For this Throwback Thursday, I will highlight one of my two musical collaborations with the great composer Paul Robert Bartsch called “One Little Wish.”
Briefly, “One Little Wish” is based on an old French fairytale (in some tellings, it is a Cuban or Puerto Rican fairytale – which just goes to show that stories “get around”) about a miserable old man with a pear tree, who, after helping a stranger (who just happens to be St. Peter in disguise!), is offered the ability to have one wish and subsequently wishes thay anyone who tries to steal pears from his pear tree will stick to the tree until he (the old man) wishes them back down again.
Some 20 years ago now (I am dating myself), I learned about this fairytale during a French history class at Northwestern University, stored it somewhere in the back of my mind as a wonderful idea for a musical, and then, some years later, after I worked with Paul (Bartsch) on the musical “Hello World”, I proposed that we work on a musicalized version of this very yarn together.
Notably, “One Little Wish” has a special place in my heart because it was my first foray into the world of the theater producer, as I self-produced the show after founding the theater company Speerhead Theatricals – and not only that, but I harnessed my inner actor (from college days) and even took a role in the show, starring as the arch-villain tax collector, Morínigo.
Long story short, “One Little Wish” was produced way back in 2012 – including a great concert presentation at The Lambs in New York City and then two productions in Connecticut – with much credit to the Director of Production, Shawn Amdur – and while admittedly not my best work, the show had a typically lovely score by Paul, who simply couldn’t not write tuneful melodies.
The below excerpt is quite extended and taken from very early in Act One – after the opening song – where we meet three people who pester the old man with his pear tree – a pair of young lovers and the aforementioned tax collector, played by yours truly – and of course, in both cases, the old man will suffer no one taking his pears and demands that they all “Leave Me Alone.”
