Craig Jensen-Musical score :
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Craig has been musical director on many productions in the Seattle and Los Angeles areas, including Oklahoma, Fiddler of the Roof, Guys and Dolls, Godspell, Wizard of Oz and Sound of Music. He has composed the score to two full length musicals, High Times and Something Nasty in the Woodshed. He has also produced, written and recorded songs for various recording artists. In addition, Craig has created and pitched original TV programming to networks and producers, including Simon Cowell.
Hope Burseth - Book and Lyrics
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Hope worked in television and film production for several years. She is currently working on a new TV series called Sons of Thunder, inspired by the true story of a Pentecostal preacher's son who left it all behind to go on tour with the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder and other music greats of the 1970s. Something Nasty in the Woodshed is the direct result of her being raised by a devoted Anglophile - her mother, Rita.
Something Nasty in the Woodshed is a musical comedy based on the comic English novel, Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. Cold Comfort Farm was made into a movie in the 1990s starring Kate Beckinsale and Sir Ian McKellen. SNITWS had three staged readings in New York with a first rate Broadway cast and director, which really strengthened our desire to have the musical reach its full potential and its widest audience.
We have since decided to move in a new and, we believe, more lucrative direction of making the show as a film. A Broadway production can always be part of the vision, but with the widespread impact of media on viewers today, a film production has a greater ability to reach large audiences.
Phase I (what your contribution does)
Since our earlier recordings, many changes have been made to the score, and recording equipment has improved immensely. In this first phase we would like to:
- Update all orchestrations
- Record instrumental tracks using a mix of sampled and real instrument sounds
- Record all of the chorus parts using a well-rehearsed chorus
- Bring in talent to record lead parts
- Videotape the process and make a short promo for the film
- Set up meetings with potential directors and production companies to move the project towards film production
The Story:
"They're Shocking! They're appalling! They're her relatives!!"
Something Nasty in the Woodshed is the story
of a sophisticated young woman from London and her encounters with her strange
and mysterious relatives, the Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm. The musical takes us back to England in the
late 1930s, as seen through the eyes of the elegant, self-assured Flora
Poste. When she goes to stay with her relatives in the countryside, she discovers all manner of lunacy.
The 20th
century has somehow eluded the Sntarkadders, who keep busy plotting against one
another and pushing each other down the well. They're all convinced they are under a curse from which there
is no escape. The unseen hand behind it
all is Aunt Ada Doom, the aged matriarch of the family, who saw “something
nasty in the woodshed” years before and has been a twisted soul ever since. Aunt Ada rules the farm with a rod of iron from her command post upstairs.
Flora is not
allowed an audience with Aunt Ada, but does get to know her cousin Amos, a ruined giant of a man who preaches at the Church of the Quivering Brethren. His son, Seth, is movie-star handsome and an
irresistible cad to all the women in the village. Amos’ other son, Reuben, is constantly scheming up ways to get rid of Amos, so he can take control of the farm.
Flora decides to
take the Starkadders in hand and civilize them.
This proves to be fruitless. She
next decides to get them all off the farm, one by one, and on with their own lives. Her cool and organized strategy takes the
disorganized Starkadders completely by surprise and, one by one, they find
themselves stepping out from under the curse and into a new life. All goes as planned until she comes face to
face with the formidable Aunt Ada Doom.
During the climactic showdown between the two, the farm’s dark secrets
are revealed, including what Aunt Ada saw in the woodshed all those years
before. ````
In short, the Starkadders prove to be a strange and embarrassing bunch, whom Flora can’t take anywhere. We, however, would like to bring them to Hollywood!
Credits:
We'd like to thank Michael Spooner for his amazing art work. Michael worked at Disney for many years in feature animation and is currently working at Sony Pictures Animation.
We would also like to thank Caleb Jensen for his help in putting the video together.
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