Bloodties - a rock musical

In the book of Job, a righteous man loses everything. And in the grand Rabbinical tradition, arguments ensue: Job argues with God, argues with friends and teachers, argues with himself. Job tries to make sense of the senselessness of tragedy.

In this musical, our protagonist, unlike Job, is not a righteous man. He lets bitterness and guilt and self-hatred get the best of him, to the point where he does something destructive. But, afterwards, in the wake of that destruction, when he’s lost everything he worked toward, everything he loved, when he is absolutely bereft... he finds something - something that makes the loss bearable. Maybe he doesn’t deserve the thing he finds, that gift. Hard to say.

I started writing this show a while ago. It’s autobiographical. I performed it as a solo piece at the New York Fringe Fest in 2006. I started re-working it into a 5 person musical. I was then introduced to Scott C. Embler who, over the next year and a half, did great dramaturgical work on my many, many re-writes. He then directed the six performances of Bloodties that were mounted at the 2010 New York Musical Theater Festival through the generosity of the Somerled Charitable Foundation.

Then the literary agent Jonathan Mills at Paradigm came on board to represent the show. I did 6 more months of re-writes. Then spent a few more months coming up with new arrangements for a number of the songs from the show.

I have no idea what’s going to happen next. But on a good day, when I’m not exhausted, when I’m focused and have had a chance to meditate and pray and get centered, I’m okay with all the uncertainty. I can just say,"Thank you." For everything.

Like Gandhi said, "My imperfections and my failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and talents, and I lay them both at his feet."

Thanks for dropping by. Hope you enjoy the tunes on the home page. Peace.

November, 2011