MORE COWBELLS, WITCHES, AND KNIGHTS

So I was set to meet with Kari Kraakevik- composer, genius, and friend who I have agreed to write a musical with. The meeting is at Starbucks, and we're going to sit down and I'm going to tell her my basic ideas for the plot. The show is based on Rose Red and Snow White, an old Norske legend immortalized by the Brothers Grimm. We've talked a bit about the basics- two main characters are sisters who are very different. There's a cranky Imp, and a bear who comes in from the cold. We want to make it all about Rose and being different, being something other than what your parents want you to be- in her case, being wild and needing to go out into the world and find whatever she finds. We've talked about making the bear a wolf- a Wolf Prince, and giving him an older brother- a Wolf King. Now we need a basic structure, with places for songs and over 20 characters.

And go!

Okay- let's start by giving the Imp a back story. Why is he so mean? How about: once, the Imp was your run of the mill human, but got turned into the Imp by an evil wizard? Yeah, and not just any normal human, but the father of Rose and Snow. Now that sounds good. Explains the absent father, creates all sorts of possibilities down the road. So, what happened? Long ago, while looking for food, he followed a deer deep into the mountains. Now in those very same mountains lived a very powerful wizard- no, a witch- no, an enchantress who used her power for good. Yeah, I like that. And this enchantress' heart was a huge ruby which she kept safe in those mountains. And the man- let's call him the Hunter, comes upon the ruby, and not knowing any better, breaks it into little pieces in the hopes of selling them. Which is a bad idea, as the enchantress is now upset about her heart being broken, and is now without a heart, and therefore incapable of mercy. She zaps the hunter, turns him into the Imp, and is now all messed up, evil, bad- now she's a bad witch. And she needs a name. I take Endorra for the Witch of Endor from the Bible, and Belle from the Bell Witch legend, and now she has a name: Endorra Belle.

So that will all be in a prelude, sort of like in Disney's Beauty and the Beast- a quick set up leading us to Rose Red and Snow White living with their mom. The village has been living in fear ever since Endorra went bad. And we'll have a song introducing most of the characters. In the first draft of the plot, this takes place in the forest, and I make a note to create some forest creatures as characters. The song will have to be about the differences between Rose and Snow- wild vs. domestic, yin and yang and all that. And we'll call it "Red and White".

Okay, next we can have Rose and Snow go into the woods picking berries- always trouble. They meet the Imp like in the fairy tale, help him out of a jam, and he's a jerk. After he leaves, the sisters can sing a duet about domesticity vs. freedom. Excellent. Next, back home, they can meet the Wolf Prince. And to fill out the cast, let's give the Wolf Prince a side-kick. A black sheep called Night, who can turn out to be a bad guy/spy. Later on, after the first read through, I will change the Wolf Prince's name to the Timberwolf because it's a little confusing having a Wolf Prince and a Wolf King. On top of that, there was a DC superhero named Timberwolf who was a member of  the Legion of Superheroes.

I like to put weird, obscure references in my work. Sometimes they're cultural, sometimes they're historical, sometimes they're personal. I figure, if it doesn't hamper the story, makes sense on its own, and will make those who get it feel extra smart, why not? If nothing else, it keeps me amused, and invested in the story- and often, what starts as a goofy allusion to some book I read leads to a great moment.

So Timberwolf shows up, and turns out to be a lost prince, trapped in another form. This is good- see, everyone wants Rose to be something she's not. And in the story, there are other characters who have been forced to be things they are not. And none of them are better for it. That's a theme, or something.

And if there's a missing prince, then there have to be people looking for him. Knights. And I sense a chance for some comic relief. What is the knights are sort of goofy? Yes. It's all coming together. And here's the weird thing. There's this point for me when I'm making up a story where it all clicks, and I can't really explain it, but somehow, I no longer really have to think all that much about what should happen. I just sort of see it in my mind. The characters, the scenery, the whole thing- and it's like I'm just writing down what I see in my head. There might be a little snag here and there, a moment I need to tweak- but that's all mechanics. Sometimes, scenes I see end up getting cut from the show. Doesn't mean they aren't part of the whole story, they're just a part we don't need to see on stage. Once I hit that point, writing the play becomes nothing more or less than the story showing itself to me.

At least, that's how it feels. More on all that next time. By the way, the amazing costume sketches you see are the work of Sherry McClure, who is designing sets and costumes for our production at Actors Academy of the Performing Arts. Tickets are now on sale for our December 14, 15, and 16 performances in Boulder. Go here to buy some.

Also, my short play Lovers, Lunatics, and Poets will be available very soon from Playscripts, inc. Go here for more info.

And last but not least, two things on Burning the Old Man. If you are in the city of Pardubice in the Czech Republic, go see it performed in Czech under the title Putovani S Urnou at Divadlo Exil. And, I just got the Portuguese translation, As Cinzas do Velho, for a production going up in Sao Paolo in March. If you are in that part of the world, I hope you can see it. Of course, if you'd like to read an English version of the play, you can always buy your very own copy at the fantastic web site Indie Theater Now. Go here for more info.

That's all for today- now go out there and get your theatre on!

RAISED BY WOLVES

So as most of you know, I am writing the book and lyrics for a new musical called ROSE RED. It's based on an old Norske legend made famous by the Brothers Grimm. We had a story book of it when I was a kid, and I can still see the illustration of the ungrateful dwarf in the story, struggling to get his beard free from a tree stump in which it had been inexplicably stuck. I never could figure out how his beard got in there. It just didn't make sense. But I digress.

So, it was April, and I had agreed to write a musical with Kari Kraakevik based on Rose Red and Snow White. In short order, I needed to take a short fairy tale with five characters and expand it into a full length play, with at least 20 characters. The original story is pretty short: two sisters, Rose Red, who is sort of wild,  and Snow White, who is very domestic, live with their mother in the woods. One day, they meet a dwarf who is always getting into trouble- like having his beard stuck in a tree trunk- and they always help him out. He never thanks them for their help. In fact, he's mean to them after they help- calling them dullards and slugs and other nasty things like that. The girls also meet a bear who asks if he can come in from the cold and sleep in their house. They say okay, and become friends. One day, the girls find the dwarf being threatened by their bear friend. They decide not to help the dwarf anymore because he's been so mean. The bear kills the dwarf, and turns out to be a prince whom the dwarf had enchanted into being a bear. The prince marries Snow White, and from out of nowhere, the prince's brother appears and marries Rose Red. End of story. I never liked that ending.

I decide we need to change the bear to a wolf. I have always loved wolves. I'm not sure why. I just do. In fact, back when my main focus was being an actor, whenever I had to put a bio in a program, I'd say I was raised by wolves in Northern California. This came about because of a joke my sister Heather played once. She was directing me in a production of A Christmas Carol at Expanded Arts on the Lower East Side of NYC, and bios were due for the program. I hadn't written one, so she took it on herself to write mine, and she included the line "raised by wolves in Northern California." I liked it, and the line became part of my standard bio.

So the bear became a wolf. I call him the Wolf Prince. And why stop at one wolf? I figured, if he has a brother, shouldn't he be a wolf, too? And not just a wolf, but a more forbidding, semi-evil one. Now, when I was in fourth grade or so, I read a book called "The Wolf King" by Ann Turnbull. It was all about this boy in a village long ago who goes off to fight the evil Wolf King, who in the end turns out to be his brother. At least, that's how I remember the plot through the foggy ruins of time. So I create a Wolf King for our story- a dark character who rides in the night and is not to be trifled with.

So that's 6 characters down. Next, time to blow the plot up, see what happens.

More on that next time.

Performances of ROSE RED are set for December 14th at 7pm, December 15 at 2pm and 7pm, and December 16 at 2pm. All performances are at Actors Academy for the Performing Arts 5311 Western Ave.  Boulder, CO 80301. For more information and/or tix, call 303-245-8150 or email info@theaterforkids.net. We also have a facebook page for the show:

www.facebook.com/RoseRedMusical

Please visit and "like". And if you'd like to see more of my work, please visit the wonderful site Indie Theatre Now:

www.indietheaternow.com

ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF DANGER

Had our first read through of ROSE RED on Saturday, and it was pretty friggin' fantastic to be sitting in a room once again, hearing a new script being read out loud by the people who are going to be performing it. Lots of things to do- scenes to tighten, plots twists to introduce and/or rework, songs to reprise, and of course, things that I don't even realize yet are out there, waiting to help transform this rough gem into a brilliant ruby (I would have said diamond, but it's cliche, and ruby is more appropriate for this show- come see it in December at Actor's Academy for the Performing Arts in Boulder to find out how).  I don't know if I can properly convey how exhilarating it is to hear a play you've written get a full read through. Exhilarating and terrifying and magic. The exhilarating part is when a line or scene comes across as you envisioned it when you wrote it. The terrifying part is when something you think is brilliant falls flat. The magic part is when an actor or actors find something in a scene you didn't realize was there- some depth or insight that might have been intentional but subconscious, or might just be happenstance, but for whatever reason is there and makes the play even better than you think.

I got all three on Saturday.



Anyhow- I said I would use this blog to describe how this show came about, so on we go.

We had settled on Rose Red and Snow White as our source material, and it was time to come up with a plot that could fill out a full length musical with a casts of at least 20, and up to 40 or more- if we should get lucky enough to have a theatre company want to produce it that likes large casts for their musicals. That would mean either Broadway, or children's theatre. In the original story, there are five characters: Rose Red, Snow White, their mother, a cranky dwarf, and a bear. So first order of business, come up with fifteen more characters at the very least.

Okay, the work begins.  First off, I change the dwarf to "The Imp". It sounds better to me, and is a reference to "Game of Thrones". I'm a bit of a geek, and like to put references to things in my plays. Allusions, if you will. I figure if people get them, great. If not, no harm. And it keeps me amused and into the work.  Next, I try to think of another villain- someone really powerful and strong and who can be played by a girl, because in young people's theatre, there are a lot more girls than boys. So I try to think up a witch/enchantress. I google famous witches, find some names, mix them together, and come up with the name "Endorra Belle". Sounds good to me. Now, why is she so nasty? I prefer stories where the bad guys have a reason for being the way they are. So, what if she used to be good, but went to the dark side after being wronged. Yeah, now it starts to gel in my head. Maybe the Imp used to be nice to, but did something foolish and/or cruel that turned Endorra Belle evil- and she punishes him by turning him into the Imp. Now that speaks to me, and the story starts to sort of fly out of my head at a pretty fast pace. I don't want to give it all away- sufficed to say the world of the play has a powerful villain in Endorra, and her agent the Imp.

Great, now I have six characters, only about twenty to go- plus a plot, theme, etc.

Next- sidekicks.

And don't forget, if you'd like to read one of my other plays, Like BURNING THE OLD MAN, or HELA AND TROY, or FENWAY: LAST OF THE BOHEMIANS, go to one of these wonderful websites:

http://www.playscripts.com/author.php3?authorid=1062

http://www.indietheaternow.com/Playwright/Playwright/KellyMcAllister

MAKING A MUSICAL, part 1

I think I'll use this blog to chronicle the birth of my new musical, ROSE RED. Seems that my writing about how I write might be of interest to some folks.

So, late last spring, Kari Kraakevik- who has been teaching with me at Actor's Academy for the Performing Arts up in Boulder for the past few years- told me that I should write a musical with her- a musical either for, or to be performed by, young people. Something that would appeal to the kind of audience who likes Wicked.

For those who know me only by my plays, this might sound a little strange. My plays, by and large, deal with lost, crazy, and/or angry people who drink to excess, get high, and swear with authority.  My first play, LAST CALL, had two guys run around naked for about ten minutes of the show, and I used the F word so much that we seriously considered putting the catch phrase "a f#$@ a minute" on the posters. I don't set out to write plays with so much "adult" material- but that seems to be what usually happens.

But I also happen to work really well with young people. No doubt we're emotional equals or something- but regardless the reason, I seem to be able to relate to the young pretty well. Since moving to Colorado, I've directed a lot of shows with young casts, and taught a ton of classes. I am sure I've worked with over a thousand young actors in the past five years.

So writing a musical for young people didn't seem so crazy after all. next, we needed to choose what to write about. I suggested maybe using my play MUSE OF FIRE, which takes place on a college campus- and had lots of swearing, drinking, and people mentioning that fact that human beings have sex. So that was out.

Then I suggested Rose Red and Snow White. It was one of my favorites when I was a kid, and the minute I mentioned it, I got a good feeling. Part of that, no doubt, was nostalgia for days gone by, like the happy feeling I get every time I hear theme song for The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But there was something more- just a feeling in my gut that said "yeah, this could be the way to go."

In my life, I seem to only get gut feelings that work out when it comes to writing. I don't know if this is the Universe's way of telling me to be a writer, or to keep me in the poor house, but that's just the way it is. And when the voices in my head talk, I listen.

So Kari and I met at a Starbucks up in Boulder in May, and I sort of hashed out a basic plot for the musical- expanding the story, adding lots of characters and plot twists along the way. Kari wrote everything down, and emailed me the results.

Now it was up to me to write the thing.

I'll start to tell you about that next time. In the interim, please check out these sites where you can buy for a very low price some of my earlier plays:

http://www.indietheaternow.com/Playwright/Playwright/KellyMcAllister

http://www.playscripts.com/author.php3?authorid=1062

 And then go to my short films Facebook page and give it a "like".

https://www.facebook.com/StrongTeaMovie


Up next, how I turned a bear into a wolf.

RED AND WHITE

So I'm working on a new musical based on the Grimm fairy tale Rose Red and Snow White. And no, it's not that Snow White. Same name, different girl. I'm doing book and lyrics, and Kari Kraakevik is doing the music.

It's sort of a full circle thing for me, to be writing the book and lyrics for a musical based on a classic of children's literature. The first thing I ever got paid to write was the book for a musical based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen. This was long ago, before I considered myself a "real writer"- I've always written things, but only in the past ten years have answered the question "what do you do?" with "I'm a writer". The Snow Queen that I worked on was a musical, composed by John Jay Espino in the early 1990s for The Childrens Theatre Workhop in Pleasanton, CA. The music is awesome, it was a blast to work on- and I don't even have a copy of it. I suppose I should hunt it down.

Anyhow, the new show is called Rose Red, and is set to have it's first performances in December at Actors Academy for the Performing Arts in Boulder (formerly Rocky Mountain Theatre for Kids). The plan, at this juncture, is to eventually have two versions- one to be performed by young actors, one to be performed by a much wider age range. The production this December will be performed by young actors, and I am very excited about how it's shaping up. We just had auditions, and here's a brief clip of some of the cast singing the song Red and White:

There's a lot to do now. We've got a book, and all the songs- but having worked on new shows, I know there will be changes- things we find in rehearsal, those middle of the night inspirations, etc. On top of the creative side, there's also press releases, social networking, and all that. Work, work, work- thank God I love it.

So, what's so special about this show? 

Tune in next time to find out-

I will say this- there is a character named Stinker who likes to quote Shakespeare, a Wolf King, and three gossips named Hedda, Rona, and Louella who are all new to the classic story, but turning out to be a hoot.

The show is cast- now on to rehearsal. 

Please pass this along to anyone and everyone you know- I want the show to sell out. I want to add performances. I want a hit.

And I'm gonna get one.