PETTY CRIME – the NEW NZ musical.
Book and Lyrics – Grant Bridger
Music – Matthew Brown
“Art is the daughter of Freedom.” “The dignity of mankind is in your hands, protect it! It sinks with you! With you it will ascend.” Friedrich Schiller
I heard that on National Radio this morning in an interview with actor/writer Stephen Fry and it captured my imagination. But what of animals? When you think of it they are almost as versatile in their habitats, as humans. Humans and animals live in the wild, humans and animals can be easily domesticated – animals sometimes more easily.
I always wondered about the imagination of animals, if indeed they had them and out of this mind meandering and my own imagination, the idea of animals living in semi-captivity, in this case an Animal Shelter/Pet Shop and being aware that they are living in a world controlled by humans. Then came PET’S PALACE – a sort of a half way house for ‘woofs and strays’.
And so PETTY CRIME was born and driven by my abhorrence for animal testing and love for theatre, music and entertainment, I decided to make this a central theme.
A very amazing process began and as I progressed, I started having dreams in which the characters came to me and discussed their lives and ambitions, states of mind and likes and dislikes not to mention adventures!
Surely animals have imagination, don’t they?
I never went to the ‘portable typewriter’ ( it’s true) without being inspired by the night’s dreams and activities.
So I have already given away that the musical has been around a while and been through many incarnations and drafts and a few character withdrawals and additions. I have discovered that writers rarely ‘underwrite’ – that’s for the producer to wrangle - but frequently overwrite and painful as it may be to see their words and ideas exit the page, the result is usually an improvement. This happened after a workshop production we did with a cast of all ages from the Auckland Youth Theatre – a ‘production workshop’ where they performed the show 3 times to family and friends. At the time, Peter Calder was Arts & Theatre Critic for the Herald, and wrote,
“This is the most exciting piece of raw theatre I have seen all year”
On the last night I said to the cast, “ This is yours tonight. Take it and make it your own. All I would say is – no surprises and be there for each other”.
I sat on the bleaches and simply wept and when I looked around, I was not the only one shedding a tear. It was all at once touching and funny and had all the potential of a great show. I went home and rewrote it immediately.
It’s funny how you can drive round and thereby avoid the potholes and pitfalls of your creation.
The characters, I know intimately after such a long live-in relationship.
Before I introduce the characters, I should say that the Pet Shop, which is also transformed into CHEESERS nightclub by King Rat, Hoody and cohorts but dear, delightful dotty Doris owns and manages PET’S PALACE .
Hoody’s lover, a beautiful white rat called Vermine, was a singer in the club, but has mysteriously disappeared and we soon discover through underworld ‘RATFIA’ network that they have captured her and hocked her off to the testing lab.
What will become of her?
Daniel is a Cockney Spaniel who spends his time mostly whining about discomfort and lack of food, Piaf- the French Poodle has been working up her new Pole Dancing Act for the Club, Strut is a Bi-Sexual Bull terrier with a mini gym in his space and one of my favourites, Ted, a turtle who was mistakenly bought as a tortoise and is brought into the shop. He dreams of being a dancer- a dream that sees him ‘slip outa his shell – and dance - dance wonderfully!
In the heart stopping cameo ‘I JUST WANNA BREAK OUTA MY SHELL .
So is the aria, “ I’VE BEEN THRU IT ALL” sung by the remarkable PUSSTITUTE, Catrina – born in the lab and having had practically all her internals tampered with, is thrown out- no longer of use.
Because of her low self image and esteem, she becomes a ‘street puss’.
I did want to say that even though the show was inspired by my idea of animals surviving in a world controlled by humans, it by no means ‘preaches’ I have been in enough musicals and toured the world for some 40 years, and learned that the best way to get a message across is to entertain the hell out of an audience and include the message, if indeed there is one.
I’m very excited to be directing a world premiere @ Artworks Theatre, Waiheke next year, with amateurs and a semi pro cast. I welcome your suppport and interest.
As the title song expresses:- ‘So here’s to life, la vie for me, to hell with la propsperity
And as long as we have breath, we still have time
IT’S ONLY PETTY CRIME.
GRANT BRIDGER-WRITER/DIRECTOR
waihekegb@gmail.com
0274 842524
