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In Connecticut, as in other states, we inspire each other: dramatists like Emma Palzere-rae and Judith Clinton who organize productive writing retreats in southeastern CT, Steven Otfinoski who elevates our dramatist community, William Squier of Curtain Call who was instrumental in bringing together dramatists for our June event, and many more.  

Another dramatist who comes to mind is Roy O’Neil who is an inspiration not only in his writing but also in his musical skills and determination to his craft. Roy and I met a few years ago at the Warner Theater where I first heard of his musical Eddie and the Palaceades. The piece was in an early draft but, even back then, the music was infectious and the story universal. And, perhaps more important to our CT dramatists’ community, it is a story born in our state, of our state.  

Eddie and the Palaceades is the story of a one hit wonder from the 1960s. He runs for mayor 30 years later to save the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT, where his band got its start and its name. Somewhere in my romanticized version of this story, the musical premieres at The Palace in Waterbury and, quite frankly, they should snap this up before an NYC theatre steals it. At the Midtown International Theater Festival it was nominated for nine awards including “Best Musical Production” and “Best Book, Lyrics, and Music” for Roy and his co-writer Stephen Feigenbaum. At the Manhattan Theater Mission’s New Musicals Showcase it won “Catchiest Song” for “Bangarang,” “Best Comedic Couple,” and “Audience Favorite.”  

The seed and passion for the show sprouts from Roy’s Waterbury, CT hometown. Everything in the show - the band, Palace Theater, crooked politicians, planning and zoning deals, historic architecture, salt of the earth citizens, Italian restaurants, primary elections, write-in campaigns - is traceable back to Waterbury. But the show itself is fiction: what make it a success are the characters and the emotional roller-coaster they each ride from start to finish.  In the beginning, 

Roy was writing alone: trial-and-error, self-education, classes here and there including auditing several ASCAP Musical Theater Workshops with Stephen Schwartz. At the start of 2012, Roy knew in his heart that many of the songs were “chop and drop” items rather than tunes that sprung from the story and the characters…and then on the Yale School of Music bulletin board he found Stephen Feigenbaum. Stephen “prodded and poked and forced…provided encouragement” as he and Roy shared craft, discipline, and most of all persistence. Roy cut out the “boring”, raised the stakes, and developed his protagonist into that over the hill one hit wonder who gets into a fist fight with the Mayor in the opening scene.  

In true collaborative nature, sometimes Roy and Stephen argued but that usually led to something better. Conversations prevailed, Roy wrote the lyrics, Stephen composed, and then they listened together, Roy saying things like “too fast” or “make it more like Aretha Franklin”. They worked like that for almost a year, fully dedicated to each other, to Eddie, the Palaceades, to CT. And, now, Eddie and the Palaceades is fun and uplifting, with just the right blend of what is worth fighting for in this life, intertwined with love, friendship, and 22 songs that you can’t stop singing. Eddie and the Palaceades is on the National New Play Exchange as well as their web-site: www.eddieandthepalaceades.com. 

A true CT story, written by one of our own, and that, to me, is inspirational for dramatists in every state. 

[photo caption: Eddie and the Palaceades performance in the 2014 Midtown International Theater Festival. Photo credit: Faith/Focus/Flash (Dlo Slaughter).] 

cdonaghy@dramatistsguild.com