95 - Why Dorian Gray?

I've been spending a lot of time in the world of Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. When I got the idea to write a musical version of Wilde's story, grad school was not in picture. In fact, it got put on hold when I got accepted to Villanova. Little did I know that I would be writing the show for my thesis, and I can't imagine writing the musical before grad school.

From my thesis proposal:

After viewing the 2009 film, I immediately became infatuated with Oscar Wilde’s story – not for the “selling one’s soul to the devil” aspect, but for the concept that one’s sins could be washed away each night and transferred to an inanimate object that then takes on a life of its own. I thought the story resembled that of Jekyll & Hyde, with its dark Victorian undertones of murder, jealousy, rage, and troubled love. I felt it would make a great piece of musical theatre. I did a Google search to discover that there has only been one attempt to adapt The Picture of Dorian Gray into a musical, but the production has an extremely small history. I purchased the novel, read it, and began writing the first scene. At the same time, I struggled to find some sort of plot outline that would transfer from the page to the stage, and between my multiple jobs, my increased collaboration on Follow Your Dreams, and my acceptance into Villanova’s program, Dorian Gray was shelved.

I am a big believer in signs. I knew very little about Oscar Wilde. I knew that he lived in London for a time. As I planned a post-Abbey Summer Studio trip to Paris over the summer, I discovered his grave was in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. I also did not know that he was born in Dublin until I was standing in a park in Dublin that was home to a statue of Wilde sitting on a rock. Directly across the street was the house where he was born. Needless to say, I spent some time with Wilde throughout the summer. Less than two months later, the latest issue of The Dramatist (the publication of the Dramatists Guild) arrived at my house. The articles were on writing theatre, both plays and musicals, and were written by masters of today’s theatre. On the front cover was an illustration of stone busts of the great playwrights. Included in the mix was Oscar Wilde. I took this to be a final sign that I was to embark on this journey as my thesis.

So......that's the background on my decision to write a musical as my thesis. (I've been told it has never been done at Villanova before...no pressure!!) In my next few posts, I'll get you caught up on where I am in the creative process. Don't worry, Dorian Gray has only been in the "writing phase" for 2 months. I've got a lot to catch you up on, but I also have a lot of work to go (including a 6 song deadline by March 7.

95 days to go!!!