​Volume VIII.  Music Theater:

​The Out of Body Adventures of Jo the Bagger:

Jo, a bagger in a super-market, is abducted by Hermes for various exciting, and annoying, astral projections.   S = Soprano;  M = Mezzo-soprano;    A = Alto;  cT = Counter Tenor;   T = Tenor;   b = Baritone; Bb = Bass-baritone;  B = Bass. Genders and voice types may be changed at will.  Transposition is permitted. Almost 30 theater pieces are presented in seven evenings as follows:

Evening I:  Fairy Tales

1a. Pinocchio:  is a 60 minute ballet after Carlo Collodi's work:  for soprano and bass-baritone (or three high and three low voices); dancers, narrator, flute and guitar. "Pinocchio was commissioned and premiered by The North Shore Civic Ballet and The Putnam Court Players: Mary Saunders, soprano, Kristin Webb, flute, and Russell Southcott, guitar, with the composer, bass-baritone. Choreographed by Florence Whipple, Jimmy Ray as Pinocchio; narrations by Florence Whipple and Kristin Webb.  Pinocchio was cablecast on BNN-TV in two separate versions. (See IV/V/1).

1b. Gaypetto ​(see IV/V/1) is a 40 minute parody of the above, in which Gaypetto creates a gay puppet, narrated by a very queer cricket.  The video of Gynocchio, to the right, uses a shortened version of the original video, with voice overs by the composer:

Watch Gaynocchio

2. Peter Crocodile:  30 minutes:   S M S or cT T or b Bb N  Selections recorded by Andrew Swan, Bb and Jeanie Theoharis, M, with the composer, Bb and piano and heard on WHRB radio, Cambridge, MA.

3. Jo in Wonderland:  45 minutes:  S S A T b B; actors, narrator and piano or orchestra: Jo enters Lewis Carroll's story.  Selections have been performed in concert and heard on WGBH  as performed by Ben Sears, b and Brad Conner, pianist. Alternate version: "Alice in Wonderland was recorded with narrations by William Cavness.  Sid Tarlowe as Alice. Selections recorded by Shinobu Takagi, M;  and Robert Town, T, with the composer (Bb and piano). Selections heard on WHMB radio.   Selections presented on WHMB Radio, with M, Jeanie Theoharis and the composer, piano. 

Evening II:   Romance and Mystery
1. Off-nights at The Sometimes Café: "Sex Mystery"  45 minutes:   S A T b;
​2 dancers, and a narrator/pianist:   A shorter (20 minute) version was cablecast. Amelia Broome, S;  Philip Jenkins, T;   Ben Sears, b; composer narrator and Bb; Brad Conner & the composer, piano;  Dana Danzel and James Spellman (choreographer), dancers;  TJ Norris, actor & photgrapher;  Chris Gentes & Candy Hollogram, cinematographers. Selections heard on WHBR Radio with M, Jeanie Theoharis and the composer, piano.   Who likes whom, who knows that this is a gay drag bar? The hispanic medium?  Does she understand drag?  Withheld version with poems by Emily Dickinson. 

2. The School of The Night:  5 minutes:  T b B; 2 actors and piano:   tells of the mysterious events surrounding the supposed death of Christopher Marlowe. The first and last number start "Edward II" and were recorded by the composer, Bb with The Acting Singers Project, VII/I/4.

3. Big Eddy:  20 minutes:  S T b and T/narrator; and piano.  An up-dated version of the story of Edward II.  The story of a drug king pin and his hustler boyfriend. Selections recorded by Shinobu Takagi, M and the composer, piano.  Otherwise unperformed.

4. Reigning Cats and Dogs:   20 minutes:  8 Dogs (singers);  2 Cats (actors) and piano.   Queen Lily's ball has been stolen,  Detective Luckie is brought in to solve the case.     Selections recorded by Nancy King, A and Catherine Radmer, M, and the composer, piano. 

Evening III:  Horror  
1.  The Inquisition:  10 minutes:  cT, T, b, B and piano:  a trial, from a dream, in response to the censorship of "Phone Sex" (see Evening VI). Cablecast as a one man show by the composer, cT, T, b, B and piano. 
   
2.  The Mask of The Witches:  30 minutes:  S S b b, B or  chorus and piano or orchestra with various narrators.  Good witches try to save the villagers from The Inquisition. Various poets. Selections recorded by Shinobu Takagi, S and the composer, Bb and piano.  Otherwise unperformed. See new version: V/III/5 for soprano with piano.

3.  The Vampire:  30 minutes: dancers and synthesizer, with narrator. A man is wrongly accused of being a vampire.  Recorded by the composer, synthesizer. 
See IV/V/2.

4.  Hansel and Gretel:   30 minutes: S S M b B and piano.  Selections were recorded by Mary Saunders, S; Brett Johnson, b; and the composer, Bb and piano.  Two juvenile delinquents torment a kindly witch.  

5.  The Island Curse:  30 minutes. S A T Bb;  2 narrators (film crew) and piano.  A mockumentary of a strange island, where everyone sings, and strangers are forbidden to fall in love with islanders. Otherwise a curse will be activated. Guess what happens when the S and the T meet?  Selections recorded by Shinobu Takagi, M, Robert Town, T and the composer, Bb and piano.  "Heaven" performed by the composer, pianist;  at the opening of the Chirkoff Theater Company of Cambridge, MA;  and at Boston Metro Opera, by M, Susan Craft; T, Christopher Aaron Smith and pianist, Yelena Beriyeva on January 27, 2012.   

Evening IV:  Religion
1. New Hope Ministry and Home Shopping Network:  45 minutes; play with musical commercials:  two televangelists face challenges. Unperformed.  Needs editing.

2. The Phone Call:   15 minutes:  M cT; dancers and piano. Incomplete and unperformed.  A woman (M) comes out to her fundamentalist mother (cT).  Features dancing gay giraffes and rams, leaping lesbian lizards and super protective bear mothers, and powerful black swan fathers;  gender reversing clown fish and male pregnant starfish, and Pyura chilensisnd, hermaphroditic live rock that reproduces by selfing (sex with his/her self).   

3. Canon Law:  30 minutes:  S S A T B; and piano.  Poems by Mother Goose.  A Catholic Priest faces challenges:   abortion, birth control; divorce, women priests, gay marriage, love....  Selections recorded by Andrew Swan, Bb, with the composer, piano. Otherwise unperformed.

Evening V:  Trials
1. The Philosophy of Not-Knowing:  30 minutes:  A  cT;  dancers, and piano. A daughter makes a bet with her parents in order to marry the person whom she loves. Unperformed.

2. The Trials of Pooh:  45 minutes:  S M T b B; 2 actors and piano.   Based on adventures of Winnie The Pooh by A. A. Milnes (Texts under copyright until 2026). Commissioned by North Shore Civic Ballet.   Selections recorded by Andrew Swan, Bb with the composer, Bb and piano. Otherwise unperformed.

3. Pot Luck Dinner:  30 minutes:  piano:  Public domain alternate version:   All unperformed:

         1. Marlowe Moment:  a strange dinner party;
         2. Murder Mystery:  a "who-done-it" complete with trial;
         3. Marriage Mirage:  an unusual solution to an old problem.   

Evening VI:  Snow White (See IV/V/3)
1. Phone Sex:  20 minutes: 2 mimes, narrator, Bb and piano;  Cablecast on BNN-TV, with John Kristensen, narrator; Leonard Diggins, mime, and the composer;  Bb, synthesizer, piano, mime and animation.  A man receives provocative phone calls from a mystery caller; narrated by his lover. Shown at Mobius in a program of works that had been censured.  

2. Confessions of a Fat Slut:   25 minutes:  Bb and synthesizer; narrator and 4 other characters.  Slightly cut version was cablecast on BNN-TB with Brian Mark and Tony Stegal (his two lovers:  Harold and Tom) and Jimmie York (Harold's mother;  Jennie the land lady) with composer;  Bb, synthesizer.  A gay man dates two heavy men.   
Shown informally at The Boston Ramrod. 

3. George Scrobe:  5 minutes:  cT cT b, low rock singer, and piano.  A gay man tries to kill himself and finds love in the process.  Features two original rock songs.   Unperformed.

4. Cinderella Underwear:  15 minutes:  cT  cT, T b, Bb;  piano.  A gay version of the fairy tale.  An extra large undergarment substitutes for the slipper. Selections performed by the composer. 

5. Red Riding Hood:   10 minutes:   S A T B;   dancers and piano.  A newly married lesbian couple are chased by a very bad wolf.   Unperformed.

6. Gay Pride:  10 minutes: mimes and piano:  The challenges of finding and losing a spouse to hate crime.  Unperformed.

7. Peter Pansy:  15 minutes:  S A T B;  dancers, and synthesizer.  Hook meets an awful end after tries to have his way with (lipstick lesbian) Pinker Bell.  Features another rock song.  Unperformed.  

8. Snow White:   20 minutes:  Bb with piano:  Snow White, a gay man  faces various identities and demons as shown in the 7 other works.  The black jazz singer, Matthias Black, who is worshiped from afar by Snow White, is murdered in a racial hate crime incident.  Selections performed by the composer.

Evening VII:   Happy Endings
1. Jo Through The Looking-Glass:  45 minutes:  S S A T b B;  actors, narrator and piano or orchestra: Jo again enters a Lewis Carroll story. The whole work, in it's alternate version as "Through the Looking-Glass" was recorded with narrations by William Cavness. Sid Tarlowe as Alice. Selections heard on WHMB radio.  Selections have been performed in concert and heard on WGBH  as performed by Ben Sears, b and Brad Conner, pianist. Selections also recorded by Shinobu Takagi, M;  and Robert Town, T, with the composer, piano. Selections presented on WHMB Radio, with M, Jeanie Theoharis and the composer, piano.   Otherwise unperformed.

2. "Gd." The Musical:  "Egg"  15 minutes:  S M A T b B;  actors and synthesizer or piano. On a space ship, the gds. try to figure out the nature of a strange object.  Unperformed.

3. Andrew's Dream: 15 minutes, S A T B and piano.  A gay couple saves the world from "noetic" Aliens. Based on a dream of Andrew Swan.  Unperformed.

Other Works for Song Theater:
Scrooge and Peter Pan:   Performed and commissioned by Prime Time, at Massasoit College in Brockton, MA, withheld and recycled. 

I dreamed I was in Heaven:   Music from the Alice musicals:  a man dies of AIDS.  Recorded as one man show by the composer.