This was my office for the week! I have been in Alicante, Spain, finishing up work on a bilingual musical commission I wrote (as composer) with Elissa Nicholson (book/lyrics) for the European School of Alicante. We wrote the show bespoke for the school and the students in the theatre programme, and ended up with a wild fairytale folk musical:
Onboard the cruise ship Fantasea, all of the guests are humans and all of the crew are magical creatures, enslaved by a maniacal Captain. But what happens when the creatures start to revolt against her, in search of all of the privileges their human guests seem to take for granted? Fantasea is a bilingual folk musical filled with magic, mystery, and adventure.
The students spent an intensive week with myself, Elissa, and choreographer Katie Mayfield (we love an all-female creative team!). In our music rehearsals we learnt the music and discussed musical theatre vocal technique, since their musical training at school is classical-focused.
This was a great way to wrap up this process of writing the show with Elissa, which we began in August of 2023. She is a great writing partner and as a former student of the school her insights were invaluable - could not have done it with out her!
While we were too busy working to see much of Spain, here are a few photos we managed to get on the trip. Best of luck to the European School students in the rest of their rehearsals and on their production after Easter!
