The Hurricane
A New Musical by Bjorn Berkhout; debuted at FringeNYC in 2014
Photos by Lloyd Mulvey
While watching a theater production in Chicago an idea spontaneously hit me during intermission: ‘I bet The Tempest would work as a musical set on Fire Island’.
I instantly wanted a transgendered character in the musical who was in a position of power and influence rather than being on the peripheral edge of society. Thus, the Prospero character was reimagined as Madam Sparrow, the transgendered owner of an inn on Fire Island who has come into possession of a magical monkey paw. Using its power, she brings her enemies to the island and working with her lackey Ariel manipulates them through the power of song to extract her revenge and reestablish her rightful role in society.
The musical balances comedy with drama (as does the original Tempest) with Madam Sparrow a potentially dangerous adversary with supernatural powers at her call and Ferdinand and Miranda being the pair of young lovers caught in her game. Ariel and Sebastian are the comic characters while Antonio remains the villain. Both Caliban and Alonso float between the worlds of darkness and humor making the production a cast of eight characters.
The musical was staged at the 2014 Fringe Festival to positive reviews.
Any party interested in performance and continued development of this musical should feel free to contact me : Contact xxxx
I instantly wanted a transgendered character in the musical who was in a position of power and influence rather than being on the peripheral edge of society. Thus, the Prospero character was reimagined as Madam Sparrow, the transgendered owner of an inn on Fire Island who has come into possession of a magical monkey paw. Using its power, she brings her enemies to the island and working with her lackey Ariel manipulates them through the power of song to extract her revenge and reestablish her rightful role in society.
The musical balances comedy with drama (as does the original Tempest) with Madam Sparrow a potentially dangerous adversary with supernatural powers at her call and Ferdinand and Miranda being the pair of young lovers caught in her game. Ariel and Sebastian are the comic characters while Antonio remains the villain. Both Caliban and Alonso float between the worlds of darkness and humor making the production a cast of eight characters.
The musical was staged at the 2014 Fringe Festival to positive reviews.
Any party interested in performance and continued development of this musical should feel free to contact me : Contact xxxx
Excerpts from The Hurricane
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Click the postcard to go to The Hurricane on facebook.