Stage 3: Viva La Difference

Don's book was written chronologically. My musical takes events that are 
connected by content and puts them together so that the audience can experience 
a topic at a time. An example of that would be the Golf Segments which in the 
book are in the Spring, Summer and Fall but in my musical the situations all 
come together in one segment about golfing and caddying. Don's character Mike 
meets his future wife in the summer of 1955 at a beach in Massachusetts. My 
character Mike meets her at Narragansett Beach in Rhode Island. So there are 
major differences and subtle differences which I felt enable the audience to 
enjoy the musical journey more effectively. 

I  believe that your audience has paid their money and are expecting an 
evening of fun and entertainment so they're on your side to begin with. To 
adhere strictly to predisposed situations which might confuse them on their 
journey, because the source was created for a different genre, may work in some 
instances but like an artist decides the color of his paints so too does a 
writer of a musical comedy need to color his play how he feels it should be. 

And just as the conductor guides his train so too must the book of the show 
guide the audience. 

Stage left:  All Aboard - next we'll talk about the Book of the show! 

Stage 2: Finding the right material

First let me give you a little background.  I have been very lucky for the past thirty-five years at Kaleidoscope Theatre.  For the most part the story line for the musicals I have written were famous fairytales. However, the school touring productions were another story (sorry for the pun). I needed to find accurate educational information to impart to school age audiences that was both helpful and entertaining. In the late 70's we had great success with a show titled: 'I'm Special - You're Special', about the inclusion of a boy with differing abilities into his brother's and sister's school. This production toured extensively from 1979 to present day. In 1989 it represented the US at an International Down Syndrome Congress in Jerusalem. Israel. We also had success with a show on Ecology - 'Save Today  For Tomorrow' which performed at the White House. Washington, D.C. Most recently we created a production dealing with bullying entitled, B.U.L.L.Y. (Better Understanding by Listening and Learning about You) with versions for elementary, middle and high school and which received the Rhode Island Justice Award.

SAINTS the Musical is based upon a previously created work that was written by my brother, Don Payton, his novel, 'Friends Are Thicker Than Water'. There is a link here on the blog to get the book which I think is a great read! Much of SAINTS the Musical is taken from the pages of Don's book. However, the book of my musical differs in several significant ways from Don's book.

Stage Left:Coming next time - how the book and musical differ.

Stage 1: A blog about a brand new musical

Hi, I’m David Payton, the Executive Director of Kaleidoscope Theatre. I have recently finished creating a new musical based upon the novel, 'Friends Are Thicker Than Water', written by my brother, Donald Payton. Both the book and the play are about high school life at Saint Raphael Academy, Pawtucket, RI during the year,1955, when Don was Vice President of his class and Captain of the football team which was undefeated, untied and unscored upon. In addition, Don's main character, Mike Ryan and Mike's best friend, Ralph McGreavey, have real life mis-adventures that lend themselves perfectly to the very recognizable main characters in "SAINTS the Musical". 

Kaleidoscope Theatre has provided time to me to spend the last two years creating this musical comedy based upon RI experiences such as caddying at the Pawtucket Country Club, visits to Narragansett Beach, the ever popular Variety Show; which was presented at Saints each and every year, the annual Thanksgiving Football game and many, more hilarious moments of youth and nostalgia during the Fabulous Fifties. The musical, which had a read thru last December, is now set to go into its second phase of development, a Reader’s Theatre presentation at Saint Raphael Academy in June of 2015.

We have assembled an amazing group of extremely talented professionals. Co-Directors; Sandy Cerel and Anne Colannino, Musical Director; Lila Kane, Internationally Acclaimed Choreographer; William Evans, Set/Llghting Design and Saint Raphael Alum; Rob Ferland and Sound Engineer; Adam Ramsey will team up to bring to life all the adventures, hopes and dreams of teens in the 1950’s!

Auditions are March 28^th and 29^th at Saint Raphael Academy. For audition information please call (401) 942-3637.  I will continue to write this blog, sharing the exciting adventure we are about to embark upon and in my next entry I will let you know how the audition went!  Stay tuned….