I gathered my student writing team together one last time to do a final read-through on the book for our full-length, original musical that we will be performing in May.

Title: Boardwalk Melody

Style: Throwback!

We wanted to re-create the world of old-school musicals even though the setting is modern day. Here’s a brief synopsis:

A cynical, man-hating woman opens a new type of swimwear shop on the boardwalk of Summersville. Her plans to revolutionize the swimsuit industry (by designing suits that cover-up women) creates havoc to the summer dreams of the young men who work next door in the tourist shop. 

We have a delightful selection of 15 original songs ranging in style from showtunes, to blues, to jazzy-upbeat numbers, to some stirring ballads.

The best part is that we cast the entire show this week – incredibly talented cast, might I add. We have 12 actors/singers with 2 understudies and 6 dancers. I just signed up a musical director today (since we want to have live music!) and, with our choreographer and vocal director, we are ready to go.

This will be the biggest production I have ever done. Challenging? Yes. But I can’t wait to get at it come mid-January.

Boardwalk Melody is the 11th major, full-length dramatic production I’ve written in the last seven years. Wow! Where has the time gone. What fun it has been!

Anyone going to be in Penang in May?