Listen to the album featuring Broadway’s Robb Sapp, Nicholas Rodriguez, and John Jeffrey Martin, on Youtube, Apple Music
and Spotify.
Read the press release here.
Allyson Hernandez
Ballad of Dreams
FOLLOW
About the Show
Inspired by a true story, a love letter to New York City, Ballad of Dreams illuminates the struggle of two resilient women fighting for their place in the glittering world of 1940's theater, chasing the dream of being a performer, and being a mother. Against insurmountable odds they must confront the universal question faced by women of every era: can we truly have it all?
Audrey McKenna, a vibrant grandmother, and mother of thirteen is confronted with the unfulfilled dreams of her youth to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City, circa WW2. With the help of her best friend Rose, they each journey in discovering love, their own identities, and independence as women in a time when society tried to define that for them.
Synopsis
Audrey McKenna is a vibrant grandmother and mother of thirteen. When her granddaughter pursues a career onstage, Audrey is confronted with the unfulfilled dreams of her youth to perform at Carnegie Hall. With the help of her best friend and cousin Rose, they journey to the New York Theater scene of their past, exploring choices, sacrifices, and experiences that shaped them. While their paths are drastically different, the one constant throughout is their friendship. Through trials and triumphs, love and loss, Rose and Audrey redefine their identities as independent women in a time when society tried to define that for them. Inspired by a true story, Ballad of Dreams sings of the power of friendship and dances through different eras of society from the 1930s to the early 2000s. Ballad of Dreams by Allyson Hernandez inspires us to fill our own cups by chasing after our dreams.
The book was published in January 2022 as
an Amazon #1 Best Seller
(BUY HERE)
"I could not put this book down! I thoroughly enjoyed this story and can’t wait to hear the music!"
– Amazon Review
"What an inspiring story! You can really picture the book playing out on stage as you are reading it. Such a fantastic read we didn’t want to put it down."
– Amazon Review
Media
Allyson was interviewed and
performed her original song
"It's Never Too Late" on Tamron Hall show on 3/9/22
"It's never too late to make a new dream, it's never too late to reach for the stars. It's never too late when the fear won't subside, it's never too late, to try."
Press
Musical Comparisons
In this fresh blend of Beautiful meets Bandstand, Hernandez’s music includes original standards reminiscent of the period, soaring love duets, and belt-worthy contemporary power ballads.
Ballad of Dreams The Musical: Creative Team
Allyson Hernandez
COMPOSER/LYRICIST/LIBRETTIST/PRODUCER/ACTOR
Allyson defines the word multi-passionate creative. She is an Author, Playwright, Composer, Lyricist, Singer, Actor, Producer, and mom to two teenage boys. Allyson is deeply passionate about telling stories that highlight and uplift women’s voices. Ballad of Dreams, a novel with music was published in Jan 2022 through New Degree Press and is an Amazon #1 Best Seller and a new release in Musicals. The Concept Album of Ballad of Dreams is now available on all streaming platforms. Allyson also plays the principal role of Audrey inspired by her late Grandmother, Marie. Her debut EP, Soul Stories, can be found on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube. She has performed at the acclaimed Apollo theater with Tony award-winning Director George Faison and toured with the Gospel musical “If This Hat Could Talk” in the role of Miss Tilly and understudied for the principal role of Eleanor Roosevelt. She's a proud member of Actors Equity and ASCAP. She has a BFA in Musical Theater from Syracuse University. She's also the Founder and President of AH Coaching Group which specializes in leadership development and Coaching for Women Executives.
Karen Carpenter
DIRECTOR/DRAMATURG
Karen Carpenter is the director and co-creator of streaming sensation Period Piece; the co-writer and director of Lioness in Winter: Writing an Old Woman’s Life, and director of comedy legend Tom Leopold’s musical satire, Kip & Sylvia: Tonight on Deck, recurring monthly at the Triad, by popular demand. She directed the critically-acclaimed premiere of George Eastman’s comedy, Harry Townsend’s Last Stand, starring Len Cariou and Craig Bierko (Critic’s Pick, The New Yorker) which shuttered abruptly due to the pandemic - plans to turn it into a motion picture are in the works. Her other Off-Broadway premieres include Delia and Nora Ephron’s beloved Love, Loss And What I Wore, (Drama Desk Award, BWW Audience Favorite, NYT Critic’s Pick), which continues to play all over the world; Handle With Care (NYT Critic’s Pick); Lois Robbins’ L.O.V.E.R. (Time Out NY Critic’s Pick), Bulldozer: the Ballad of Robert Moses; and Witnessed by the World. Regionally, she has directed for the Old Globe Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Bucks County Playhouse, Contemporary American Theater Festival, the Asolo, and Surflight Theater, where she premiered the new musical, Boynton Beach Club (based on Susan Seidelman’s film), which delighted its sold-out crowds. Karen served as Artistic Director of the William Inge Theater Festival, where she instituted a New Play Lab, hosting over 70 readings of playwrights’ new works, and directed lifetime achievement tributes to David Henry Hwang, Arthur Kopit, Beth Henley and Donald Margulies. As Associate Artistic Director of the Old Globe, she produced over 40 plays and musicals, revived their annual Shakespeare Festival; and directed many award-winning plays, among them, As You Like It, named Best of the Year by San Diego Magazine. Ms. Carpenter served on the Faculty of the DG Yale School of Drama, and is an alumna of Boston University, where the Karen Carpenter Award for Excellence in Theater Arts is given annually to a graduating student of exceptional merit. She is also the Producing Director of her company, The Figment Factory, LLC, whereby she creates spectacular corporate and non-profit events.
www.michaelmooreagency.com
Laura Bergquist
MUSIC ARRANGER / MUSICAL DIRECTOR
BROADWAY: Allegiance. OFF-BROADWAY: Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, Daddy Long Legs. NATIONAL TOUR: The King and I, Titanic, Miss Saigon, The Music Man, Camelot. REGIONAL: The Old Globe: Allegiance, Emma, Sense and Sensibility. Opera Saratoga: Man of La Mancha, Sweeney Todd, Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Arena Theater: Newsies, Catch Me If You Can. Ford’s Theatre: 2023 Lincoln Medal of Honor Gala.Signature Theatre (DC): The Bridges of Madison County. Chicago Shakespeare: Sense and Sensibility. NC Theatre: Gypsy. Baltimore Center Stage, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Music Theatre of Wichita, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Theatreworks. CAST RECORDINGS: Allegiance, Jane Eyre, Daddy Long Legs, Wreck the Halls. ASCAP Award for Composition. CONCERTS: Broadway Backwards, Broadway Pops Internationsl, Joe’s Pub, The Green Room, 54 Below. Avery Fisher Hall. PUBLISHING: Wreck the Halls (Miracle or 2). UPCOMING: Ballad of Dreams workshop, It Happened in Key West US Premiere. EDUCATION: Wichita State University, Friends University. Laurabergquist.com
LDK Productions
GENERAL MANAGER
LDK Productions is a theatrical general management and producing firm based in New York City, founded by Lisa Dozier Shacket in 2007. Current/Recent: Be More Chill (West End, Broadway, Off-Broadway), Anthony Rapp’s Without You, Little Girl Blue, Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo at New World Stages, Skates: A New Musical (Chicago) the immersive theatrical adaptation of the film Sideways, A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, A Letter to Harvey Milk (Off-Broadway, London).
Lisa has been on staff at the New 42nd Street, Manhattan Theatre Club, Symphony Space, American Repertory Theatre, and New York Stage & Film. She is also a professor of practice focusing in theatre management at the University of Florida, served as the BFA theatre management program director at the University of Miami from 2013-2018. She was the founding producing director for Miami New Drama. Lisa served as the resident general manager for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals from 2008-2018.
Jamiebeth Margolis, CSA
CASTING DIRECTOR
Jamibeth Margolis has more than twenty years experience as a professional casting director in New York. She was with Johnson-Liff Casting Associates, Cameron Mackintosh, and Margolis-Seay Casting and is now out on her own as a freelance casting director. Previous credits include the Broadway and National Touring Companies of such mega hits as Les Miserables, The Phantom Of The Opera, Miss Saigon, Cats, and Jane Eyre as well as two dozen other shows on Broadway. She currently casts for Broadway, Off- Broadway, National Touring Companies, The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, Plaza Theatricals in Elmont, NY, concerts, and shows for prominent regional theaters and many of the major theater festivals in NYC. Her casting office is dedicated to the development of new plays and musicals. Additional casting credits include multiple television pilots and on camera industrials for major US companies.
Peter Breger, Esq.
ENTERTAINMENT ATTORNEY
Peter is an entertainment attorney who has represented theatre and film producers, investors, commercial and non-profit theatres, writers, directors, and performers for over twenty-five years. He is a Tony-Nominated producer of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Regional Theatre. He owned and operated The Actors’ Playhouse, an Off-Broadway theatre in Greenwich Village, New York for 12 years. Mr. Breger is the President of the Off-Broadway Alliance, the not-for-profit company organized by theatre professionals to support, promote, and encourage theatrical production. The Off-Broadway Alliance, among its many programs, presents the annual Off Broadway Alliance Awards, now in its 12th year, honoring the best of Off-Broadway, and the 20at20 Promotion, making $20 tickets available for 20 days, biannually, to dozens of Off-Broadway shows.
Show History
2019 - Ballad of Dreams had two readings at Pearl Studios.
2020 - Hernandez pivoted the project and adapted the script into a novel.
2022 - Ballad of Dreams, A Novel with Music was published by New Degree Press in January 2022. (Available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indigo, and The Drama Book Shop!)
Hernandez appears on Tamron Hall Show
Hernandez and team recorded the Ballad of Dreams album, Produced by Forbes 30 under 30, Macy Schmidt.
11/11/2022 - Ballad of Dreams Studio Cast Recording Album Release
12/12/2022 - Album Release Concert at The Triad Theater, Musical Director: Micah Young (Spring Awakening, Fun Home)
2023 - Tier 1 or Tier 2 Workshop for further development
Coming soon in 2023 - An Audiobook will be released on Audible combining both the album and the narrated novel, narrated by Allyson Hernandez as Audrey McKenna and Amanda Ferguson as Rose Kelly.
