Radium Girls–The Musical, an  adaptation of D.W. Gregory’s popular stage play, is receiving a developmental workshop at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

The project is the focus of a production course for junior musical theater majors  in the Benjamin T. Rome School of Performing Arts, and culminates in two staged readings in December at the Callan Theater in the Hartke Theater complex on Harewood Road in Washington, D.C. The readings are by invitation only.

Radium Girls–The Musical features a book by D.W. Gregory, music by Steven M. Alper, and lyrics by Sarah Knapp. Joseph Megel directs the workshop, with musical direction by Marc Bryan Lilley, head of the Catholic University’s B.F.A. program in Musical Theater. Celine Mogielnicki, instructor in voice at CUA, is on board as assistant music director.

From there, the play moves on to a developmental production in April at Seven Angels Theater in Waterbury, Conn.

Several Years in Development

“We’ve been working on the project for several years,” Gregory said. “We did an earlier workshop with Joseph at UNC-Chapel Hill, with about three-quarters of the score completed. This workshop brings the complete script and score to the stage for the first time and will be  incredibly helpful to us in refining the book and music. We’ve got a terrific cast of talented young people working with us.”

Written for 12 actors to cover nearly 40 roles, Radium Girls–The Musical is designed to be expandable for educational productions. Thus, the project at Catholic University features 18 students

Megel,  professor emeritus at UNC-Chapel Hill, directed the premiere of the original stage play at Playwrights Theater of New Jersey. Since then, Radium Girls has become one of the most produced plays in the United States, with more than 3,000 productions to date.

The musical adaptation was commissioned by the play’s publisher, Dramatic Publishing, of Woodstock, Ill. Radium Girls is one of the most popular titles in the company’s catalogue.