I finally have a score for my musical! Samuel (Jay) Tumminello did a wonderful job of translating my guitar picking into piano accompaniment and arranging all the harmonies of the songs into vocal parts.
The play is about AIDS and how it affects loved ones. It is about recovery from addictions. It is about people in the early days of the LGBTQ rights movements. The musical is set in a fictional LGBTQ meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous in Austin, TX in the early 1980s. The songs are songs I wrote before I got sober, as I was starting recovery, for friends who were living with AIDS, and for memorial services.
A much earlier version of Open Discussion was done at Wayne State University in Detroit in 1987, to standing room only crowds over an extended run. I continued writing some of my best songs after my AIDS diagnosis in 1990. In 2016, I began an extensive re-write of Open Discussion, incorporating these new songs and changing the story arc for a few of the characters. The newer version has not been produced yet as of this post date of 2/4/2024. A local AA group loaned us their wall hanging of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
I am sending author copies to anyone who is involved in a theatre company that is willing to do a new musical. Email me at harryw410@gmail.com for more information.
