West End Theatre (in the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew)

The ever-inventive theater company Bedlam lays claim to its new home at the Upper West Side's West End Theatre with an immersive staging of an original country jukebox musical built around songs by J.T. Harding, who has written hits for artists including Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and Uncle Kracker. Peter Zinn's script centers on a pair of songwriters, played by Stephen Michael Spencer and Casey Shler, whose hardscrabble aspirations are obstructed in different ways by the drug epidemic and other challenges. Bedlam honcho Eric Tucker directs the New York premiere. 

Singer-songwriter Dina Fanai's mythopoetic original musical, which draws inspiration from the Sufi mysticism of Rumi and the analytic acuity of Joseph Campbell, returns for an encore run after a successful workshop in January, directed once more by Dodd Loomis. Jenna Rubaii plays the title heroine on journey of spirtitual discovery; the large supporting cast is led by Broadway ringers Constantine Maroulis (Rock of Ages) and Maya Days (Aida), and also includes Madeline Serrano and Fanai herself.