My In Development Musicals • MICHAEL PERRY PRODUCTIONS



 


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PRODUCTION READY MUSICALS 

(ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED)


THE ANOINTED: An Epic Musical

Book and Lyrics by Thomas F. Rogers

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

A musical spanning and contrasting the years from Saul’s Kingship, when David slew Goliath, through to Solomon’s building of the temple in Jerusalem. A gripping musical drama.

VISIT THE ANOINTED


APOCALYPSO!  A Revelation of a Musical

Book and Lyrics by Thom Duncan

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

Based on the Book of Revelation, this quirky and driving musical will leave you laughing, crying, and maybe a little shattered, because after all, it is about the Apocalypse!

Mr. Dragon shows up, the most exciting producer/director in Broadway history, and he has a new show about the end of days.

VISIT APOCALYPSO


THE BALLAD OF PARLEY P!

Book and Lyrics by Thom Duncan

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

The Life and Times of Parley P. Pratt as told by a theatrical company who ‘stumble’ upon his life story and create a musical out of it. Their struggles over the material, their belief, or lack of it, drive this story.

VISIT: THE BALLAD OF PARLEY P!


CHRISTMAS ON THE BLUE

Book and Lyrics by Elizabeth Hansen

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

The 1940s — struggling radio station — World War II soldier missing and feared dead. But it’s Christmas and his wife and son refuse to give up as they keep his dream of local radio alive. Until a stranger shows up.

VISIT: CHRISTMAS ON THE BLUE


COMING HOME – A Christmas Story

Book & Lyrics by George G. King

Music & Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

On the night of the great blizzard of 1953 a young couple find their way to the Herstoller Hotel, a mountain inn. She is pregnant. Their car has broken down just outside. They are looking for a room. The innkeeper’s wife is leaving; she has had it. As her husband enters they begin to air their personal laundry in front of these young strangers. But a busload of entertainers is on their way, and though the inn is all booked up––the beds aren’t made, yet! The wife leaves. The young couple is turned away. The daughter of the innkeeper, and her boyfriend, arrive. The innkeeper’s wife re-enters with the young couple in tow, and she needs a doctor–– right away. What no one in the play seems to realize is that they are all in the process of coming home.

VISIT: COMING HOME

 


CRICKET ON THE HEARTH

Book Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

This is Dickens’ other Christmas carol. The magic of life is evident in the Peerybingle household with a happy marriage and a newborn son. Two houses are blessed by the lucky Crickets: The Peerybingles, the Plummers, with Mr. Tackleton’s awaiting the blessing of life and love.. Everyone’s paths are soon to cross with Tackleton, a disgruntled toymaker, who hates all humanity except May Fielding. He lives to make people miserable — especially children — as his toys are gruesome and scary. His employees, Caleb and Bertha, (who is blind) are simple, poor people who slave to make quality toys that the children will play with. Tackleton berates them, but their toys are purchased over his and that makes him even more bitter. Tackleton’s marriage plans are interrupted by the return of The Strange Gentleman — a man with a secret. After the work of the Crickets and the household Spirits, Tackleton gives up May to The Strange Gentleman, who is really Caleb’s long lost son (Bertha’s brother) and marries May’s mother — a woman more suitable to his age. But not before accusations are made and trust is broken all around and everyone is afraid that nothing will turn out on Christmas Eve morning. SONGS include: Gruff and Tackleton, Peerybingle and Son, Cricket on the Hearth, Just To Be Alive, Lots of Toys, You Are My Eyes, Steel Yourself, Calm Quiet Moon, How Good, I Will Remember, Everyday Every Hour, At This Time of Year.

VISIT: THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH


EAST OF THE SUN, WEST OF THE MOON

a new family musical

Book and Lyrics by George and Gayanne King

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

(based on the Norwegian Folk Tale)

Trolls, Humans, True Love, Slavery, Quests, Magic, all the little things that matter.

Prince Anders, on his way to find his younger brother, who has been stolen by the Trolls, meets a commoner, Kristin at the village well — said to be a magical place for making wishes come true.  But others know of the magic of the well — the Troll Queen and her daughter — and the wishes begin to collide and counteract each other. Anders wants to find his brother. Kristin wants to be a Wise Woman. The trolls want Anders to marry the Troll Princess, Prince Anders wants to be free to marry whom he thinks will be best for him and the kingdom. (Anybody voting for Kristin? Anybody?) After the Troll Queen turns Anders into a White Bear, the adventure really begins. Kristin, at the urging of her parents, consents to travel and stay with the White Bear at his magical castle. She is treated well — very well — but is lonely. The White Bear gives her leave to go home — with a warning — which Kristin inadvertently ignores, causing Anders to be whisked away to the Troll palace East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Kristin vows to find and rescue the Prince. With the help of the North Wind, and the voices of the Lost children — and the magic of the Wise Women — Kristin arrives at East of the Sun, West of the Moon where she must out-wit the Troll Princess and the Queen. Well, through magical means, and help from her friends, Kristin saves the Prince and the Trolls are banished. And Kristin and Anders? Well, it is a Folk Tale. What do you think happens? The themes of self-confidence, self-determination, finding the magic inside of each of us, and the nature of wisdom are explored in thie searching play for young people and their families

VISIT: EAST OF THE SUN, WEST OF THE MOON


GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Book and Lyrics by Neil K. Newell Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

On a wet and dreary day in 1858, Charles Dickens finds shelter from a storm in the home of one Phillip Pirrip. Intrigued by the unusual artifacts that decorate his home he entreats Phillip to tell him the story behind them. The 65 year-old Phillip begins telling the story of his childhood, when he was known as Pip, in what is soon to become Dickens’ newest novel, “GREAT EXPECTATIONS.” Considered one of Dickens’ finest works, “GREAT EXPECTATIONS” is the coming of age story of the orphan Pip who falls in love with the unreachable Estella. In order to win her he desires to raise himself from a blacksmith’s apprentice to a gentleman. When the means to do so miraculously appear, he travels to London, with expectations to become a gentleman. In spite of his new-found wealth and position Estella remains unreachable. When Pip learns that his mysterious benefactor is none other than a common criminal, whom he had aided when he was a child, he realizes that he can no longer accept his support. This signals the end of his financial expectations and a final realization that Estella will forever remain unreachable. Years later, Pip and Estella meet once again. The years of hard experience have softened Estella and brought her to the realization that Pip is her first and only love. The unique construction of the script allows for a fluid staging with Dickens and Phillip wandering through the story — experiencing and living it. The haunting and unforgettable musical score adds rich texture to this classic story of love and loss.

VISIT: GREAT EXPECTATIONS


HEIDI – A New Family Musical

Book and Lyrics by Gayanne Ramsden King

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

A faithful telling of the classic story of the little girl and her Grandfather on the Alm. The focus of the musical is on how Heidi’s life and ebullient spirit touches and changes each life she comes in contact with as she grows up and learns about God. Peter, Alm Uncle, The Grandmother, Klara Sesseman, Herr Sesseman, Grandmother Sesseman, the Servants — all are changed by their contact with Heidi. Even Miss Rottenmeier and the Professor are touched by her magic, but choose not to change. Heidi does not remain unchanged by her contact with those around her; she soaks up life and learns painful and joyful lessons and goes on.

VISIT: HEIDI


IMPRESSIONS ON PLATES OF GOLD: A Book of Mormon Musical Experience

Book and Lyrics by Eric Samuelsen

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

The power and purpose of the Book of Mormon come to the forefront in this unique celebration of its message, interpreted by “likening the Scriptures” for modern audiences. We become part of some of the greatest stories and moments in the Book of Mormon. We come to understand both our Earthly Purpose and our Divine Nature and how they work together, through our personal involvement. Mormon, Moroni, Nephi, Captain Moroni, Amulek, Lamoni’s Wife, The Stripling Warriors and their Mothers and many more provide us with examples of Faith — it is not perfect, not without momentary doubt — but that Faith is perfect-ing and able to empower each Human soul, impelling them towards their God and Creator.

VISIT: IMPRESSIONS ON PLATES OF GOLD


THE INNKEEPER’S SON

— A musical version of the Nativity with a special twist.

BOOK by Stephen Tomek

MUSIC and LYRICS by C. Michael Perry

Jamis, the Innkeeper’s son and his friend, Benjamin, are bored with the sameness of life and fascinated by the local Roman Guard. The future lies with Rome and all it can offer. Strangers appear on their doorstep at taxing time. Joseph and his espoused wife, Mary — heavily pregnant — arrive looking for a room. The inn has none, but they are offered room in the stable. They accept. As miracles occur, the household and others find that there is the most special guest as a baby is born — The Messiah — which not only changes the lives of the adults, but begins to hit home with James and Benjamin, who now see a future they had never imagined.

VISIT: THE INNKEEPER’S SON


LET THERE BE LOVE

— A Love Story of Joseph and Emma Smith

Book and Lyrics by Thom Duncan

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

The love story of Emma Hale and Joseph Smith is one of the great stories of any era. Devoted to each other, amid endless strife and challenges of Faith, they emerge  not unscathed, but curiously strengthened.

VISIT: LET THERE BE LOVE


LITTLE MEN — The Musical

Based on the sequel to Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women”

Book, Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

Jo and Professor Baher are set up at Plumfield, with a home and school for boys (and a girl or two). This musical is the story of the arrival of Nat and Dan from Boston. What they add to and how they affect and incite the others of the school becomes the center of the story.

VISIT: LITTLE MEN


LITTLE PRINCESS: Sara Crewe, A Musical

Book by Coni Koepfinger and C. Michael Perry

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

A beloved children’s classic now available in a new musical treatment. Sara Crewe is a gifted and well-mannered child, and Captain Crewe, her father, is an extraordinarily wealthy man. So, Miss Minchin, mistress of Sara’s boarding school, has no choice but to treat Sara as her star pupil — a little princess. One day the message comes through that Sara’s father has died penniless in India. Miss Minchin reduces Sara to a beggar and a drudge and the other girls laugh and make fun. All except for Lottie and Ermengarde and the little scullery maid, Becky. They keep Sara going and she enthuses them. Sara is strong-willed and courageous and with the help of an Indian Gentleman, a Lascar and a large family — she survives and helps those around her to survive as well. Burnett is the same author who penned “Little Lord Fauntleroy” and “The Secret Garden;” all three stories are timeless classics with themes that inspire and uplift.

VISIT: LITTLE PRINCESS-SARA CREWE


POLLYANNA • A MUSICAL

Book by Coni Koepfinger

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

Based on the Eleanor Porter novel

The irrepressible young Pollyanna Whittier meets her dour and formidable Aunt Polly Harrington. Neither of their lives have been easy; one by circumstances, the other by choice. Pollyanna, like most heroines of her era has a personality most do not understand at first, but the girl shares her Glad Game with all, including her Aunt. Then Pollyanna herself is challenged with an accident that will test her unique outlook to her very core.

VISIT: POLLYANNA!


ROSE: THE MUSICAL STORY OF ROSE O’NEILL, THE KEWPIE LADY

Book by Max Golightly & Neil K. Newell

Lyrics by Max Golightly, Neil Newell and C. Michael Perry

Music by Neil K. Newell and C. Michael Perry

A FABULOUSLY TRUE STORY ABOUT ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC WOMEN OF AMERICA

A challenging musical that dramatizes the life of Rose O’Neill, one of America’s most glamorous and eccentric artists and the creator of, among other things, the Kewpie Doll. Her strong family support in the midst of almost overwhelming odds is a testament to the worth and viability of the family unit. Through divorce, death and financial disaster Rose and the O’Neill family weathered the storms of life — together. It wasn’t all bad. There was joy and harmony as well as the despair, among their tribulations. Though enormously wealthy during most of their lives, the O’Neills started with nothing but each other. And they ended with nothing but each other. This is a story for all ages and times.

As if her Kewpie fame was not enough, she was the inspiration for the song, “Rose of Washington Square” (with words by Ballard MacDonald and music by James F. Hanley) which was sung by Fanny Brice in Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic in 1920. She was the model for the baby-talking-cartoon character of Betty Boop, and her sweet way with that same baby-talking personality gave Booth Tarkington, a close personal friend, the idea to immortalize Rose as the character Lila, in his novel, “Seventeen.”

She was an artist, illustrator, author and outspoken advocate for women’s rights, being the first American woman (at age 18, even) to ever illustrate for a magazine or newspaper. As a philanthropist, she nurtured new artists and writers of every kind at all of her homes in America and abroad. She was the one-of-a-kind: ROSE!

This show began life as KEWPIE! but has been revised to create, ROSE!

VISIT: ROSE


THE SAGA OF SASQUATCH C’LONE: DOC HOLLIDAYS ELECTRONIC MEDICINE SHOW

Book and Lyrics by Jon Robert Howe

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

A cast of 7 plus the piano-player, who often gets in on the action. Frontier sets, costumes and props with plenty of anachronisms. Two competing Medicine Shows: “Doc Holliday’s Electronic Medicine Show” vs. “Slickery Q. Slidey’s Toilet Water Tableaux”. They both sell Sasquatch C’lone, which they both claim to manufacture from a secret recipe. Doc sells bottle after bottle. Slickery sells … well, less than that, at least not at Doc’s price. Slickery is jealous, too jealous, because he is, after all, the bottler of all the C’lone ever made. He just can’t sell much of it to anyone but Doc, because Doc has the machine to distribute it: The Buckskin-Talky-Picture-In-A-Box, broadcast on the Saddle-light Broadcasting System, to cabins and fine homes across Pioneer America. Doc suspects something as Slickery carefully hides his alter-ego, Anhoser Babushka, the world famous inventor and bottler of the C’lone. The Battle of the Bottles winds its way through mayhem, hilarity, hokum and a lot of just plain downright fun, which includes side-splitingly embarrassing audience participation (a la Game Shows), until the bottles are in the hands of those who can keep the legend of the Sasquatch alive, the customers, and all are happy campers, uh, Frontiersmen, em, Pioneer Entrepreneurs of Titillating Tonsorial Delights.

VISIT: THE SAGA OF SASQUATCH C’LONE (at Leicester Bay Theatricals)


THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL

Book and Lyrics by Will Huddleston

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

Original Concept and Lyrics by Barry Collyer

Sir Percy Blakeney, The Scarlet Pimpernel, is the 17th Century equivalent of a modern “super hero”. This Englishman has rescued countless victims from the jaws of Madame Guillotine during the French Revolution. He has eluded the French authorities by his wits and clever disguises. A member of the French Committee for Public Safety named Chauvelin, is on his trail. He has married the most beautiful and popular woman in all France, Marguerite St. Just. But the marriage has turned sour due to unspoken confidences and Sir Percy’s need for utmost secrecy. This fine thriller takes us through the streets and countrysides of Paris and the French and English coasts on a ride of intrigue. Passion, history, mystery and comedy all set against the backdrop of the French Revolution.

One production, and now re-worked for a new production.

VISIT: THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL


THE SHADOW DANCERS

A Musical For the New Millennium

Book and Lyrics by Coni Koepfinger

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

The show takes place in the year 2112. The Shadow Dancers is the story of three artists. Jonathan, Sharon, and Carl, who each live in three different artistic worlds. Yet, they all share the same pangs of rebirth for the suffocation of their creative endeavors. Jonathan was once a very prosperous painter; the darling of society and the prodigy of the university scene. Carl is a priest, a choral composer, who feels the undying passion of the divine spirit being slowly snuffed out of every human being on the earth. Since most churches have closed, he lives in the memory of celebrating his Catholic faith. He is a gentle man with an unmistakable humility. Sharon, the third leg of this artistic triangle, has given her very heart and soul to the American stage. She gave up her chance at marriage, wealth, and security all for the theatre that has now closed its doors. The world now, is becoming a disease-ridden planet without art, music or theatre. She has, however, remained a faithful wife-to-the-stage, but has become so depressed about it’s recent demise that she is about to commit suicide as she climbs the icy rails of the Brooklyn Bridge. Here, the show opens, and these three meet; a moment brought together by the magic of the stars that not only saves their lives, but the world of art. Join them as a new theatre rises out of the ashes of a very dark time, ushering in the next golden age.

VISIT: THE SHADOW DANCERS


SOFIA! 

A MUSICAL ABOUT A SOUOTHWEST LEGEND

based on the play “The Last Baron of Arizona”

Book and Lyrics by Joanna Kraus

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

The largest land swindle in the history of the United States was perpetrated by dreamer and con-man, James Addison Reavis. His confident charm and talent in handwriting convinced lawyers, financiers, and a beautiful young woman that she was the true heiress to a Spanish Barony and was entitled to seven thousand five hundred square miles of the Arizona Territory. In this true story, although he uses the pretense of having a moral obligation to his wife, Reavis relishes his deeds throughout. The modern parallels of this story are far too numerous; about the man that almost got away with it. Of course, we seldom hear about those who did get away with it!

VISIT: SOFIA


STAR OF ISRAEL – The Musical Story of Esther

Book and Lyrics by George and Gayanne King

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

A dramatic and sometimes comic musical romp through the story of Queen Esther in Babylon, during the Jewish Captivity. Three Chamberlins, drivers of the plot, set the stage and deliver the story of love, betrayal, politics and faith in an ancient world. Chosen by God, yet unsure of her own abilities, Esther learns and grows to be a savior of her people in Ancient Persia. Her power of the truth in believing eventually overpowers the self-important and godless, Haman. The Jews needed to be saved and protected and Esther was The Chosen One.

VISIT: STAR OF ISRAEL


SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS: A MUSICAL TEMPEST

Suggested by Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”

Book, Music and Lyrics by Neil K. Newell

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

(OTHER POSSIBLE TITLES: “BRAVE NEW WORLD,” “A TEMPEST MUSICAL”)

You thought you knew “The Tempest”? Well, get ready for this version. We start before Shakespeare begins. We see Prospero and Miranda arrive. We see Ariel deposit Sycorax and Caliban on the isle. We see Ariel impaled in the ‘oak’ and we see Propsero defeat Sycorax. We then see Sycorax come to life again through the intervention of  Caliban and the strangers deposited on the island by Prospero’s tempest. As in the original, goodness prevails but only after valuable lessons have been learned by all. This story now involves the conflict between Sycorax/Caliban and Prospero. It is no longer an epic fantasy but a taught, musical drama with a lively and modern score. “Don’t Just Sip The Water”, “I Looked At The Moon”, “Such Stuff As Dreams”, “That’s Love”, “Brave New World”, “Have No Pity–Rule A City”, are among the songs that fill this score with inventive music and singable lyrics.

VISIT: THE TEMPEST MUSICAL


TINKERTOWN!

Book and Lyrics by Coni Koepfinger

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

TINKERTOWN is a place of ideas… For in this imaginary land we meet three very creative characters, Travis Tee – inventor, tinkerer, thinker, and toymaker extraordinaire; and his two assistants, Gadget, the engineering mastermind and Sprocket, the mechanical genius. It seems that Travis has forgotten how to think! How will anything get done? Everything has stopped! Nothing can being made anymore if Travis can’t think! For everyone knows you must be “a thinker if you want to tinker!” Help arrives via a rocket fueled by children’s creative energies and once they arrive… the sheer excitement ignites Travis into “super-thinking!” It rekindles the creative spark that gives him ideas to start tinkering once again. Six 2-3 minute songs will carry the audience beyond the threshold of adventure and into the journey. Visual needs can be kept minimal, focus will be on the organic creative stimuli to encourage audience to think about the process of creation while they are yet emerged in it.

VISIT: TINKERTOWN


TWO HANDER

Book and Lyrics by Elizabeth Hansen

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

Once a successful writing couple of hit Broadway Musicals, Jenny and Johnny DePaul, divorced long ago over creative differences and parental conflicts over their newborn daughter.  Jenny, still writing but not at her former level, is mired down in those writing blocks that threaten to derail her current show. Her producer decides to contact Johnny, now a successful writer of film scores and musicals to come in to ghostwrite the new songs.

Johnny is unaware that he is writing the songs for his former wife’s show. Jenny is unaware that Johnny has been contacted to fill the order. They are told to report to a hotel suite to write the songs the producer needs over 2 days as the opening is a week away! And the fireworks fly from there!

VISIT: TWO HANDER



MUSICALS IN PROCESS

PINOCCHIA

A Musical about a Little Wooden Girl

BOOK and LYRICS byJUNE RACHELSON-OSPA

MUSIC and LYRICS by C. MICHAEL PERRY

PINOCCHIA wants to be a real girl in this post-apocalyptic world where her long-lost cousin, Pinocchio, made it to the Big Time. 

VISIT: PINOCCHIA


DANCING ON DADDY’S SHOES

a memory play as a daughter looks fondly back on the Daddy she lost in the war. Writing in progress.

Book and Lyrics by Sheila Rinear

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

VISIT: DANCING ON DADDY’S SHOES


TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES

From the classic Brother’s Grimm Folk Tale

Book and Lyrics by Gayanne Ramsden King and George King

Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry

The 12 princesses need new shoes daily as they secretly dance the night away under the spell of a magician and their mother, the Queen. The 11 princes who join them in their magical underground forest, are vying for the hands of these princesses in marriage. Intrepid, a soldier, intrudes ingratiates himself, then becomes their tutor (all the while seeking the secret of their worn out shoes.) His presence threatens to ruin everything. Or does it?

VISIT: TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES