Back to Arabian Nights

It’s been a couple months, but it’s felt like forever. I’ve been away from the play since the run at Theatre Hopkins in Baltimore. Now we’re talking about bringing it back with Harbor Opera in the Spring of 2010. That’s in the very early stages, and I’m preparing some songs from the play for further discussion. We’re talking about working with the AM/PM saxophone quartet for music. It’s still a long way from reality, but the chance to take another whack at all the sweat that went into the play the first time is very exciting. I’d have four saxophones instead of one, and a cast of trained opera singers – it’s a very exciting thought.

The trouble is that I’ve never had to dig this deeply into something I’d finished before. This play had its months of taking over my life, and it’s nine performances that got me my first proper reviews – and they were very good ones too. But now I’m going back into it again. I’m taking melodies I wrote for one cast and reconceiving them a year before we’ve cast anyone, and long before we’re even sure we’re going to do it – it’s a very strange feeling.

It’s times like these I have to remind myself how long composition takes; it really is the epitome of delayed gratification. At any rate, it’s a strange experience digging in this wonderful mud a second time.

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