Showcases – Villages/Benjamin Button/Smoke/Never Change

Villages features songs inspired by various LGBT bars and venues throughout history. The piece explores some of the events which took place there and also the stories of the people who frequented them from The Admiral Duncan, Soho to The Stonewall Inn and Pulse, Orlando. ‘As a songwriter, he shows himself to be among the very best talents working in the country at the moment: his songs have immediate, powerful appeal. Boldly characterised, strongly rhythmic, elegantly melodic, with a mature, complex voice in the content and style of the lyrics…’ – BritishTheatre.com (2017). Based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Benjamin Button is the story of a man who ages backwards. Set in Atlanta, GA and New York from 1925 through the early 2000s, the piece explores Benjamin’s entire life, but focuses mainly on the relationships Benjamin has with his father, his wife, and his son. A show that wears its heart on its sleeve, Benjamin Button stresses the importance of family, questions the difference between love and protection, and urges all of us to cherish the moments we have – whether we’re living backwards or forwards. Although set in 1860s London, Smoke deals with contemporary issues about development and ?progress’, asking the question ‘Where Are You We Going to?’ Mrs Mill and her family’s life is turned upside-down, when the railway company arrives telling her she will have to sell her house to aid the ?Improvements’ happening in Southwark, where vast working-class areas are being demolished. Her daughter Eleanor decides to stand up to the developers, as the family struggle to hold on to their way of life, against the relentless building and destruction around them. Nine years after her father’s death, the weight of holding life together weighs heavy on Sarah. Home is a small seaside town, but she’d expected to see and do more – so this summer she has promised her teenage son, Thom, that they will go on a fabulous European road trip. Days before the trip, Sarah gets a letter from the council informing her that her father’s memorial bench is going to be removed as part of a drive to redevelop the seafront, and so she vows to do anything it takes to keep the bench in its place – even if she has to postpone her trip with Thom. Thom, furious at another delay in his and his mother’s life, takes off to Europe without her. Sarah’s mother confronts her reaction to the news about the bench and habit of putting her life on hold. What had happened to the carefree child she and Fred raised? Drastic times call for drastic measures and so ? frustrated by her mother’s intervention, panicked by Thom’s disappearance and furious with herself – Sarah hires a van, steals the memorial bench and heads to France with her insistent, over-packed mother in tow. Never Change is a musical about the people we love, how we love them, and how we try to love ourselves. At the Showcase event, you will see 20-25 minute excerpts from all 4 new musicals performed by a repertory company.

Part of the From Page to Stage 2018 Season