What is the musical about?

"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace"

Amelia Earhart used this as the first line of a poem she wrote shortly before becoming the very first woman ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean by plane.

In FINAL APPROACH, we journey with Amelia as she uses her courage to live life as she chooses; to love as she chooses and to make her dreams a reality.

And we realize we can... we must follow her example; to rekindle and inspire in ourselves the courage to be true to ourselves and to our dreams no matter what; whether that dream is flying a plane, running a business or finding the person to spend our life with.

What ever dream you have - it can come true by having courage to be true to yourself - This is Amelia's legacy and the story of FINAL APPROACH.

              ************We are just about there***********

I know it does not look it but thanks to some very kind offline donors, we now have almost all the money we need except for about $1500 to finish paying salaries and rent a piano for the recording.

So now is the time we need you more than ever to lend a hand - donate whatever you can to make this dream come true - to bring all the amazingly talented people listed below together to create a new musical.

FIANAL APPROACH PERFORMERS

Don Richard - Two time Broadway actor to play George
Lauren Braton - Amazing Triple Threat to play Amelia (check her out on youtube)
Tim Noland - Former new York actor
(And Claudia will be singing the role of Dorothy)

FINAL APPROACH'S CREATIVE TEAM

Laurie McLaughlin: (Bookwriter) Everyone knows about Amelia Earhart. Although she disappeared in 1937, people are still fascinated by her. After spending ten years researching her life and the life of her husband George Palmer Putnam, this musical will go behind the scenes to show the truth of her life; discovering what has inspired and captivated people about her for so long.

When I was 6, I remember my father taking my to my first air show. I remember the power and the beauty of the planes and it was then I fell in love with aviation. Also that same year I first remember sitting in the theatre watching rehearsals for a production of Oklahoma my parents, uncle and aunt were in and from that moment, I was hooked on a life long love for musical theatre and my destiny was set for a career in the theatre. I spent all told 30 years in theatre (25 professionally) mostly as a stage manager, production manager and lighting designer. Through those years, I have been fortunate enough to work with Donald O'Connor, Shirley Jones and Terrence Mann and work on the workshop of Heart's Desire with Sergio Trujillo and be involved in the out of town pre-Broadway production of Teddy And Alice with Len Cariou and helped give Andrew Harrison Leeds his big break.

Claudia Schmidt: (Composer/lyricist) Michigan native Claudia Schmidt has covered a lot of musical ground, beginning with a stirring rendition of Tammy at age 4 around a neighborhood bonfire. More than three decades as a touring professional have found her traversing North America as well as Europe in venues ranging from intimate clubs to to festival stages in front
of 25,000 rapt listeners.

A musician who has always hated categories, she has recorded fourteen albums of mostly original songs, exploring folk, blues, and jazz idioms featuring her acclaimed12 string guitar and mountain dulcimer playing. She has performed on radio and TV, including regular stints on Public Radio International's A Prairie Home Companion in its early incarnation, and starring in an hour-long documentary called I Sing Because I Can't Fly produced by KTCA TV in St. Paul. She participated in Les Blank's delightful movie Gap-Toothed Women. She wrote the award-winning score of the Goodman Theatre's 1992 Chicago production of Brecht's Good Person of Szechuan and she performed along with Ruth McKenzie and Prudence Johnson in The Gales of November, a musical retelling of the Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy. And she just finished a new album with Sally Rogers.

Marge Adler: (Arranger) An Ohio native, Marge is classically trained on piano and harpsichord, and former Organist for the Cleveland Indians! but is definately no stranger to the world of musical theatre. She has been musical director for over 60 professional shows as well as being the musical director for the Cleveland production of the Forbidden Broadway SVU national tour. Audiences and critics nationwide are raving about Marge's versatility, humor, virtuosity and her signature mix of musical styles. creating musical bridges between styles, between traditions, between old and new, sacred and secular -- all blended together to form stories to bring people together, to unite us
in our human experience.

In 2007, Marge won the Unsigned Recording artist of the Month award from Keyboard Magazine (she was their Miss April) for her inspired CD called Balm in Gilead, causing Jim Brickman called it "inventive, like nothing else out there".

Marge's amazing talents have allowed her to work with such artists as Anton Coppola and David Lockington, to Broadway's Dee Hoty.

What We Need & What You Get

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