I'm Rebecca Burnham and this is Summit Stages News, where you get weekly updates about musical theatre that promotes wholeness and belonging; learn about visionary creators, producers and others; and discover some mighty stories that need to be turned into musicals.
I'm on a mission to give cynics reason to become connectors, drifters hope to become builders, and enemies understanding to become friends, all through musical theatre. This week I'm highlighting Denning Burton and Stefan van de Graaff, the creative team behind Sherlock the Musical. Their classy, moving and family-friendly show takes the world's greatest detective on a journey out of cynicism and into connection.
Their story is exciting to share with you because it's been so personally inspiring to me. Burton is a family friend who has been inspiring me since he was about 14 and we were in a production together. When I see the quality of what he and his collaborator have been able to create, I feel reassured that world-class really is possible for people who have a passion for musical story-telling, a readiness to reach beyond our limitations, and a willingness to do the necessary work.
So, without further ado, here's their story:

When Denning Burton had the idea to write a musical about Sherlock Holmes, he didn’t have grandiose ideas about making a difference in the world. He just wanted to do something new. A gifted composer and songwriter who’d grown up around musicals, he figured pairing the Victorian source material with modern music would be great fun. So he reached out to a buddy with whom he’d spent hours tossing ideas back and forth when they were both serving a Christian mission in the Netherlands. Stefan van de Graaff was all in. They were both under 25, and neither one had studied musical theatre, but that didn't bother them. Nor has it damaged Sherlock the Musical, a vibrant, entertaining and touching show that is now earning attention of producers overseas. It is also packs a powerful message about the dangers of division and the power of love to overcome evil.
The duo decided to tell Sherlock’s story in a way that was friendly to families. “I don’t want to exclude audiences,” Burton explains. Van De Graaff was a new dad when they started working together and they wanted to create something he could bring his son to that would be thrilling to both of them. “If you are a good enough writer, you don’t have to rely on inappropriate or crass material to get your message across," says Burton. "It’s easier for shock value to include something graphic. To be able to accomplish the same emotional output with something subtle is a lot harder of a challenge. But mature content does not correlate with maturity in the artist.”
It helped that they wanted to stay true to the source material by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle which was very clean, but since the music was modern, keeping the language and the themes family-friendly was a conscious decision and it took some sacrifice. “There are just so many things that you can rhyme with pram,” Van De Graaff chuckles.
They approached the project without formal training in musical theatre. Burton had taken roles in several musicals as a teen and was frequently at the theatre supporting his stage-loving siblings, but Van De Graaff had never been involved in a musical. He did, however, have a librettist/dramaturge uncle, Bob Martin, whose lengthy credits include co-writing the book for The Drowsy Chaperone. Martin was busy with his own show and not available at the time to offer pointers or feedback on Sherlock, but his influence was still felt. “It allowed me to dream a little bit,” van de Graaff says. “There’s some barrier that’s broken down when you see someone you know doing it. If that person that I’ve had Thanksgiving dinner with can write a musical, why can’t I?”
Burton wasn’t thinking of the uncle when he approached his friend about collaborating. He just knew that van de Graaff had a brilliant mind and a shared passion for thrillers and mystery. “I think the fun thing about theatre is the synergy of it,” Burton explains. “I really believe that if you strike a match and hold it up, and strike another match and put them together, the flame is more than twice as high. I knew that it would be exponentially better with Stefan. He’s an incredible writer and a detective in his own right.”
Because they lived more than a thousand miles apart, they worked on building their story by Zoom. Between September and December 2016, they hammered out two songs and one scene. Then, in January, they pitched the concept to a semi-professional theatre in Burton’s hometown and got signed on to do a six-week run that summer. “That’s when we really started cooking,” Burton recalls. They had to have the full book and music ready by mid April.
It was a mad rush to be done in time and they suddenly realized how big of a project they’d taken on. They did a lot of Google searches on how to write a musical, then worked like crazy. They were ready with script and score by the mid-April deadline. But the fun wasn’t over. Once rehearsals started, the director kept coming back with notes and questions like, “What’s the motivation for this scene?” The duo would talk it over, make whatever adjustments were necessary, and have revisions ready within a couple of days. “One of the beauties about musical theatre is that it has the ability to adapt,” van de Graaff says. ”It’s not like a painting or a film or a book that, when it’s out, it’s out and that’s it. It’s kind of a neat component of the art form.”
After a successful run that summer, they sought out feedback and then did three major rewrites, plus a bunch of smaller revisions. Probably the most significant change was a complete reworking of the end. Here, their story breaks with the original material in a way that underscores their message. What started as a more cerebral show about a race to catch a criminal before he can wreak havoc on the world has become something full of heart, declaring that love, not intellect, is the real super power.
Every character was written to experience a growth arc, but Watson's is probably the most surprising. “Society has no shortage of Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty figures – flawed characters.” van de Graaff muses. “But we certainly have a shortage of John Watsons. Those humble characters who don't get the limelight, but play such a fundamental role in being the glue that holds society together; they deserve their moment. And maybe a show can inspire a few more of those to come out of the woodwork in a time when that’s desperately needed. “
After the major rewrites, the duo staged the show again, only this time, for the camera. They pooled their funds and had just enough money, to the dime, to produce a filmed version that’s available for viewing on Youtube. Rehearsals happened during COVID with the help of Zoom. Pretty much all the cast took turns being sick, but they were all ready in time for filming, and the final cut premiered on YouTube in April 2022. The show continues to garner rave reviews there, like this recent effusion: “Stumbled across this last night. As a musical theatre performer and musician of almost twenty years professional experience, I can reliably state that this is absolutely fantastic. Captures the feel of the source material, with a great script, excellent contemporary choreography, and clever staging. Most importantly, every song is pure brilliance. As a Brit, some of the actor's accents are a little inconsistent, but it doesn’t detract from the experience. The actor who played Tom is especially good. Furthermore, I cried like a child during Watson's solo and the final number. 11/10. Criminally underrated.”
Musicals are supposed to be seen live. Van de Graaff says a filmed version really doesn’t compare, but it’s something of a calling card to help producers see what they are getting into.
Their other calling card is a studio cast recording of all 15 musical numbers, which hit a million streams on Spotify in less than a year and a half. This is what won the heart of a producer at the Empress Theatre in Magna, Utah who decided to stage it last December. Burton couldn’t attend but van de Graaff went twice. “The production is so adaptable. This was a small, local community theatre and they had next to no money to do it, and young actors and yet, they can still mount a production that’s charming.” It was also produced this spring by a youth theatre in Arkansas.
They still aim for Broadway. On average, it takes ten years after a successful show is written before it’s picked up by a Broadway producer. Burton and Van De Graaff are pushing forward with three more years to meet that milestone. But Broadway is not their ultimate goal. What they really want is to have their musical staged at the West End in London, Sherlock’s city. So it’s exciting that they are currently negotiating with a theatre across the pond about the possibility of a run next summer. If that bears fruit, they are a giant step closer to fulfilling their dreams with a show that helps to brighten ours.
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