Dream King
I had the pleasure of attending the world premiere of my good friend, Randy Mueller's concert production of "The Dream King". And what a thrill it was to see it up on stage! Randy had been working on it for years and to see it come to life was an absolute privilege! It is the story of King Ludwig II, the very king who built the Neuschwanstein (say that five times fast...and try spelling it right!) Castle, which is known today as the famous Walt Disney castle.
His is one of those wonderful larger than life stories, full of much scandal and mystery as we follow the life of the Ludwig from childhood, to his obsessive relationship with the late great composer Richard Wagner to his even greater obsession to build the castle and his eventual spiral into madness.
Randy Mueller is brilliant. No one can deny this man's talent and it shows in every crazy challenging chord that he presents and in the clever lyrics that accompany. One song in particular, "He's Not Mad, He's Just...." left me drooling in envy, one of those "How clever, I wish I had come up with that" kind of feelings. And I can say that 'cause Randy's like a brother to me. We have partnered on many projects and he was my musical director at the theatre for many years...We fight like brother and sisters all the time and then he'll say something like 'aw, shut up you know it's 'cause I love you' and I just kinda melt and..well...shut up.
Hmmm...he really is clever, isn't he...
Ahem...Dream King...
Many of Edmonton's finest came on board in support of this huge endeavor and graced us with their amazing voices, Anna Beaumont, in particular. But no chorus would be complete without the singularly powerful belt of Marleigh Rouault. Trust me, I have sung with her and she is the hub, the anchor, man! Let me put it to you this way, there were about ten sopranos, probably equal mezzos and on the alto line there was....Marleigh. On a personal note, I howled at Des and Tim, who shuffled on and off stage like Tweddle Dee and Tweedle Dum, stuck together even in the ballroom scene. Or maybe it was just Des' crazy hair so defiantly challenging Tim's coiffed and experienced hairdresser disposition. At any rate, they made me laugh...
There is huge potential for this musical and I can't wait to see it grow! If you get a chance, go check it out so that when it's on Broadway you can say "I saw it first!". Hey, you could even get some autographs!
Anyway, congratulations to all the cast and to Elope theatre for producing The Dream King. And to Randy...I love you, too!
You can check out Randy's here-I-am-looking-all-composerly-at-my-piano picture in the gallery under The Dream King :)
