Works In Development
For materials, demos, and more information on any of the shows listed below, please contact Gabriel Barre directly at: gabe@gabrielbarre.com
ORDINARY GIRLS (play with music)
Script by Elin Hampton
Original Music & Lyrics by Luke Wygodny
Cast Size: 7
In 1939, as World War II raged, sisters Freddie (age 14) and Truus Oversteegen (age 16) are recruited by the Dutch Resistance for a specific mission: Seduce high-ranking Nazi Officers, lure them into the woods and kill them. Soon they’re partnered with 19-year-old Hannie Schaft – the infamous ‘Girl with the Red Hair’ for whom Hitler personally issued a capture/kill order. This is the true story of these three ‘ordinary girls’ as they experience a brutal and altogether eccentric coming-of-age. It’s a tale of extraordinary courage, sisterly love, loyalty, and ultimately the cost of political violence, no matter how righteous the cause.
FUSONG (musical)
Book and Lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson
Music by Cecilia Lin
Cast Size: 9
Band Size: 3-6 plus tracks
Based on Geling Yan's novel, The Lost Daughter of Happiness, Fusong centers on two young Chinese women in two different centuries, as Fusong is kidnapped from her small village in China and thrown into the dark world of San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1866, and Nancy confronts the anti-Asian hate crimes of America’s 21st century COVID era.
CAMILLE CLAUDEL (musical)
Music By Frank Wildhorn
Book and Lyrics by Nan Knighton
Cast Size: 12-15
Band Size: 5-9
A new musical about the 10 year affair between the famous sculptor Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel, told with a glorious score by Frank Wildhorn with scintillating book and lyrics by Nan Knighton that look the relationship from Camille’s perspective as a woman ahead of her time, an artist at least equal to her mentor, and an uplifting testament to making a mark and finding the gold for all of us!
LIVE AT THE RED ROOM (musical)
Music by Frank Wildhorn
Book and Lyrics by Rinne Groff
Cast Size: 4
Band Size: 5-6
At the rehearsal for a concert to benefit the club where a fictitious rock band started out, all secrets, past and present are shared, willingly and unwillingly and all conveyed through their catalog of music which is now their only hope. Music is what got and kept them going, and is now the only hope to bring them back together.
OVER MY DEAD BODY (musical)
Book by Bobby Pearce
Music by Steven Jamail
Cast Size: 3
Band Size: 1-3
Beverly Hills is a washed-up TV star who will do anything to keep her career alive. That includes taking her reviews to the grave and putting her reviewers in one too. Over My Dead Body hilariously explores the effects of greed, lust, failure, fame, depression, desire, Mother Theresa, Christmas lights, and America’s unique, bloodsucking celebrity culture on one, not so humble star, in the firmament of contemporary show business! It all happens in a fast-paced, hour and a half of musical comedy, performed with a small orchestra (of 1 – 3 musicians), and a nimble cast of 3 actors (with a lot of quick changes)! Can Beverly Hills ever become a real human being who cares about anyone, or anything, more than herself…. well, as she would say: “Over My Dead Body!” Until….
HOW MURRAY SAVED CHRISTMAS (musical)
Music by Walter Murphy
Book by Mike Reiss
Cast Size: 5
Band Size: 1-5
HOW MURRAY SAVED CHRISTMAS is a new family musical hilarity that ran for a few years as an animated seasonal special on NBC and has now been adapted for the stage. In the beautiful, fabled village of Stinky Cigars, (they named it that to keep the tourists out), resides many, happy and legendary characters…..including Santa Claus! It is Christmas Eve and Santa has just been accidentally knocked unconscious, and Edison Elf must find a substitute and lands on the grouchy, Murray who runs the local diner. Edison convinces him to take over, just for the night, and what follows is an adventure neither of them counted on. Toys are brought to good (and bad) boys and girls of all faiths and non-faiths around the world, but more than that, Murray discovers a bit about his own self-worth, and realizes he doesn't have to live life as a grump at all! The show features broad, physical humor, all suitable for the whole family and performed by a tight ensemble cast in a blur of costume and character changes. It also features a heart-warming story of rebirth, love, and second chances. The action is fast paced, and ridiculous and the music is infectious!
LIGHTS ON THE RADIO TOWER (musical)
Music and Lyrics by Kevin James Thornton
Book and Lyrics by Emily Goodson
Cast Size: 2
Band Size: 4-5
In this contemporary rock musical, a brother and sister are brought together after years of estrangement to clear out their child hood home following the recent death of their father and as they do, they discover a renewed need for each other and forge a path to forgiveness.
MEMORY OF DAMAGE (play with tap dancing)
Play by Lori Fischer
Music by Don Chaffer
Cast Size: 7
Band Size: 1-4 / (music could also be pre-recorded)
Dr. Walter Freeman performed over 3,500 trans-orbital lobotomies in the United States, leaving perfectly healthy patients severely disabled for the rest of their lives. The Memory of Damage tracks the journey of Calvin Wayne, a past patient, as he searches to find out why he was given the procedure that removed his ability to feel.