albaugh
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The Broadway / Musical item
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Oct 23 02:19 UTC 2004 |
Not seeing an existing item on the topic, I'm entering this item to discuss
all things "Broadway" / "Musical". You know, South Pacific, 42nd Street,
Phantom of the Opera, all those. Rodgers & Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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albaugh
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response 6 of 7:
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Oct 28 17:32 UTC 2004 |
I *know* nothing about it. The first thing I found during a web search:
From http://web.playbill.com/news/article/81132.html :
Coincidentally, Georgia Stitt, the respected music director who worked on The
Baker's Wife for Goodspeed Musicals in 2002 and whose pop songs have been
popping up in Manhattan venues, is shopping around a Midwest set,
flood-related musical she wrote with collaborators Jeff Hylton and Tim
Werenko.
The latest draft of The a musical about people at risk emotionally and
physically when a river floods a has been completed, composer Stitt told
Playbill On-Line earlier this year. Werenko is co-librettist and Hylton is
lyricist and co-librettist.
"Set in 1997, it's a completely original story about a small Missouri town
that survives a flood," Stitt explained. "It's fiction, but bookwriter Tim
Werenko lived through a flood and drew quite a bit from his personal
experiences."
The three writers spent a year developing Watertown, as it was first known,
in residence at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. Following readings they
"are just now beginning to submit it to theatres, producers and developmental
festivals," Stitt said.
As recently as Jan. 20, a song from The Water was heard in an eclectic concert
of show tunes and art songs at Symphony Space; George Dvorsky and Jill Geddes
sang "River Like Life" in that evening. On Jan. 26, Stitt presented three
songs from the show with Sally Wilfert, Keith Byron Kirk and Sean McCourt as
part of the "New Sundays" series produced by Phil Geoffrey Bond at the Duplex
in Greenwich Village.
The Water was Stitt's idea, she said. "I wanted to write about why people
choose to live in places that are devastated by nature, and why people rebuild
in those same places knowing they face the possibility of another disaster,"
she explained. "I wanted to write about the concept of community, particularly
in middle America. This town is situated on the banks of a river that is a
tributary to the Mississippi River. It has flooded before, even within memory
of some of the older people in town. The river is as much a character in the
show as any of the actors, and the idea of its presence or its is almost
always in the music."
What's the musical nature of The Water?
"It's a book musical," Stitt said. "I write both folky music and groove-driven
music. Some of it is very lyrical and some of it is more pop. I wouldn't call
it 'rock,' but it's definitely a step outside the norms of traditional musical
theatre. I grew up outside of Memphis as a classical pianist, so there are
hints of the South in the music, alongside very pianistic accompaniments."
Among those who sang in previous readings of The Water were Danielle Ferland,
Sally Wilfert, Andrea Burns, Jeff Edgerton, Corey Reynolds, Ed Romanoff,
Brooks Ashmanskas and Sean McCourt. Jeff McCarthy (Urinetown, Side Man) and
Donna Lynne Champlin (Hollywood Arms, My Life With Albertine) are the demo
recording, along with McCourt, Burns and several others. Peter Flynn has been
attached as director of the show.
Stitt said the title was changed from Watertown to The Water to avoid any
comparison to Urinetown, the comic Broadway hit about a town devastated by
drought.
"There are 12 actors in the show, and it is multi generational," Stitt said.
"There are (among others) two men in their 60s, a single father in his late
40s, a love triangle involving a married couple in their 30s, sweethearts in
their 20s getting engaged, and a 13 year old girl."
Stitt's work can be heard at www.georgiastitt.com.
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