The Adventure of the Fluoride Fandango by [© 2001, Kevin M Reese] Metamorphosis of the show In January of 2000, I had just written a new musical, "Alice in Wonderland," for The Wichita Children's Theatre Professional Touring Company. Monica Flynn, the Executive Producer asked me if I'd consider writing a new Dental Health show. For about the last 10 years, they had been partnering with the Sedgwick County Dental Health Association to present a Tooth Fair for the local 3rd graders. They had been presenting a wonderful Molar-Drama called "Cavity Crisis in Cowtown," written by Zoe Belle Hurst. Both Monica and I thought "Cavity Crisis" was the perfect show for that event and seriously questioned the Association's reasoning for wanting to change the show. Zoe's show had lots of audience participation, had funny memorable characters, and was a definite crowd-pleaser year after year. In other words: I didn't want to write a new show. WCT had premiered most of my other shows-- in the past I had written as many as 8 new shows per year for them-- but now I was a stay-at-home Dad to my four kids (ages 2-8!) and didn't know when I'd find the time to write. I told her I'd write it for $1500.00 (my price has since gone up dramatically!), thinking that would make her balk. It didn't. She helped the Dental Association apply for a grant, arranged to have John Boldenow ("JB") direct, and everything was a GO for a February 2001 premiere. I set in to prepare to write the show. My usual writing process takes one year from commitment to production. I "ponder" for six months, write the script in three months, finalize the script (with director's input), write the music, and rehearse the show during the final three months. Sometime around June of 2000, the Association sent Monica a list of ideas they had brainstormed as to what they wanted in the new show. Then in September, I had just begun the writing of the script, when my Dad unexpectedly found out he had advanced cancer and went through a painful battle. Within three weeks from the time we found out he had it, he passed away. I was completely thrown for a loop. Every time I looked at my notes and my script I got lost in memories of my Dad. It was very painful. The stress of the script deadline was screwing up my grieving time-- and with 4 kids, I couldn't afford to put my family through that. I wouldn't put myself through that. I went into survival mode. I called Monica the first week of October (the week my Dad passed away) and told her I needed to back out of my commitment. She was very understanding-- especially considering her position of having written the grant and the Association expecting a new show in four months. You see, I was the Tour Manager for the WCT professional touring company in 1990 when my Mom died. Monica was my boss and had become one of my surrogate moms after that. She knew I now needed time to shut down so I could bounce back. I archived my notes and what little script I had so far, thinking I would never have to go back to them ever again. Then during the spring of 2001, Monica said, "By the way, any chance you could finish writing the new Tooth Fair show? We will lose the grant money if we don't do it this year." I had no intention of finishing it, but told her I'd think about it and give her an answer in a week. I went back and looked over my notes and the script and couldn't do it. That was what I was working on when we went through the painful ordeal of my Dad's illness and death. I couldn't shake the memories. I told Monica "no." She wasn't satisfied (in a loving way) with that answer. Monica has this unique "Catholic guilt voodoo curse" thing going for her. I can never say "no" to her when she REALLY doesn't want me to. I went back and looked over my stuff. I just couldn't do it. But what I COULD do, was throw everything out and start from scratch. So I changed everything-- the characters, the setting, the plot-- nothing was salvaged. I even made the hero of the story a girl instead of a guy. I took three months to "ponder," three months to write, and had a script for her and the Dental Association to read September 1. They liked it. I spent the next 3 months in revisions with JB, the director (who, by the way, has been the original director for most of my shows and is the guy responsible for my ever getting into children's theatre to begin with. I LOVE that guy!) and began writing the songs. The cast went into rehearsal January 21, 2002 and presented the show February 4-8. I'm convinced that the resulting show is much better than it ever could have been had I not changed everything. But I would much rather have written a lesser-quality play and still have my Dad around. . . . Other Fandango Trivia:
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