America: Land of Opportunity

 America: Land of Opportunity is the story of Alexander Graham Bell and the invention of the telephone. The musical covers the rivalry between Bell and rival inventor Elisha Gray in the race to build the first telephone, the developing romance between Bell, who was also an educator of the deaf, and his student, Mabel Hubbard, as well as the beginnings of the Bell Telephone Company.

In the musical’s original form, Bell: The Life and Times of Alexander Graham Bell) received its premiere performance on July 9, 2000 at the Philadelphia Museum of Science. Several equity staged readings and performances followed in 2001 at The Player’s Club in New York City, and the Stamford Center for the Arts, in Stamford, Connecticut. A 2-week run at the Stamford Center for the Arts, under a LORT contract, was planned for the spring of 2001 however the production was cancelled when the production company disbanded due to a disagreement between its principals. Re-titled in 2003 as Follow Your Heart, the musical received a 3-week developmental workshop production at the Williams Center in Rutherford, New Jersey. This cast album, which included cast members from each of the productions, was recorded in 2008 .