Collaborations | Community | And know this. . .

Collaborations

Yes, novelists get to hang out with the characters they create, and when the work is going well, the characters seem to take on a life of their own. It is nonetheless solitary work, with all the attendant meanings: no boss but no one else to blame. Although I love working solo, I find deep pleasure in collaborating. I zig, you zag, and suddenly something happens between us that wouldn’t have come about any other way.

Seagull: the Musical

Five years ago, the great Russia composer Alexander Zhurbin enlisted poet Vadim Zhuk to create an operetta based upon Chekhov's immortal play. The result was a sweeping romp, over-the-top antic without ever being trivial. Zhurbin undertook the project to honor Chehov’s famous (but usually ignored) declaration that The Seagull was a comedy, and Moscow went for it in a big way. After two hit seasons, Zhurbin began dreaming of Broadway. A mutual friend, Jerrold Morgulas—lawyer, novelist, opera composer—introduced us; Jerry had the notion that I was just the person to adapt the lyrics for the American stage. I was ecstatic. The Seagull is my favorite play; no one ever told it truer about romantic love.

I don’t read Russian. I don’t read music. I can’t carry a tune. Zhurbin made up a nonsense lyric for each song, to show me where the beat fell, gallantly assuring me that Puccini had needed to do the same thing for his librettist. So, working off a commissioned, literal translation, I was able to write 31 new lyrics with rhyme and rhythm, doing my best to preserve Zhuk’s playful sensibility as well as Chekhov’s wry affection for his histrionic characters. Having writ, I rewrote, and rewrote some more, especially after hearing an extraordinary cast sing (or try to sing) my words. I am immensely grateful to my many collaborators and teachers on this project, especially two Broadway greats, Tim Jerome, who sang Trigorin in our first reading at the Players, and Lewis Stadlen, who directed our full-length reading in the New York Music Theatre Festival, 2005.

Our talented music director, Jason Loffredo, arranged a few songs for a demo. To hear them now, click on this link: www.jasonloffredo.com/

(Cast and musician credits TK)

Trufflelips

When art director / designer / craftsman Arthur Kaufman and I put our heads together, strange and wonderful things happen, we think—and hope you will too.

Introducing TruffleLips, food lover’s balm, with white and black Italian truffle essence in every slick. Instruction: Apply before kissing, sunning, or eating pasta.

Our lip balm is manufactured by Alcove Packaging, using all natural ingredients. Each batch is tested for common allergens and toxins in an FDA-approved lab. Please stayed tuned for information about our product launch.

Pill-oh!

Arthur’s and my partnership was forged in the eureka moment when we discovered that both of us had a long-standing yearning to produce a candy pill called Placebo. Turns out that something similar already exists…but out of our research bloomed a whole other take on the idea of placebo.

Introducing Pill-oh! Can you cure a headache by putting our Migrain-eX pill-oh! under your head? We’re not promising cures, but we expect to conjure a lot of smiles with our rx set.

Our prototype quartet is pictured below. Key:

Blue = generic Add-Up
Yellow = generic Trank You
Orange = zzz 5
Two-toned green = Migrain-Ex

We hope to have these in the marketplace for holiday season ’07.