GANANOQUE, ONTARIO — A new search for clues of what became of Amelia Earhart is scheduled to be launched on Monday, but those looking to be entertained in a musical manner about the famous aviator need only skip across the river.

“Amelia, the Girl Who Wants to Fly,” a musical by John Gray, begins its run today at the Thousand Islands Playhouse Firehall Theatre in Gananoque. The production runs through July 28.

Presented in association with Festival Players of Prince Edward County, “Amelia, the Girl Who Wants to Fly,” stars Eliza-Jane Scott as Amelia. The narration of the play bounces between Amelia's dreams, the concerns of her cautious sister Midge (Karen Randoja) and the highly focused ambitions of G.P. Putnam (Steven Gallagher), the publishing company heir and groundbreaking publicist who became Amelia's husband and worked with her to shape all aspects of an unforgettable career.

“Amelia, the Girl Who Wants to Fly” came about after Festival Players' artistic director, Sarah Phillips, contacted Mr. Gray to encourage him to revisit the work that has since been performed to great acclaim in Prince Edward County, Ontario, and at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa. The captivating musical features direction by Ms. Phillips, with original musical direction by Michael Barber and piano by Cameron Moncur. Thousand Islands Playhouse officials say the 90-minute musical is suitable for ages 8 and up.

Amelia Earhart was declared dead a year-and-a-half after she and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared July 2, 1937. The pair were near the end of a 2,550-mile trek from Lae, New Guinea, the longest leg of a “World Flight” begun 44 days earlier in Oakland, Calif. At the journey's end there a few days hence, Earhart would become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe.

The search for the wreckage of Earhart's twin-engine Lockheed Electra will resume this summer.

The search will be conducted by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, an organization that has been investigating Earhart's final flight for decades and has theorized that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, might have died as castaways on what was then called Gardner Island.

A newly discovered photo taken just months after Earhart's disappearance might picture portions of the plane in waters near the island, according to the Associated Press.

The expedition by the aircraft recovery group sets sail on Monday from Honolulu.

The executive director of the group, Richard Gillespie, incidentally, is a native of Fulton in Oswego County.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer