But wait...
/…there’s more!
What, you thought I blogged about some old music pieces and I was done? Pfft.
In my ongoing, desultory exploration/decluttering of the study, I came across this notebook:
It’s a sturdy old ledger, with page numbers that look like they were handstamped , and it was my go-to for many projects in the past, and when I say past, I mean 40 years ago.
The first project in it was a one-act that I wrote, a two-hander for an artistic director and a young company member who have met to build a flat for whatever show they were working on. (Characters clearly based on me and a friend.) It’s talky and more than a little preachy, about the creative process, personal relationships, and loneliness. I never got beyond vomiting the first draft into the ledger.
And then, August 26, 1980, I find this:
It’s been sort of decided that we’ll do our own adaptation of A Christmas Carol instead of an evening of Shakespeare.
OK. Here goes.
And off I went. Keep in mind that I started in late August, just as school was starting — and I was starting a new position as media specialist — and rehearsals for this play-with-music would begin in November.
There follows an outline of the novella, a list of possible musical numbers (Aug 27!), and then some scribbling of dialog, with the note four pages later This is stupid. As long as I’m transcribing, I might as well type it to begin with.
Then all the ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS/SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATIONS as I hammered out lyrics to the songs. Remember that I was also composing the music as well during this time, long before computers and Finale and synthesizers.
For those who are interested, go look. It’s really quite good; the “Finale” is the best version of the end of that book ever, and I love the Overture.
Anyway, back to the ledger. Some notes on Much Ado About Nothing. Some personal whining. Some scribblings on a never-begun cantata.
A massive rewrite of the first act of Anything Goes, realigning the action to obey Feydeau’s Rule. (When any two characters should under no circumstances meet, throw them together.) A complete violation of copyright, I’m afraid, but goodness it worked better than the original. (1981/82)
An outline for a made-for-TV movie involving a theatre geek and a football jock who, after getting into an altercation, are forced to trade places. Totally predictable outcome, of course. Still, it was cromulent. (1982)
Choreography notes for Anything Goes. (1982)
A history of theatre in Newnan, starting with a group called The Little Theatre in 1932, moving through the Newnan Playmakers (1956) and their productions. (The Newnan Repertory Company split from the Playmakers in 1972, then both companies recombined to form the Newnan Community Theatre Company in 1978.)
Notes on my one-act opera version of Green Eggs & Ham, a charming piece which of course had to be shelved when Geisel’s estate refused permission. (The finale, which I lifted straight from the Act II finale of Figaro, eventually led to my translation/production of Mozart’s comedy in 2002.)
Notes for One Fish Two Fish and Hop on Pop — I planned to make a trilogy. I composed a handful of songs for One Fish Two Fish, and as far as I can remember I have cannibalized all of them for other pieces: “Yop” became the overture for the penguin opera, and “Good Night”… well, hold that thought.
A quick note about my experience on the State STAR Student bus tour. (We used to take the district winners and the runners-up and their teachers and send them on a weeklong tour of the state.) (1983 — so yes, it’s been 40 years since Barbara Petzen was named State STAR Student and I got to tag along as State STAR Teacher.)
An idea for a musical about doing a show in community theatre. Hold that thought. (1983)
Notes for the first song in the song cycle Frog Songs, “What a Wonderful Bird the Frog Are” (1983)
And then… nothing. The only other entry is from 2007 — a gap of 17 years — which was me practicing calligraphy so I could draft the charter for the inaugural meeting of the Lichtenbergian Society.
Onward!
