Diamond – a song for the MotherDaughterMusical

ABOUT THE MUSICAL:

The Mother Daughter Cantos (working title)  is:

• 18 songs.
• Each one a different mother/daughter.
• Each one a different emotional aspect of this complex bond.
• Each one a dramatic moment in the life-long mother daughter  journey from cradle to grave.
• Each one a true story … pulled from the 400 real women and girls we interviewed for our award winning documentary, “The Story of Mothers and Daughters.”  We thank all of them!  Their honest words always sounded like music to us.
• Each one … exploring familiar feelings from moments in our own lives.  Not some fictional character, but windows to peer into … ourselves.

The Mother Daughter Cantos theatrical precursors:

• This is a documentary musical.
• As a musical … it is like A Chorus Line – a collective portrait from multiple diverse characters, each with their own separate songs and stories,  that together present a many-sided portrait of a chosen theme.
• As documentary theater, it is like Vagina Monologues  or any of the plays by Anna Deavere Smith; works where the creative vision begins not with a playwright, but with in-depth interviews with real people about their own real lives and experiences.
• As a genre, we gratefully look to the concept musical –  a genre explored by many, from Stephen Sondheim to Cats. (if we dare lump those two in the same sentence.)   Concept musicals are built around a central theme, as opposed to the story musical (e.g. everthing from Oklahoma! to Hamilton); which are plot based, central characters as our protagonists whose on-going trials make up the narrative.

Our Audience

Admittedly, not everyone will be interested in this play.  Our audience is limited to:

• mothers and daughters

• plus people who have a mother

• plus people who have a daughter.

But despite that limitation … and seriously now …  we believe there is a devoted audience who care deeply about this theme and will care passionately about this musical.

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