FROM THE ARCHIVES: THIS STORY HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD BEFORE
NOTE: Written in January 2013, when I was anticipating the world premiere of A LITTLE PRINCESS. The excitement of knowing the show you wrote will be fully produced in front of a live audience ... well, it never gets old.
Michael DeSouza as Ram Dass in A Little Princess
The stage is dark. From the darkness, a voice sings the notes of an ancient song, the words unknown, the syllables mysterious and intriguing. The melody teases with a sense of the Far East, an exotic blend of woodwind and harp and human voice. From the darkness, a glow of light reveals the singer: a man wearing a turban. His refrain finished, he turns his focus to the audience and speaks directly to them. “This story has never been told before,” he declares, “…by me, to you.” As he continues, the lights come up full on the stage to reveal the full cast – the men, the women, the girls –as they fill the stage with the rousing opening number.
For the next two hours, these actors tell the story of Sara Crewe and a man named Tom Carrisford. They are in costume, they have doors to open and windows to climb through, and there are props – a little bag that holds two buns, an accounting book, an umbrella. There are stage lights, there are musicians. A musical, on a stage, in front of an audience of people who paid for the privilege of being there to see it.
I can see it so clearly in my mind. But I have never seen it in the real world. This April, though, I will see it in the real world, on a real stage, at the Sacramento Theatre Company.
The story of Sara Crewe has, of course, been told before, many, many times. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel has been read by generations of children and their parents. Sara’s story has been told in film, with many variations. Sara’s story has been told on stage, too, and several other writers have written musicals to tell Sara’s story. Even our musical, our story of Sara Crewe, has been told before … by us, to others.
Eric Rockwell and I with Skip Kennon, our mentor at the BMI Workshop, taken years later, when Skip helped us with our AEA Auditions for A Little Princess.
We first told the story of Sara Crewe in the BMI/Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop in New York City. It wasn’t the whole story, but each time we finished a song or musical scene, we brought it into the Workshop to run it past our fellow songwriters, to get their reactions and to get the guidance of our mentors. We learned a lot during the process, and the process included re-writing and re-writing many times until we were sure we were telling the story we intended to tell. From that experience, we gained the confidence to know that this story could certainly be a show. That people were intrigued by our work and wanted to hear more. Song by song, scene by scene, the writers of the Workshop listened, and by listening, they became a part of the story.
When the show was completed and had been tried out in a reading in front of a Chicago audience – and more re-writes had been completed – the show was selected by the Dramatists Guild for their Festival of New Musicals. Again we told the story of Sara Crewe, this time with a small cast of professional actors, reading with scripts in their hands, but singing and acting the hell out of our material. The audience included a panel of some of our musical theater idols, Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Bock, Lynn Ahrens, and Larry Grossman. They were there on behalf of the Dramatists Guild, to listen to our work and give us constructive criticism afterwards. The compliments they gave us encouraged us to continue our work. They said it was good. But they also said they really hadn’t wanted to see the show. They had come because it was their obligation to participate in the event, but they really hadn’t wanted to see another musical about a poor orphan girl who has lost her father. And yet, they said, they had been drawn in, and they found themselves loving the tale in spite of themselves. Sheldon, Jerry, Lynn, and Larry – they became a part of the story.
We presented the show again as a staged reading in New York, and invited producers, family, and friends. In that staged reading, again we had a brilliant cast, and again the audience had to supply the sets, costumes, props, lighting, and orchestra with their imaginations. In doing so, they became a part of the story, too.
In the years that followed, our musical was put away as our lives intervened. A baby was born, a family moved out of town, another show brought success, another job claimed our time. Our musical existed only in a 3-ring binder, sitting on a shelf. Not theater. Not a story. Just words and notes on paper.
Soon, however, actors will speak those words and sing those notes. Soon, the artists of STC will become the storyteller. The people of Sacramento will listen. And the story of Sara Crewe will be told for the first time ever … by them, to them.
A STORY ISN’T DEAD AND COLD, THERE’S LIFE IN EVERY WORD
A STORY CAN’T GROW OLD
IT CHANGES EVERY TIME IT’S TOLD, AND EVERY TIME IT’S HEARD