A lifelong dream was begun in 2005. A full stage musical was born. Called "Anytown USA", it is the story of Harry Bloom and his family, and the trials and tribulations that occur when Harry is suddenly let go from his seemingly perfect job. His boss's family, it turns out, were plotting to replace Harry with the 'black sheep' son, and as the story unfolds, a bunch of irreverent characters from their families and from the town weave their way into the plot. A series of incidents create hilarious and heartbreaking plot twists, until the surprise ending will leave you rolling in the aisles! "Anytown USA" is destined to spread like wildfire once it is finished. Progress will surely continue in fits and starts, and hopefully, the production will soon be unleashed on the unsuspecting public!!
December 30, 2005 - Yesterday morning, I woke up at 6 AM, which is unusual for me. I don't know what hidden forces pushed me out of my bed, but I headed right for the piano and came up with a new song for the show! Called 'On Top of the Mountain', it's to be sung by Sandy (Harry's wife) at the end of the very first scene, just after Harry leaves for work and the kids leave for school. I just love these unplanned 'accidents' of creativity!
Starting in January, Ken, Sherrye and I will be diving back in to our weekly brainstorming sessions, and we hope to make a lot of progress over the next few months.
January 30, 2006 - Well, we're back into it, and last week produced a great session, zeroing in on more first act dialogue. When we are done with the general dialogue of the entire first act, I will post it on the site. It should be no more than a few more weeks. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, I plan on getting basic piano/vocal recordings of a handful of the songs. When those are done, I will post them as well. This is WAY too much fun!
April 11, 2006 - More dialogue has been written. All of act 1 is basically done! Now, we are a good half way through act two, which is the part of the show where both Harry and Bull go home to tell their families the evening of Harry's dismissal from his job. This is tricky dialogue, because you need to keep it interesting and emotional without it being too down. We're having fun with it, for sure. A new tune has been written as well, this one for Sandy, at the end of Act 1, Scene 1. It's called "On Top of the mountain", in which she expresses her thanks for all the things she has in life, not knowing what's about to happen.
May 8, 2006 - Although we have done a bit of character development, as well as some dialogue, we've slowed down just a bit over the past month. Like John Lennon said; "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" (Did someone else say that before him?). So, in the ebb and flow of creativity, we are ebbing a bit right now. We understand that, and we are not worried in the least. I'll still keep posting, and I'm sure the cycle will return to a creative burst very soon.
