Hoprah

Woo hoo!  I set a new years resolution and I actually followed through.  This is great.  I want to get better and better at writing stories and musicals and I think the only way to do it is if I do it over and over again.  For me, it is important to present the material for an audience because a) it really does give me a hard deadline and b) to take note of any and all reactions or non-reactions to the material.  I think it went well.  I really hope I can get this musical into a festival of some kind.  Or I’ll submit it to wherever and hope for the best.

Hoprah is one of the characters in the musical I wrote called Mimi and the Music.  She is no doubt inspired by Oprah however Hoprah is fictional because I needed this character to be a little more aggressively cheesy (think Susan Powter remember her? Stop the insanity!).  I also wanted this character to be a singer / talk show host (so a cross between Oprah, Tina Turner and Susan Powter).   The story centers on Mimi who struggles with a panic disorder that has made it difficult to leave her house due to fear of having a panic attack.  She has an opportunity to be on the Hoprah show because of her youtube channel where her music/video blog is getting a lot of attention in the online community.   The great and wonderful Hoprah promises to fix her and all her guests of the whatever fear that has been holding them back with nifty catchphrase: Snap out of it!  But can Mimi just snap out of her years of anxiety/panic disorder?  Is there a magic fix?  Mimi will find out.

I did the first workshop presentation yesterday – Sunday, April 23rd at Alumnae Theatre in the studio space.  Mimi was played by Sarah Hime; Hoprah was played by Michelle E. White; Sammy (Mimi’s boyfriend) was played by Luke Marty and Mabel (Hoprah’s assistant) /Madam O (Internet Troll) was played by Jodi Jahnke.  The workshop was directed by Ramona Gilmour-Darling.  Musical direction by Murray Foster.  Accompaniment by Anita Beaty.   Murray and Anita are my music teachers and were integral to writing of the music.   I come up with the melodies and lyrics and they help with chords and all the piano-y frills and sheet music.  In terms of story, I had many wonderful discussions with Anne Marie Scheffler about the hero’s journey and how it applies to this story.

It went really well in that there was an actual audience.  I still don’t really know what the best way to “pitch” this show is because even though it has a dramatic subject – I would say its also a comedy.  Perhaps a dramady cause a lot of the songs are funny (or meant to be).

We rehearsed from 3pm to 7pm and then we presented at 8pm.  Everyone was so amazing.

Song List:

1. The Gospel of Hoprah
2. Mimi Maya in Hamilton
3. Broken Places
4. Small Talk
5. That Je Ne Sais Quoi
6. #SorryNotSorry
7. Lady Gaga Stole My Friggin’ Act
8. No Broken Hearts (On Opening Night)
9. Fight v. Flight
10. Mimi and the Music

I guess that’s all the information.  Thank you to everyone who was involved.  Thank you to the audience who attended.  I can’t thank you enough.

(Or could I?  Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you….)