These are selections from a few of the theatrical productions I was involved with as a composer and/or lyricist. They cover a pretty wide scope, but I hope they give you an idea of the kind of things I like to do.

• The Story of Ferdinand: An Opera-teeny --
  
  At Lifeline Theatre in Chicago, they do fantastic adaptations of books and bring them to life on the stage. This was one of my very favorite productions I've been involved with. The Lifeline Kids Show aesthetic was to do good theatre that happens to appeal to kids, instead of the typical, overly-broad, pandering stuff that gives kid's theatre a bad name. (If the performers have raised eyebrows and shout for the entire show, you know it's bad.)
• Lizard Music --
  This was my first mainstage production at Lifeline Theatre. In preparation for my meeting with the production team, I thought it might be a good idea to, for instance, read the book by Daniel Pinkwater. It's a trippy tale about a young boy whose parents go away for a few days, he learns about the scary city from a guy named the Chicken Man and they encounter these weird, singing lizards that love to watch television. In my first meeting with Meryl Friedman, the director, I remember she said she wanted the lizards to sing in a style of music that no one's ever heard before. A pretty tall order, since even Stephen Sondheim writes in a style people have heard before. If I had gone too avant-garde with, say a twelve minute symphony of fingers snapping, who'd want to listen? And the minute you add a saxophone or a harpsichord or banjo or whatever, you've locked them into a certain time and place. But I agreed with her point, they're lizards and need another aural vocabulary.
• The Tempest --
  This was a very interesting production to work on. Michael and I had worked together on a show called The Expense of Spirit for Bailiwick's Gay Pride series, which later went on to NYC to play at the Gay Games IV, as well as an extended run at Victory Gardens. Michael was the best of directors and the worst of directors. First off, he was great at casting. Secondly, he was very generous in giving enormous freedom to both cast and designers. Surprisingly on the Tempest, egos were not the problem but synthesis was. When we put things together a lot of the elements, interesting in their own right, weren't really carried through.