What Is 59 Days in New York?

59 Days in New York is a new musical comedy written specifically for online audiences. Through nine episodes, it follows aspiring singer-songwriter, Amy, as she strives to make it in NYC with only 59 budgeted days before running out of money. Armed with song and her cockeyed optimism, Amy vlogs about leaving home, finding work, and pursuing her dreams in spite of all odds.

Why Write a Web Musical?

When I first moved to New York, just a few months after graduating from Wellesley College, I was excited about writing musical theatre that could exist beyond the stage. As part of my senior thesis, I explored writing musical theatre for different mediums, including scored silent film and song cycle. With that experience in my back pocket and strapped for cash in a new city, I was curious about creating musical theatre for the most affordable and accessible new storytelling platform – namely YouTube.

In 2013, I started developing 59 Days, and I’m convinced that the YouTube webseries form provides an exciting new future for musical theatre.

First and foremost, the medium allows young, poor artists to get their work produced (and potentially seen by large audiences) without spending an arm and a leg. That’s an exciting prospect in an industry that’s afraid to invest in new talent because it is prohibitively expensive to produce musical theatre.

The audience enjoys benefits too. You can watch the show any time, any place, and in your pajamas, if you so desire. Plus, you can get involved in the creative process like never before, directly making an impact on a new work by what you choose to fund (better music, for instance) and the comments you share.

For musical theatre lovers, it’s a win-win arrangement. And in order to welcome a complete, new web musical to the world, all we need is a little help to finish five more episodes.

Where Are We Now?

To date, we’ve produced four episodes and two experimental shorts, which you can and should watch right now on YouTube.

We’ve also launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fundraise for the remaining five episodes. If you like what you see, help us out now through March 22, 2014 by contributing to the campaign.