Over the spring and summer, I wrote a musical that’s a departure from my earlier stage work. Set in Tennessee, True North a sort of fairy tale, not based on any historical event (though World War II makes a brief appearance). The show is still in a very early stage of development, so I decided to bring some singers into the studio so that I could hear how the songs were working. Thanks to the skill and talent of seven wonderful singers—Alan Naylor, Jennifer Timberlake, Valerie Rigsbee, Abby Middleton, Chris Rios, Chelsea Majors and Rich Follett—I was able to hear ten of the songs performed beautifully. You can hear a few of these songs on my Soundcloud page.
My primary instrument is piano, but it’s by far the hardest instrument for me to write music for. Maybe that’s because I find constructing piano parts in the Sibelius software to be clunky and awkward. Or maybe it’s because I’m a jazz pianist at heart, and I hate the idea of being strapped into only one way of playing a musical thought. Still, earlier this year I was honored to accept a commission from the National String Symphonia to write a rhapsody for piano, strings, and harp. It was a challenge, but I’m pleased with how it came out—and pleased that I won’t be expected to perform the work myself. NSS conductor David Fanning, who is a gifted pianist, will do the honors when Rhapsody for Piano and Strings is premiered in the fall of 2022. You can hear a synth version of this piece on my website.
Working with the singer and actress Katie Ganem is a true pleasure. As the star of 19: The Musical, she brought the prickly character of Alice Paul to full and vibrant life on stage. Next, Katie brought her director’s chops to bear on my one-man show, which resulted in the album Charlie Barnett: All by His Own Self. When Katie called me earlier this year to ask if I would be interested in working with her on an album project, I instantly said yes—and that was even before I knew that her idea was to record an album of songs I wrote. The title cut, “Smart,” was written just for her. You can buy the album on Amazon.
I have finished two musicals over the past three years. Of course “finished” is an expedient word that really means, “We’ve stopped changing it…for now.” Musical theater is a collaborative medium, and there are many tasks still to come in the course of getting either of these pieces up on a stage with costumes, sets, lighting and a pit band. Usually, a composer will hand off the orchestration of his songs to a specialist in the art, but for these two shows, I couldn’t bear to. I had to do it myself. To me, the songs aren’t a full artistic statement unless I can have a hand in constructing the final ensemble sound. If you’re curious to hear a few of the final orchestrations for the shows, you can find them at these websites: 19: The Musical, a show about women gaining the right to vote, and When We Get There, a show about a fateful car trip to Selma, Alabama.
