Thursday, September 13, 2007

A NEW MUSICAL : LOOKING FOR SINGERS




Today the ad goes out formally in Backstage West for the upcoming musical recording of the new musical I am writing with John Nugent called "Seven" -- a delightful and fun musical romp and spoof about the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Cardinal virtues. We have already received about thirty two responses from the Internet listing of the piece. The premise in this spoof is simple: imagine that the promised Millennium has arrived and the devil is about to be locked up by the Archangels (Gabriel, Michael, etc) for the promised one thousand years. Imagine also that the Seven Deadly Sins gather themselves in a panic meeting in the old Garden of Eden, under the mistaken assumption that one of them needs to take the devil's place in the world during these one thousand years. Who will be in charge? On the other side of the garden another meeting is taking place with the Seven Cardinal Virtues. They figure that if these "Deadlies" can't decide what to do, they may all scatter and do what they will in the now peaceful world. The solution is diversion. Divert these guys into a harmless place where they can't cause any trouble. That place is a "twilight zone" type fictional town called "Temptation, Ohio" Of course the Deadlies fall for this like a stack of dominoes. There are complications when the devil escapes his Millennium prison and a vice and a virtue fall in love. Great songs and a funny script. In case you don't know what the Seven Deadly Sins are: Listed in the same order used by both Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th Century AD, and later by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, the seven deadly sins are as follows: Luxury (extravagance, later known as Lust), Gula (gluttony), Avaritia (better known as Greed), Acedia (Sloth), Ira -- more commonly known as anger), Invidia (Envy), and Superbia (Pride). Each of the seven deadly sins has an opposite among the corresponding seven cardinal virtues (sometimes also referred to as the contrary virtues). In parallel order to the sins they oppose, the seven holy virtues are chastity, abstinence, temperance, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. Some of the talent interested here is pretty amazing. So we will see what happens. The songs are pure fun such as Greed's song "You've Gotta Love Your Money Like A Dame" or the devil's lament at his millennium imprisonment called "It's Only A Thousand Years" In other great news THE TRAVELING COMPANION" is now completely re-written (with a much better libretto and a much defined score) Tim Doran and I are very proud of this latest effort. MARKETING BEGINS IMMEDIATELY!

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