August Mergelman and I are working together once again to create a new musical.  We made the musical Bird Millman, which was produced in 2002 in Canon City, Colorado.  Now we are teaming up to write the ultimate backstage musical.  It is currently untitled, but will likely incorporate some of the material I already composed for a project that I called "The Great American Musical."  Below is a sample of the demo recordings I did for the previous project.  It includes the songs, "The Great American Musical," "27 Parts in the Show," and "Women are Such Wonderful Playthings."  Please note that the third song is a satire on the very chauvinistic attitudes found in many classic musicals.  Listen to these songs in the demo below.

 Lyrics:
The Great American Musical

This is the great American musical.
This is the great American show.
There'll be singing and dancing and laughs and romancing
And songs that we all will come to know
That you'll be singing in the shower.

It's the great American musical
Here on the great American stage.
We're not here to tax your brain
Just to entertain
So you'll enjoy no matter what your age.

27 Parts in the Show

I may not be the star.  I don't drive a fancy car,
But I've played more parts than any other actor in history so far.

It all begins in Act I where I have lots of fun
Playing Dancer 3, hey, look at me!
Memorize that face, because you'll have to place it
When you see me in my other 26 parts in the show.

I am playing 27 parts in the show.
At least that's what I've counted out so far.
I'm not a shining star.  I'm no one you should know,
But I'm the only person playing 27 parts in the show.

In the second scene I have five seconds to change
All my clothes down to my underwear.
It isn't very fun, but somehow it gets done
When you have this much experience as extras in the show.

I am playing 27 parts in the show.
Until the rewrites come and I have more.
My job is not a bore, I'm always on the go
And I'm the only person playing 27 parts in the show.

Women are Such Wonderful Playthings

Women are such wonderful playthings.
It's fun to watch them brush their hair and dress in clothes they like to wear.
Oh women are such wonderful playthings
To comfort men who do the work of the world.

But some women will make us men feel sorrow.  Oh no!
Just because they don't see they have their place.
But we're enlightened with masculinity so we can see
Just how things have been and how they should be.  Yesiree!

Women are such wonderful playthings
And only for the special price of fancy clothes and diamond rings.
Oh women are such wonderful playthings
To comfort men who do the work of the world.

(Following the first rehearsal of this number, all of the actresses in the show go on strike).