful queen who is the friend of kings, queens and even Popes. Every rival kingdom surrounding her savors to conquor her kingdom once she dies. The king and queen have ten children: nine boys and one girl named Eliza.The queen is a master of disguise and often goes out into her kingdom incognito to learn her people's problems and to better serve her subjects. She is more loved than even her husband, the king. When she dies, the King moves quickly to marry a rival king's daughter quickly and to remove all images and memories of the deceased queen. The new queen, Mercy by name is a jealous evil woman who practices black magic and sorcery under the great Wizard Mallix and after even tricking him out of most of his powers, she plots to turn the king's children that she despises into trumpeteer swans. Queen Mercy has seized power from King Philip with the threat of invasion by her father's kingdom: a kingdom that holds power over a legion of ten thousand soldiers. The plot against the children is going well and the spell is actually being performed , when the children's guardian, Sir Mallory interupts the incantation and threatens to kill the queen. She warns him that ending a spell mid-way will only kill the children and in compromise the "forever" transformation is made temporary and reversible with a single act of love and sacrifice. The youngest child: daughter Eliza is spared all of this by Mallory's plan of hiding her away. Eliza is told of the spell and works dilligently for years to discover the secret of what she must do to free her brothers of their swan life. With this discovery, the brothers invade the castle, free the great Wizard Mallix and Sir Mallory from their imprisonment. Once Mallix is freed, he regains his powers and a battle royal reduces Queen Mercy to an old hag-- with no powers but her evil tongue. Mercy incites the people of the kingdom to burn Eliza at the stake for witchcraft. But all is saved by a great discovery and a great act of love. The old Hans Christian Andersen story has been given three dimensions and amazing and wonderful new characters. Songs completed from the show include "Optimistic Thinking" recored by Brain Martin, "Tell Me" recorded by Bill Lewis, "Finding the Answer" recorded by Tara Hadley and "King of Hearts" recorded by Molly Summer and Paul Hovannes. More news on the progress of the score later.

The libretto and the lyrics for the new Creative Horizons musical "BROADWAY ANGELS" has been completed. Work continues on the musical score. Songs include "Very Best Miracle" "We're Praying Our Little Beads Off" and "Red White and Wonderful". The original story concerns a group of Dominican Nuns who are being displaced from their convent by a greedy cardinal who wants to relocate the poor good sisters to a nowhere convent in Buffalo, New York. The land that the convent sits on is worth a fortune. Helping the good sisters is none other than the Archangels Mchael and Gabriel who actually are working their help without angel powers-- the loss of which is due to their doubting of God and a bet that Good old SATAN, himself has made with Yahweh. What we have is a great mix of Neil Simonesque humor, great musical numbers and amazing characters. The good sisters each have their own amazing personality. Michael Ricciardi and John David Nugent are authoring the new show. More details will follow as to the progress of the musical scoring. Creative Horizons has a policy of making each musical score look published-- no manual hand-scored look. The cues and dialogue that take place within a song are exactly as the script calls for them using the latest FINALE software.

Creative Horizons wishes to announce that another of it's musicals "YOUNG MCDONALD" is nearing completion. The libretto and the lyrics are done and several songs are as well. The story tells of two competing talent agents in the golden years of Hollywood. Gilda Morganstern is a greedy cut throat. Hazel Spratt is a dedicated and devoted professional. Gilda succeeds in putting Hazel out of business with lies and fabrications and as a result, Hazel retires to a farm in Springfellow, Iowa. She is helping young Mike McDonald raise his young pre-teen son, Brian. Mikey McDonald was once one of the hottest young stars of all time. Gilda represented him. Then puberty and pimples took over and his career is over. Mikey's equally greedy mother ships the poor teenager off to Springfellow to be raised by his grandmother. As the musical opens, it is eight years later and Gilda is holding on to her business by a mere thread. Her accounting is unbelievable. Her spending is crazy! Her rent is three months past due. Gilda's poor assistant, Tony is going crazy and is ready to quit. But a glimmer of hope is seen for Gilda Morganstern when a famous producer offers a big reward to find a "Mikey McDonald" look alike. That look alike is Mikey's young son Brian. Off greedy Gilda goes with Tony in tow to sign this young talent. What she doesn't know is that an Iowa farm is nothing like Hollywood. Regardless of that, however Gilda plots to use any trick up her sleeve that she can. Flattery, lies, nisrepresentaion--the same old things she's always used. When she arrives she meets her old nemesis: Hazel Spratt. The fireworks fly as the two let every hurt emotion and past issue to fly like bullets. But when young Brian rebels and Gilda is taught a real lesson with a practical joke that utilizes a classic Mark Twain ghost story, she sees the error of her ways at last and she and Hazel reconcile. To pay expenses, the farm is used for a production in which Mike McDonald meeets his childhood co-star, Maggie (now a producer) and the two fall in love. When the series falls through, Mike sells the farm and he and Maggie and the two former agents decide that two heads are better than one and they leave for Hollywood again to form a new agency together. They have a big surprise awaiting them, however, but together they all vow to bring a business plan together. Songs include "If You Really Want To Know", "So Damned Charming, "Of Course You Know This Means War" and the ghost story production number "Who Stole My Golden Arm" based on the famous Mark Twain tale. More news soon.

One of the newest musicals from Creative Horizons "THE WILD SWANS" is nearing completion in its present form. Adapted from the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale, the story of "THE WILD SWANS" tells the tale of a great and mighty queen whose sudden demise causes her husband the king to marry again quickly in order to form an alliance and prevent an invasion from several neighboring domains. The new queen (tutored by the great Wizard Malix) is quite apt at black magic and in pure jealousy turns the king's sons in into wild trumpeter swans. Their only daughter Eliza is rescued only at the last moment. Through the bravery of the children's guardian, (who takes on the evil queen himself) the spell upon the boys is made to be reversable. Years later, the young sister discovers the secret to end the spell. Wonderful songs including "Optimistic Thinking" "Beautiful Evil" Compromise" and "King of Hearts have been completed and recorded. Our old friend Bill Lewis recorded the song "Tell Me" and Brian Martin recorded "Optimistic Thinking". Karmyn Tyler and Paul Horvanes contributed to the score. Look here for more details.

One of our newest projects "THE BROADWAY ANGELS" is getting very close to its conclusion. This wonderful musical-fantasy comedy in the "Nunsense" spirit finds several Dominican Sisters evicted from their convent by an evil and greedy cardinal. Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel, the archangels come to their rescue and the good sisters find themselves the owners of a classic old Broadway theatre. Because its a historical landmark, the good sisters are required to put on a show. When the devil gets involved, its time to pull out all the stops and make this show the most amazing show that has ever graced "the Great White Way". Fun numbers include "We're Praying Our Little Beads Off". Recording of the tunes are scheduled for September 2008.

Progress on the new Creative Horizons musical "BROADWAY ANGELS" continues to make progress. Completion is set for July 22nnd. Look for more news here!

Creative Horizons is proud to announce that it's brand new musical "THE RUNAWAY HEART" has emerged from some editing and is now completed. Revised were lyrics from the song "The Girl Who Cried Wolf" an indepth scene that Jenny shares with the last bridegroom that she had deserted and the finale. We are now putting the finishing touches to a few of the songs.

We are proud to announce that our newest show "Broadway Angels" is nearing completion. The libretto is really going in the direction we wanted and the songs are going to be great. Stay tuned for more news!

Chris Townsend of TOWNSEND MEDIA of Sherman Oaks has joined the Creative Horizons team as our official media represenative. Chris represents many of our company's products and services.

Creative Horizons went into the studio and recorded more songs for its upcoming musicals "SEVENLY", "THE RUNAWAY HEART" "YOUNG MACDONALD, "WILD SWANS" and "LITTLE BIT OF BROADWAY". We recorded Brian Martin singing "There's A Little Bit of Broadway In All Of Us" , "If You Really Want to Know" and for the first time in almost eighteen years, the classic Yuletide tune "Fly Me Home For Christmas". Molly Summer recorded "Compromise and "King of Hearts from "WILD SWANS" and Paul Horvannes recorded all of the devil's songs from "SEVENLY" including "Day After Day" and "Judgement Not Justice". His beautiful rendition of "Tree of Dreams" from "THE RUNAWAY HEART" in one take was absolutely breattaking. We thank all the singers for their wonderful contribution.

Creative Horizons is now creating "My Space" pages for each of its many musicals in development including "THE RUNAWAY HEART", "SEVENLY", "THE WILD SWANS" and "A LITLE BIT OF BROADWAY" You may reach these sites through the Central Creative Horizons my space page at http://www.myspace.com/creativehorizons

To access the pages directly:

SEVENLY
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=269487515

THE WILD SWANS
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=319190199

THE RUNAWAY HEART
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=319135347

LITTLE BIT OF BROADWAY
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=319156469

John Nugent and Michael Ricciardi attended the ASCAP MUSICAL WORKSHOP and met librettist WINNIE HOLZMAN (who wrote the libretto for "WICKED" and JEFF MARX, the co-author of "AVENUE "Q". Jeff accepted John's suggestion for a ongoing future dialogue

Creative Horizons completed another succesful soundtrack recording on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at Smooth Sound Studios. Recorded were songs from the musicals "THE WILD SWANS", "SEVENLY", "THE RUNAWAY HEART", and "LITTTLE BIT OF BROADWAY". Featured vocalists were BRIAN MARTIN who recorded "FLY ME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS" (for the first time in ten years) and "IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW" In addition to Brian artists included MOLLY SUMMER, PAUL HORVANE and LORI SCHROEDER.

Creative Horizons will return to the recording studio on Sunday. April 20th from 12 noon to 5pm. Returning will be MOLLY SUMMER, BRIAN MARTIN and KARMYN TYLER amoung others. We will be recording new songs from SEVENLY, THE RUNAWAY HEART and THE GHOST WHO SAVED BROADWAY. More details later.