Two industry readings of the new musical “Fetching Water” will be held on June 2 and 3 at the Garry Marshall Theater in Burbank, California. “Fetching Water” features a book and lyrics by Leslie Becker and music by Michael Hunsaker. Shelley Butler will serve as director of the new work produced by Tony Award nominees Christopher Allen and Kevin Duda.
The cast of “Fetching Water” will include Tony nominee Rory O’Malley, Natalie Lander, Kyle Selig and Lana McKissack.
In “Fetching Water,” Jack (Selig) and Jill (Lander) are perfectly content to routinely climb a hill to fetch a pail of water. Dick (O’Malley) and Jane (McKissack) arrive and expand the duo’s worldview beyond their daily task.
O’Malley received a 2011 Tony nomination for his featured turn as Elder McKinley in “The Book of Mormon.” He most recently appeared on the Main Stem replacing in “Hamilton” as King George, a role he subsequently played in two national tours.
Lander is known for the recurring role as Debbie on ABC’s “The Middle.” She was also a contestant on “Legally Blonde: The Search for the Next Elle Woods.”
Like O’Malley, Selig is also a “Mormon” alum, having understudied and replaced in the role of Elder Price on Broadway. Selig originated the role of Aaron Samuels in 2018’s “Mean Girls.”
McKissack played the role of Sam Daniels on the series “Dark/Web,” and her voice has been featured on both Transformers series “Combiner Wars” and “Titans Return.”
Becker and Hunsaker both enjoyed careers as performers before turning to writing. Becker appeared on Broadway in the 2003 revival of “Nine” and 2011’s “Bonnie and Clyde” and has since written the book and lyrics for the musicals “A Proper Place” and “Here We Are” (separate from the Stephen Sondheim musical of the same name). Hunsaker appeared in the 1999 touring company of “Ragtime” and also wrote the musicals “Out of Frame,” “Measures of Man” and “A Simple Romance.”
Butler has served as the associate director on both the Broadway and touring productions of “Beautiful,” in addition to Main Stem directorial credits for the 2009 revival of “Guys and Dolls” and 2015’s “It Shoulda Been You.”
Both Allen and Duda have collaborated as producers before, most recently on the 2023 Best Musical Tony nominee “Shucked.” Allen previously served as a co-producer of 2009’s “Burn the Floor,” while Duda appeared on Broadway in the aforementioned “Mormon” as well as 2013’s “Beautiful.”
The presentation will feature music direction by Michael Sobie.
