Symphonious

I haven’t had a lot of time to continue writing my musical but none the less it is progressing. I’m pretty happy with the first act now and have a plan set out for the second. I’m a little concerned that it might be a bit depressing though. It can be tough to confront issues like adoption, abuse, homelessness and alcoholism without becoming very depressing. At the same time it’s important not to gloss over the issues or the whole musical just becomes too surreal or worse, becomes a Disney movie….

It’s interesting to see a distinct style developing in my writing as well with a number of recurring techniques being used, mostly subconsciously, through the musical. I’m particularly pleased to see that these techniques aren’t just a copy of things I’ve seen elsewhere - they’re actually fairly unique concepts, if not in themselves, in the way they are used.

Still, the greatest challenge for me will be weeding out all the really cheesy lines that seemed like a good idea at the time but just don’t work when actually spoken by the character. That task is yet to come.

Anyway, back to the MarchFest website, the program went up this evening.

Things are rocking along with MarchFest 2004 though it, combined with product releases at work, have been keeping me extremely busy. On the plus side the performer list is now up at the MarchFest website. Information on the fashion parade and art gallery to come soon hopefully.

Don’t forget to mark your diaries to attend on the 20th!

I mentioned earlier that MarchFest was coming up. The website has now gone live. If you’re in Brisbane on the 20th of March why not drop by and check out some of Brisbane’s finest local talent?

At last, a simple to use playwright tool! Not at all documented admittedly and looking very incomplete but it seems to work okay. Plywood is a python script that works with latex to format a simple text file and turn it into a PDF laid out according to the Samuel French style. It’s horribly incomplete but it’s a great idea and it seems to work. It also includes emacs bindings to make it even easier, but I’m using SubEthaEdit for now and I already know vi so learning emacs seems like to much work now.

An example script would be something like:

title: Example Script
author: Adrian Sutton

characters:
Adrian Sutton (AJ) - A very excited new user of plywood.

newact:

setting: AJ’s office.

AJ - [jumping up from his computer] Woooooooo! I found a playwright tool that’s not ridiculously complex.

(AJ jumps up and down in excitement then runs off to find a beer to celebrate.)

The actual package contains an example that’s even worse than that….

Preparations for this year’s MarchFest are moving into full swing. MarchFest is a festival of music, art and and entertainment held every year at Kangaroo Point Uniting Church. We usually get a pretty sensational turnout of local Brisbane talent from a wide range of musical tastes, ranging from choirs and pipe organists during the afternoon in the church, to jazz, blues and rock and roll on the main stage and rocking on into night with punk, rock and alternative.

So mark those calendars early, it’s always a good day. In the meantime, I’d better get to finishing the website for this year…