As someone who attended a performing arts high school, I am well-versed in participating in concerts and theatrical productions of existing works, classical and modern alike. Never in my life, though, would I have imagined myself writing my own musical from scratch. That is exactly what I did a month ago, thanks to the wonderful opportunity given to the seven Macaulay campuses to participate in Macaulay Honors’ first ever SING musical-writing competition.

I couldn’t tell you how many total hours were spent on producing this musical, and to sum all of those hours up into one blog post would be foolish and impossible. I can say that already, I feel that I’ve had a major epiphany regarding my future career(s). I am now seriously considering being a playwright/director at some point in my life. The outcome of this entire backbreaking production has got me hooked on putting on shows! You never know your true artistic abilities until the musical you’ve been working on with a tiny group of classmates has snowballed from a little idea into a real production with lights, props, music, the works!

So, what was this marvelous play about, you ask? Our play follows three Manhattan roommates when it is suddenly discovered that a comet is heading directly for earth. With the eight-ish or so hours they have left, they set out to fulfill the most dire items on their bucket lists, be it confessing love, making up with estranged brothers, or doing a concert in Central Park.

A bit of background information on who did what: I was the head writer; fellow Macaulay Queens student Anastasia Deda and I were the directors (and by the final week, our own Mitch Guido was an unofficial director too); Mitch and I composed and recorded the music, and a handful of students from this Arts seminar class acted in it, too! Now, for some dramatic synopses:

Carlsky stars as Johnny, the handsome (and taken) neighbor of the roommate Erin, whom Erin has secretly loved for five years!

Yossi is Paul, the hobo/estranged brother of the roommate Manny, played by Zach Adler!

Mitch plays the bitter jazz saxophonist Max Herk, who gave up playing after being rejected from every college music program he applied for!

And yours truly, Annmarie, plays Amelia, the Pennsylvania-native aspiring jazz singer who just wants a gig, but Max’s stubborn anti-vocalist position stands in her way in her last hours of life!

And yes, the musical turned out as wonderfully as these characters make it seem. If you haven’t yet heard, Queens College won second out of fourth place, which we never thought would happen in a million years!

As I said, this entire experience of putting on a musical entirely from scratch has made me seriously consider playwriting and directing for a living. I also found that since completing the musical, I’ve looked at the performing arts, plays and movies in particular, in a much more structuralist light. I think much more critically about how scripts are written in relation to actions and the characters. This of course reminds me of The Bald Soprano– even though the play is of the absurdist brand, a great deal of thought still went into the production, and yes, even the script. I found myself thinking back to The Bald Soprano several times while writing the script for this musical- because there is a lot of comedy and unrealistic scenarios in it, I tried to imitate the timing of the lines in the way that they were timed for this play. In directing the actors, I also imitated the way the Bald Soprano actors acted: they took their lines very seriously, regardless of their ridiculousness. And lo and behold, it worked! Thank you, Ionesco!

Finally, if you’re interested in a sample of the music, here is Jessica’s Song, written/recorded by Mitchell Guido and Annmarie Errico, all rights reserved. (Yes, that is me singing- it was intended to help Anastasia, who played Jessica, learn the song quicker. FYI, Jessica is Johnny’s girlfriend who makes a surprising confession as her end-of-the-world action…)