How
did The Fourth Wall choose the musical “Balancing Act” by Dan
Goggin?
I
(Marjy) was looking for an ensemble piece for a few of Jackson’s talented
musical theatre performers who were home from college for the summer. During my
search the Nunsense musicals came up several times (as it is an ensemble piece),
and I noticed that Dan Goggin had written a couple of other musicals. I found
the soundtrack to “Balancing Act” and thought it had great potential. 5 piece
ensemble, lots of good music, minimal set, interesting premise, and Gary even
gets to wear a dress (Again!).
After
a thorough search I was not able to find the company that owned the royalties to
the musical. I gave up for a while, and then I thought of Facebook. I searched
for Dan Goggin and sent him a Facebook message asking him personally where I
could obtain permission to perform this show. He said that “Balancing Act” is
no longer published, and that most of the songs have been reallocated to
different Nunsense musicals. I asked him if he would allow us to perform the
show anyway and he gave his permission and sent the score and script. We were
very excited! One reason being that we were able to do the show we wanted to
do, and for another because we were in touch with Dan Goggin and received his
personal blessing!
Summary
of the Musical
The
musical is about a person named Chris Finn. Chris Finn, an aspiring actor,
leaves small town America for New York City. Chris wants to be a star on
Broadway - mostly. The audience experiences the inner voices of Chris Finn -
the voices we all have in our head - as they encourage, discourage, laugh, hope,
argue, and dream. Ambitious, Skeptical, Sensitive, Optimistic, and Humorous
attempt to guide Chris through life - living the dream and learning the
Balancing Act of Life. Balancing Act is a comedy about the choices we must make
in life. "It could be anyone, it could be anywhere, it could be YOU trying to
be true to yourself..." 5 actors play 1 character (Chris Finn), and 1 actor
plays 5 characters (everybody else).
Bio
of Dan Goggin
Dan
Goggin was born in Alma, MIchigan. He is an
American
writer, composer,
and lyricist
for musical
theatre.
Goggin began his career as a singer in the
Broadway
production of Luther,
which starred Albert
Finney.
He then toured for five years as a member of the folksinging duo, The
Saxons,
before writing the music for and appearing in the off-Broadway musical
Hark!
Goggin
began composing both music and lyrics for revues satirizing current events,
trends, and personalities. He later composed incidental music for the
short-lived 1976 Broadway production, Legend,
starring Elizabeth
Ashley
and F. Murray
Abraham,
which closed after five performances.
Goggin's
early life experiences, including schooling by the
Marywood
Dominican Sisters and his days as a
seminarian,
influenced him to create his greatest success. A line of greeting cards
featuring a nun offering tart quips caught on so quickly that Goggin decided to
expand the concept into a cabaret show called The
Nunsense Story,
which opened for a four-day run at Manhattan's
Duplex and remained for 38 weeks, encouraging its creator to expand it into a
full-length theater production.
What
followed was Nunsense
(1985), one of
off-Broadway's
biggest commercial successes, which ran a total of 3672 performances. By the
time it closed, it had become an international phenomenon translated into 21
languages with more than 5000 productions worldwide. Goggin followed it with six
sequels, Nunsense
2: The Second Coming,
Sister
Amnesia's Country Western Nunsense Jamboree,
Nuncrackers:
The Nunsense Christmas Musical,
Meshuggah-Nuns!,
Nunsensations:
The Nunsense Vegas Revue,
and Nunset
Boulevard.
In 1998 Dan opened an all-male production of Nunsense
entitled Nunsense
A-Men!
The show played in New York City to rave reviews.
Goggin
also wrote the book, music, and lyrics for A
One-Way Ticket To Broadway
and Balancing
Act,
neither of which was as successful as the Nunsense
franchise. When discussing the success of “Balancing Act” Goggin said that the
show was very well received in the midwest, but not as well in New York, “I’ve
always like the show,” he said, “Maybe is was just ahead of his time.” The
songs from “Balancing Act” have met with great success when used in his other
Nunsense musicals.
Starring:
Christopher Swope, Christina McKim, John McKim, Melissa Paschall, Sarah
Brausch, and Gary L. Minix.
Accompanist:
Larry Sumner
Choreographer:
Leslie Bradley
Stage
Manger: Derek Turson
Director:
Gary and Marjy Minix
Tickets
$10 per person may be purchased at www.the4thwall.org or at the door. Also $10
gourmet dinner available by Chef Steff for $10 per person.
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