New musical Maiden Voyage to receive world premiere in London

Maiden Voyage, a new musical by Mindi Dickstein and Carmel Dean, has announced its world premiere.

Produced by Mark Cortale, Dale Franzen, Jonathan Murray and Harvey Reese in association with Shared Experience, it tells the story of Tracy Edwards and the first all-women racing crew of Maiden who made history competing in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race in 1989/90.

The musical will be directed by Tara Overfield Wilkinson and feature orchestrations by Michael Starobin.

Dean and Dickstein said: “We wanted to write about women facing challenges head-on – Tracy’s inspirational story ticked all the boxes for us.”

They added: “We heard music at every turn. Courage sings. Pushing yourself to the limits of your abilities and beyond sings. The ocean, sings. Tracy and her crew are the definition of doing the hard things even when no one thinks you can.”

Wilkinson commented: “As a director who has worked in the musical theatre industry for over thirty-five years, it means a lot to me to tell the story of these strong amazing women who defied the critics and naysayers to achieve such phenomenal success in the challenges they faced.”

Cortale and Franzen said: “As producers, we are drawn to stories of unexpected heroes like Tracy Edwards who are compelled to risk everything for a dream that almost everyone thinks is impossible. We hope this story will inspire others to fearlessly take the helm and follow their dreams.”

Maiden Voyage will open at Southwark Playhouse Elephant on 26 July, with previews from 19 July, and play to 23 August.