Cross country love story borrows from performers’ real world love
The adage of “write that which you understand” has proven fruitful for real-life couple that is creative Bennett and Ashleigh Taylor.
The theatre that is musical came across whenever 25-year-old Bennett and 29-year-old Taylor both starred in the 2017 manufacturing of American Idiot and their relationship blossomed whenever Bennett relocated from Townsville to Sydney.
Co-creators of this new lease of life of Us musical Ashleigh Taylor and Ben Bennett. Credit: Rhett Wyman
But simple months within their relationship that is two-and-a-half-year Taylor to New Zealand for five months to arise in Pleasuredome The Musical. It absolutely was in this separation which they composed the majority of the brand new musical that is australian The lifetime of United States, which makes its globe premiere at Hayes Theatre Co this thirty days.
The show follows the relationship that is long-distance of college sweethearts Charlie and Ellie, additionally played by Bennett and Taylor. The few are forced aside whenever Charlie, a musician, would go to the united kingdom to pursue their profession, while Ellie stays behind within their hometown to look after her mom, who’s got early-onset Alzheimer’s.
“We explore exactly exactly exactly what this means to get in touch to another individual, whether or perhaps not we must actually see a individual so that you can maintain almost any relationship and just what that shortage of real connection does,” claims Taylor. “We were extremely much drawing on individual experience.”
The musical does not flinch through the problems of long-distance love. “What the entire show is about is certainly not having that connection and little by little it deteriorates until it isn’t here after all,” claims Bennett. “Every time the thing is one another you fill it back right up a little, however it’s like there is a gap into the base regarding the glass.”
Whilst the lifetime of Us is profoundly informed by their experience, the initial concept for the show bubbled up before Taylor had also met Bennett. The Artist’s Way to inspire herself in 2013 she was feeling creatively lost, so began following Julia Cameron’s popular self-help book. One night she dreamt the plot about a relationship that is long-distance right down to exactly the way the set should look.
“I’m not similar amount of musician and songwriter that Ben is, on my own,” says Taylor so I didn’t feel I had the skills to write it
The idea sat in her own journal for a long time as a project for them to work on with the pair co-writing the book and Bennett penning the music and lyrics until she became involved with Bennett and shared it. “Ben usually jokes now as soon as we state goodnight, he is like please dream up something great,” laughs Taylor.
The composer and lyricist behind Broadway hits Godspell, Pippin and Wicked despite the Life of Us being the first musical written by either of the two, the show scored them a place at the ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles last year led by Stephen Schwartz.
The 2 had been the first-ever Australians selected for a coveted i’m all over this this program, which selects attendees through a submission process that is worldwide. They received mentoring that is invaluable Schwartz as well as Winnie Holzman, whom published the guide for Wicked and developed the acclaimed teenager tv drama My alleged Life.
The tracks within the lifetime of Us function a pop that is strong, with all the set citing the soaring anthems of Dear Evan Hansen and also the Greatest Showman as comparable in noise.
“[Schwartz] actually guided us on methods to have that pop music sensibility but manage to drive a tale arc because he had been one of the primary individuals to bring pop music music into modern musical theater right back into the ’70s. through it,” says Bennett. “That exposed my eyes,”
For the few working alongside each other has just strengthened their relationship. “It’s the glue that holds us together,” says Taylor. “We fight about a great jak zjistit, kdo vГЎs mГЎ rГЎd na friendly bez placenГ deal of things, although not the musical. That has been hanging around.”
