Right there back then in 2006, at the HERE theatre in New York, a little Charcoal Boy was born to the theatre world by the minds of Designer ERIC NOVAK (click his name to see the puppets he made for this play), Director SARAH PROVOST and myself. His adventures, acted out by the fantastic puppetry team, were set to music I composed and performed live with my band NERVOUS CABARET.
THE ADVENTURES OF CHARCOAL BOY, which received support from the JIM HENSON FOUNDATION, The MacDowell Colony, St Ann’s Warehouse Labapalooza, Meet The Composer (now called New Music USA), and PS 122‘s Mabou Mines, portrays the story of an unlikely hero – a charred stick!
One of the featured songs, TREES ARE STUBBORN, describes how his fall from a tree that was struck by lightning led to his awakening to a strange world and how his journey of self-discovery and revolution began. Central characters in the play, such as CATHEAD, a world-weary side show impresario and FLAME GIRL an enigmatic dancer in the cabaret, are also depicted in song.
Watch the video, below, to see me sing FLAME GIRL with 17 HIPPIES four years ago at the KESSELHAUS in Berlin.