The creation of this new musical began in the spring of 1993 with a yellow legal pad and a ballpoint pen. I had been wrestling with the idea of a musical adaptation of the story since 1989 but I had been buried with too many other projects to give it the attention it needed.

Simple Beginnings - March, 1993

From 1993 to 1997, work progressed slowly with short bursts of creativity. The first song I wrote for the show was Katrina, a first act walts which has since been dropped from the show. Slowly but surely, the script and lyrics came together, but I didn't begin work on the musical score in earnest until the summer of 1995, while I was working as a singer with the San Francisco Opera. The music page to the right is an original excerpt from the song, Headless Horseman Rides, sung by Brom Bones in Act Two.

First Reading - April, 1997

Finally, in April of 1997, a full draft had been completed and it became time for the first reading! So, I commandeered a friend's house, twisted the arms of a few more friends and colleagues and we read through the entire show. However, we did the read-through without the score. I wanted my work to be judged solely on the text, without influence from the music.

Open Staged Reading - May, 1998

It was now time to test the show before an audience. We held auditions two weeks prior to the performance and came up with a very strong cast after which we began the first of eight rehearsals spread out over a two-week period.

On Sunday afternoon, May 17, 1998, after a year's worth of work and revision, it was time to put the show on its feet in front of a real live audience! What would they say? Would they like it? What if they hated it? I'm going to hyperventilate…!

Upon entering the theatre, the audience was given a simple program and a questionnaire to fill out. Following the performance, the audience was invited to take part in a question and answer session with me, the cast and production staff. After the production was complete, I had an opportunity to sit down with all of the questionnaires we had received. I was over-whelmed by the positive response! Then it was time to concentrate on the revisions and rewrites, adding new songs, ousting old songs, revising dialogue and lyrics and cleaning it up!

Workshop by New York State Theatre Institute - July, 1999

On February 23rd, 1999, I received an email from the Producing Artistic Director of New York State Theatre Institute expressing interest in producing Sleepy Hollow as a workshop production over the summer. After sending out more than 65 submission queries, it was finally paying off!

The show was presented as part of the company's annual Summer Theatre Institute, a program in which high school and college students spend 4 weeks learning singing, acting, dancing, etc… and then present a workshop production of a new musical - this particular year, it happened to be mine.

After flying into Albany airport, I was picked up by the associate producer and taken to my hotel where I would be spending the next several days. The entire experience was wonderful and the cast was fabulous!

A Full Workshop Production - October, 2000

After nearly a year and a half of work and revision, it came time, once again, to put the show in front of an audience. I was much more confident in my work this time. This workshop production was produced under the auspices of Arizona Musical Theatre Institute, a non-profit organization based in Phoenix, Arizona that is dedicated to the development of new works in musical theatre.

We rehearsed for a total of four weeks and ran for a total of four performances. Our first performance this time was in front of 200 middle school students and the young man who was cast as Ichabod Crane, Jason Lee McDonald, was an unqualified hit - especially with the girls! Near the end of the first act, Ichabod sings a heart-rending ballad entitled Only a Dream. The final words of this song are "who could ever love a face like mine?" At the utterance of those words, several 7th grade girls were heard saying, "I could!"

On to more revisions and rewriting! After seeing the show on its feet in a full scale workshop production, it was time to start looking at a possible premiere. But first, a concept recording!

Making the Official Concept CD - July through October, 2001

I've been in the recording studio many times before, but creating the Sleepy Hollow concept CD was by far, the largest recording project I have ever done. In order to finish this CD in a reasonable amount of time, I had to put a rush on completing the arrangements for the show's 18-piece orchestration.

Then, it was time to find the singers to assemble the recording's cast. Jason Lee McDonald, the young man who portrayed Ichabod in the 2000 workshop production was enlisted to sing the role on the CD. A friend and colleague from Flagstaff, Arizona, Emily Bida, sang the role of Katrina and I sang the role of Brom Bones.

The CD was recorded at O-tu Studios in Tempe, Arizona by O-tu's owner and recording engineer, Robert Sampler. It was tremendous fun creating the world of the musical with only sound.

Pre-Premiere Try Out with Flagstaff Light Opera - August, 2002

The next step for Sleepy Hollow was to take a trip to the cool pines of Flagstaff, Arizona, and in the summer heat of Phoenix, you didn't have to ask me twice!

The musical was set to officially premiere at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix in November, 2002, but an offer came from Flagstaff Light Opera Company to present the show in a premiere before the premiere.

Auditions were held in June, we rehearsed for 6 weeks and we opened on August 8th for a 6 performance run.

The Official World Premiere! - November, 2002

Well, here we are, finally, at the world premiere of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Our theatre is gorgeous - the newly remodeled Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix, originally built in 1929 as a vaudeville house and hosting such big name stars as Mae West and W.C. Fields among many others. This was also a production of Arizona Musical Theatre Institute.

We had an incredibly strong cast for this production and Jason Lee McDonald once again donned the hat to play the role of Ichabod Crane. Our fabulous 16 piece orchestra was conducted by musical director, Jonathan Ivie, the choreographer was Tina Scarpaci, and the show was co-directed by me and Bobb Cooper, Artistic Director of Valley Youth Theatre here in Phoenix.

Below are some photographs of both onstage and backstage at the Orpheum Theatre.