The High Stakes Journey of a Musical
- Rebecca Burnham
- Sep 10
- 7 min read
Today, we’re taking a peek at the process of taking a new musical into the world of commercial theatre. It’s a journey that colours the dreams of composers and librettists everywhere, because who doesn’t want their work on a Broadway stage? And not just for the fame or the money, but also (or especially) for the influence; a successful Broadway run unlocks the gate to innumerable local and regional stages where your musical has the chance to touch countless lives. But this is not a journey for the faint of heart or the slim of pocket, as you’ll see in the story of Spells of the Sea.
When Guinevere Govea wrote Spells of the Sea, the pinnacle of her ambition was to have her show someday produced in the Black Box theatre at Austin’s University of Texas where she hoped to resume studying journalism and theatre once the pandemic was over. It was 2020, and COVID-19 was heavy on her heart, not only because it interrupted her education and required social distancing. More importantly, it threatened her dad, whose medical history put him at high risk. She did what she was accustomed to doing with difficult emotions; she funneled them into a song, “Seafoam.” In the process, her imagination got busy creating a fantastical world and a healing story that felt just right for the moment the world was in. She never guessed it would take her on a journey into the exciting and high-stakes territory of commercial theatre.
Govea’s musical centers on 15-year-old misfit, Finley Frankfurter, who drags curmudgeony H.S. rank into a daring ocean quest for the magical elixir of life that is Finley’s only hope of curing her dad from the deadly disease that threatens to take him within days. Her determination is not just fixed, it’s desperate. Finley battles with a gnawing self-doubt that renders her incapable of confronting her father’s looming loss. Her very reluctant companion, an aged lighthouse keeper, winds up being a kindred spirit; his inability to face his own losses led him to shut down the lighthouse and completely retreat from the world. The real point of their quest will not be the fabled elixir, but the friendship they will find in each other, the capacity to process their fears, and the ability to embrace life, whatever comes.
The musical was mostly written when, in 2021, Govea returned to classes in Austin, Texas. Her best friend and roommate Anna Pickett offered to help her direct the show as a podcast (stage productions were still shut down). They’d worked together on Govea’s first musical the previous year, when Pickett had been a theatre major. She’d since decided to get practical about a future career and switched her major to education.
Now, Pickett saw beautiful possibilities in Govea’s show for schoolkids who were still stuck at home, doing distance learning. She was aware of concerns about the passive and demotivating nature of school by Zoom. Here was an opportunity to fire up their imaginations with an audio show, while they engaged in active, hands-on activities. So, she produced a collection of worksheets and craft ideas for kids, posted to a website connected to the podcast. The audio-play was performed by a number of their friends under Pickett’s direction. They submitted it into UT’s annual Cohen New Works festival in 2021 and the associated B. Iden Payne Awards, where it garnered an Outstanding Original Score nomination, and awards for Outstanding Audio Production and Original Script.
Then they got a break they would not have dared to dream about. Their faculty advisor, Dr. Megan Alrutz, connected them with Broadway producer Megan Ann Rasmussen, who was looking to bring more shows to the celebrated stages that can be enjoyed by entire families. She saw potential in Spells and had the creators (Pickett was now a co-writer) submit it to the Pegasus Play Lab at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. They wound up being accepted to do a 10-day workshop, which was more or less terrifying.
The workshop began with a readthrough in a room of about 30 graduate students, directors, dramaturges, and producers, followed by a tidal wave of feedback. Everyone had ideas about what needed to be improved. They had positive feedback as well, and Rasmussen kept reminding them that their show had gold in it, or they wouldn’t even be here. But it was hard not to feel like total imposters. Govea happened to be ill that day and attended by Zoom, which was a bit of a relief because she didn’t have to show her face on the screen if a criticism hit particularly hard. Pickett was there in person. “My brain was very much on fight-or-flight mode” she recalls, “so the notes I took were probably … overwhelmed.”
The feedback led to massive revisions, including three new songs, several cut songs, and a completely reworked ending. There were multiple nights when they were up until 2 am, prepping changes for the morrow. But they got those changes made and the new songs written, and were thrilled when Dr. Alrutz then arranged with artistic director Julia Flood to bring the reworked show to the Metro Theater Company in St. Louis. It was the opening piece for the Metro’s 50th anniversary season in 2023.
Rasmussen raised nearly $100,000 from investors who believed in the show’s potential, in order to fund the enhanced production at the Metro Theater Company. It was a dream come true for the creators, and a highlight of their experience so far. Govea recalls, “Even though we were coming into this just fresh out of school, and there were a lot of older artists in the space who had been in the industry for much longer than we had, they really took us seriously as writers and as artists. There’s no vertical ladder of success, it’s all horizontal, and everyone treated everyone with such love and care. You could tell that they’re really trying to nurture and create a really healthy space for artists and for creativity to grow and blossom.”
To add to the fun, a stirring performance of her own music at a Metro gala got Govea cast as Finley. Pickett served as both assistant director and the Elixir. The entire community embraced them and the reviews were warm and encouraging.
A successful run with a well-reputed not-for-profit theatre like the Metro is just the beginning of a journey toward commercial stages, on or off Broadway, where the price-tag of putting on a show runs into the many millions. It was time for more development and polishing of the sort that would create more buzz and persuade more investors on board. So Rasmussen arranged a table read in Arizona followed by an opportunity for Govea to perform at the National Festival and Conference of Theatre for Young Audiences/USA (Rasmussen is a past president). Another table read in New York, with Broadway actors, and a salon performance coupled with a recording of an EP. Each of these development opportunities cost between $15,000 to $25,000, again funded by investors, in anticipation of a successful off-Broadway production.
The next step was eighteen performances over a 10-day run at the prestigious Kennedy Centre, an opportunity that could help them make the leap to off-Broadway or the West End, dearly purchased by their investors with a budget of $500,000. In such a high-stakes environment, they were again challenged to tighten up the story to bring it to world-class quality. It had been written in whimsy, with a quirky, homegrown appeal. Now, every scene and song needed to fill its purpose.
This production was also well-received, but the arduous journey to hone their work while holding fast to their unique voice, is ongoing. It’s the sort of thing one might compare to a magical, high stakes, ocean voyage. Govea and Pickett are plowing forward with the help of story editor Megan Tabaque, who joined their team last month. The Los Angeles director and performer is also a decorated playwright who creates new mythologies and enjoys playing with pop cultural tropes. She seems a fitting companion for the quirky voyage of Spells. Together, they’ve just finished redrafting the show and are doing a final polish, scene by scene.
In the meantime, in what spare time she has, Govea is also drafting a new podcast musical. “I love the beginnings of a project, so I’ve been working on a horror/adventure/romance musical called Ghostly.” This one will also be magical, but quite a bit darker and geared to a YA audience.
As a creator of musicals and a promoter of musical theatre as a healing force in society, there are some key takeaways from this story.
First is the importance of seeking out and embracing the critical feedback that can help the creators among us bring our work to world-class quality. We have great stories to tell. Our librettos and music need to do them justice. Workshops and readings with feedback are a standard step in a musical’s development for good reason. I want to learn to see an insightful critique as a generous gift, because it will help me achieve my purpose.
Second is something I already knew, but this story underscored it in red for me. That is, there needs to be a better way to get world-class musicals onto local stages everywhere, without having to lean on investors for millions of dollars. That is part of the reason Summit Stages exists. Please stay tuned for more on that in upcoming weeks.
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Wow. And I thought getting national attention for a BOOK was hard . . .