6 Years Later...
/October 26th, 2012 - I completed the very first outline for the first version of The King’s Legacy.
December 6th, 2012 - There existed a first draft of a script, including a large portion of lyrics.
March 14th, 2013 - I had a fully realized first draft with all scenes, music, and lyrics completed.
And so it all began.
It’s been a long long road to the first ever full production of The King’s Legacy, and what a strange, magical, frustrating, and fantastical journey it has been. It’s had its peaks and valleys, but it has brought us to where we are now: Less than one day away from the first rehearsal for the premiere production. (!!!)
So how did it all start? Where did the show come from? And how did it get to where it is today?
As per usual, I’m thrilled you asked!
The Idea
In August 2012 I was sitting poolside, finishing my then-girlfriend’s copy of The Other Boleyn Girl, when I began thinking - for the second time, concretely, and aloud - that Anne Boleyn’s story is simply too good and would make a wonderful musical.
At that time I had only recently begun my foray into writing musical theatre. In fact, my first ever original musical (PICk Love) was about to go into rehearsals to be performed at the first ever Rochester Fringe Festival in late September.
But this idea continued to haunt me.
It’s a well-known story with scads of books, movies, TV shows, research, and documentaries on the subject, but still no well-known musical. I thought perhaps - just perhaps - I might be the person to write this show. But I would need opportunity, time, and motivation, which I certainly did not have at that moment.
However, a couple months later, that perfect storm came together. And I began to write.
The First Draft
May 19th, 2013 - I held the first ever closed reading of The King’s Legacy, coincidentally on the 477th anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s death.
July 28th 2013 - The Random Access Theater presented The King’s Legacy through their RAWR series in its first open workshop reading at Shetler Studios in Manhattan.
This first version of this musical was a little bit of a hot mess, in all honesty.
It had great potential and some fantastic material, but 90% of the show would eventually find its way to the cutting room floor over the next several years.
Even in this initial version of the show, the narrative was not quite linear. The inciting incident was still a jousting accident for Henry, making him realize he needed to secure his line (read: have a son) before it was too late. But approximately halfway through the show - and with basically zero warning - the narrative split into both a main storyline with Anne and Henry, as well as a faster-moving future storyline with the remainder of Henry’s queens and all three of his children.
Elizabeth was not yet being uplifted as the ultimate heir and the great irony of the story, and Anne was being cast too much as both a seductive villain and a pawn of her male relatives. Henry was not at all likable (though I was not going for that at the time) and there was a partial narration by a singular best friend character, Charles Brandon.
I will say that the piece actually moved quite well and - though the dialogue was a touch too dramatic - every scene contained a sizable amount of theatricality and intrigue.
The score was riddled with structure-less songs and meandering lyrics (I had not yet learned this art form properly), though much of the music was quite good. In fact, 4 songs from this initial version - albeit all a tad altered - still exist in the show today.
The experience of these first two readings were fantastic, and taught me a great deal about the possibilities this story contained as a piece of musical theatre.
I was stoked to continue writing.
Big Version #2
March 30th, 2014 - The King’s Legacy is performed at the Emerging Artists Theatre Festival at the TADA! Theater in Manhattan, this time with a new narrative structure and an almost entirely new score.
After the excitement of that first summer, I didn’t have a chance to revisit the musical too much during the following fall and winter. I made a few of the major adjustments I was interested in making to the overall narrative structure, but I didn’t fill in much of the new dialogue nor write any of the new music that went along with this version.
Well, that is until…
I had been applying with the show to developmental programs and festivals, and was suddenly contacted by the Emerging Artists Theater Festival that I had gotten a performance slot for the end of the festival on March 30th…which was only 7 weeks away. Yikes.
Luckily, I had been auditing the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writing Workshop since the fall, and had picked up some excellent new skills in writing efficiency.
I set up a deadline calendar of 2 weeks for script edits and 3 weeks for composing new music, before the 2 weeks of rehearsals. The result was a much cleaner version of the show, with new scenes, a more likable Henry (too likable), a protagonist-like Anne (though too innocent now), and with 1/3 of the score being entirely new (but at least well-structured now).
The new music was met with much positivity - and some of it still remains today - and the show had successfully corrected too far in the other direction.
If I learned a lot from the first reading, I learned far more from this second version. Elizabeth was now clearly the correct end result of the show, though she wasn’t present enough. Anne was more involved in her story, but Henry was still too central. All of the queens were still included, but the reasoning for it was still too murky and unclear.
That pesky narrative structure was still giving me trouble.
Trial By Rewrite
Fall 2015/Winter 2016 - The entire structure is rewritten…thrice. Additionally, in tandem with the newest of the structures, over 2/3 of the score is thrown out and rewritten to fit the new narrative.
If you look at the Developmental History of The King’s Legacy, the period of time from the Emerging Artists Theater Festival in March 2014 until the Invited Industry Reading in November 2016 appears to have been a very quiet time for the musical in its development. There’s nothing else listed in between.
In fact, the exact opposite was true.
I came out of my first year at Bristol Valley Theater in the summer of 2014 with writing-guns blazing. I wrote and rewrote like a madman.
I got accepted into the BMI Workshop (for reals this time) as a Lyricist and began writing more and with many different people.
In turn, I then became inspired to write more for The King’s Legacy. I tried several entirely new narrative structures for the show - all based on feedback I had received after the EAT Festival - and threw out the first one right away. Henry was too present and too much in control.
I knew I wanted the women front and center, and Anne Boleyn in particular, but I was having trouble making that happen. So I tried another new version. This one was better, but the time jumps were: still nebulous, not spread throughout the entire show, and far too confusing.
On the third try, I found something that worked and that I liked very much. This had promise, but another summer jaunt to BVT in 2015 meant that I wouldn’t write much again until the fall.
When I returned to the musical in the fall of 2015, I found that I had been right that spring. This new version was beginning to work. The women were both becoming prominent in the storytelling and were more clearly the point of the piece.
Now what it needed was an almost entirely new score to fit the new narrative and characters.
The next 6 months was pure rewrites and composition. It was grueling and exhilarating all at once, and yet no one had heard any of the new material. The show had progressed so far, but no one knew.
But soon they would.
The Narrative Structure
April 17th, 2016 - The first closed reading of the new version, which would become the basis for the current version of the show.
November 20th, 2016 - The first invited industry reading with Broadway talent takes place in Manhattan, solidifying the new form.
I liked it, this new version, oh so very much. So I gave it a test drive and…it worked!
Some minor tweaks were in order to make it work better, of course, but it was now clear that there was little else I could do with this show without it being on its feet in front of other industry professionals.
With a great amount of help from friends and colleagues, I began putting together a plan for an industry reading for the fall. We got some amazing talent, including Wicked’s Libby Servais, and went to work.
Many months and much tweaking later, the reading took place and the response was excellent.
The show was well on its way - landing in many of the precise ways I was hoping, getting the audience to tap their toes and emote, and it gave the musical some excellent forward momentum.
Next, it was time to clean it up, get the word out about its existence, and find a way to have the show produced.
Submissions Submissions Everywhere, And Not A…
October 16th, 2017 - “The Songs of Michael Radi” takes place at Feinstein’s/54 Below, featuring mostly music from the latest version of The King’s Legacy.
I’ve written extensively about the submission process for musicals, which can be absolutely grinding and heart-breaking. (read that post here)
This period of time was no less difficult.
Submissions were a daily occurrence with little to show beyond a lot of silence from the void, many cookie-cutter rejection emails spouting increased numbers in submissions, a few kind rejections letters, and the occasional message of “we can’t right now, but check in again with us next year.”
So - partly to keep my sanity and partly to find a way to get the music out there - I began planning a concert at Feinstein’s/54 Below. Luckily, they loved the idea of a primetime program of new musical theatre both featuring and highlighting women, so I was in!
The concert had a brilliant cast of all Broadway and Off-Broadway performers (featuring Wicked’s longest-running Elphaba: Jackie Burns) and it went spectacularly. I couldn’t have been more pleased!
Not only did it get people talking about The King’s Legacy and the other music from the evening, it provided me with great video and audio to use while trying to get my music out there. Now, whenever anyone showed an interest, I was able to pull up a high quality sample of the material to back up my passion for the piece.
Rejection - at the very least - can be quite motivating.
The Premiere Production
November 1st, 2018 - Bristol Valley Theater publicly announces that The King’s Legacy will have its premiere production as part of the 2019 summer season and their New Works Initiative.
Fall 2018/Winter 2019 - Preparation for the production begins with phone calls, meetings, edits, rewrites, orchestrations, and copyist work.
February 23rd, 2019 - Final closed reading of the newest version of the show, including all rewrites and a finalized score.
April 17th, 2019 - The libretto for production is finalized.
When I first - nervously and off-handedly - brought up the idea of doing The King’s Legacy at Bristol Valley Theater to the artistic directors in the summer of 2017, I truly thought there was no way it was going to happen.
The cast was probably too big, the musical was period, it doesn’t have the name recognition required for a big musical performance slot, and the New Works Initiative had never had a musical. It was a lovely little pipe dream that was fun to discuss over drinks.
I was then shocked when I was told - not too long after - that they found the idea intriguing and would be keeping it in the back of their minds for future consideration.
A full year later I found myself in discussion about its potential feasibility and what would be required. Suddenly, this was a real possibility - an actual option for the New Works Initiative. A spark of hope had appeared.
When it was announced that the premiere of The King’s Legacy was to be part of the 2019 Bristol Valley Theater season, I was ecstatic! Who else would I be happier to trust with the first ever production of this piece - one that I’ve worked on so diligently for 6 years - other than the brilliant minds and artists at BVT?
No one.
We’ve got a great team, an excellent cast, a phenomenal theater, and a community like no other.
What else could you want?
6 Years Later…
August 10th, 2019 - The first rehearsal for the premiere production begins!
And so here we are. After 6 years, it’s about to actually begin.
And all I have left to say is…
Let’s do this thing.
