Sundown History 

Best New  Play or Musical 
2002 Dallas Theatre League Leon Rabin  Award Nomination

ASCAP Plus Award 
2003 Recipient

The story goes that in Spring of 2000, York Theatre's artistic director Jim Morgan was racing to Florida in his '69 Mustang convertible. As the wind rippled his wild hair, he shoved a demo of Sundown into his tape deck. Music began blaring from his Bose system.  Suddenly, he was blowing off speed limits, detour signs, and McDonald's rest stops. He drove with reckless abandon as he listened to the score with unyielding fervor, and what he heard … he liked!

York Theatre    buried in the Citigroup Building, NYC   Lyric Stage  Irving, Texas

Whether that is the exact scenario or the story of that drive has become something of a fable, it, nonetheless, marks the beginning of Sundown's production history. Jim Morgan fell in love with the show and gave us the golden opportunity to develop it in two readings at the York Theatre with Richard Sabellico directing. That same year, a call from Michael Kerker, director of the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, informed us that Sundown had been selected from a pool of over 250 submissions to be one of six participants in ASCAP's spring presentation. Its reception at ASCAP was encouraging. This workshop opportunity (under the auspices of Stephen Schwartz) and the York readings, proved to be invaluable tools. Songs were dropped, lyrics rewritten, and characters focused in an effort to continue improving the piece. That summer, with a strong recommendation from Jim Morgan, Steven Jones of Lyric Stage in Texas read the script, liked it, and scheduled the world premier for April 2002.  Sundown was nominated for Best New Play or Musical by the Dallas Theatre League that November.

The following year, Rick Rose, the artistic director at Barter Theatre gave Sundown its wonderful East Coast premier in beautiful Abingdon, Virginia.   From New York to Texas to Virginia audiences and critics have been tremendously enthusiastic and generous with their praise.

Now, the score has received its professional recording and a national distribution by Original Cast Records. That's Sundown's production history, so far. But truth to tell, Sundown's  story really predates all of that by many years. People like Betty Buckley, Cass Morgan, Michael Tucker, Fred Coffin, Jenny Burton, Michael Montel, and John Driver pitched in and  shared their talent and time along the way. Still, we like to believe that Sundown began with that hot-rodding artistic director, who allowed our cowboys to take their first bow-legged steps in his basement theatre.   JB

Barter Theatre  Abingdon, Virginia

 

 

Barter Theatre, Abingdon, Virginia  
 

Richard Rose, Producing Artistic Director

March 7 to May 17, 2003

Cast

Director – Richard Rose

Musical Director  - Wm. Perry Morgan

Lyric Stage, Irving, Texas

Steven Jones, Founding Producer

April 19 – May 4, 2002

Cast

Director – Cheryl Denson

Musical Director  - Nyela Basney

York Theatre, New York, New York 

Developmental Reading Series
James Morgan, Artistic Director

Cast

March 2001

June 2001

Director – Richard Sabellico

Musical Director  - Jo Lynn Burks

ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop, New York, New York

Stephen Schwartz, Artistic Director
Michael Kerker, Director of Musical Theatre,

April 2001

Cast

Director – Richard Sabellico

Musical Director  - Jo Lynn Burks

Studio Cast Recording

Produced and Arranged by Peter Link 
Distributed by Original Cast Records 

Released November 2004

Cast

Musicians: Peter Link on guitar, harmonica, piano, and additional instruments, Bob Stanton on guitar and banjo. 

Rehearsal pianist: Margaret Dorn

* Non-singing role

Home