Alice bliss
Music by Jenny Giering
Lyrics by Adam Gwon
Book by Karen Hartman
Based on the novel Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington
2007, Upstate New York.
When Alice’s dad gets deployed to Iraq, she’s furious, with no one to hate but her mom. Alice valiantly shoulders her way through tenth grade — driving lessons, first love, and all — trying to keep Dad safe by acting perfect at home. A heart-stopping, richly harmonic score buoys this fresh, surprisingly funny look at girls and women on the frayed edge of America, taking the heat of war.
Development History
Alice Bliss was commissioned by Playwrights Horizons and Stacey Mindich Productions and won the 2019 Weston-Ghostlight New Musical Award. It has been developed with Playwrights Horizons, Goodspeed Musicals, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, the Orchard Project, Weston Theater Company, and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley with the Montalvo Arts Center, and was selected for the 2025 NAMT Festival of New Musicals.