One of the hidden gems about the city of Boston is its amazing theatre scene. There is so much going on that if you love theatre, there is something for you. Not only are there major national tours that make frequent stops, but their regional productions have put on some of the best shows I have ever seen. There is so much talent in the city that any theatre creative can thrive here. It is also a popular city for out-of-town tryouts for Broadway shows, the most recent one being The Queen of Versailles. At the beginning of March, I had the privilege of seeing LATE: A New Musical in a developmental production.
LATE is a contemporary character-driven new musical about a year in the emotional life of Wilhelmina “Billie” Jackson, her best friend Katie Williams, and six of their high school friends, all coming of age in the era of school shootings. It’s the gripping story of broken lives and newfound lives, of friendship put to the test, of the struggle to put the pieces of hope and wonder back together after violence blows them apart. How can they reclaim their futures? They are determined to make their voices heard in a country that wants to look away and move on. LATE was co-produced by Moonbox Productions, Love Sadie Musicals, and NOMTI (New Opera and Musical Theatre Initiative). It was developed in part through NOMTI’s Advanced Writers Lab and Moonbox Productions’ 2022 Boston New Works Festival.
I had the privilege of speaking to the creators of the show – Michael Wartofsky and Kathleen Cahill – about their beautiful production. Cahill wrote the book and lyrics for the show while Wartofsky was responsible for additional lyrics and the music.
Jessa Hay: How did you come up with the concept and story for LATE?
Michael Wartofsky: Kathleen came up with the idea on a plane ride – I recall her first idea was more conceptual; snapshots of kids in the early morning as each gets ready for school, often while texting. But they never even got to school in that vision…we leapt to a memorial service. We kept a couple of songs that take place in the early morning but there used to be more. It’s so odd to look back, now that the locations of the play include so many scenes that take place at school.
Kathleen Cahill: As Michael mentioned, I was sitting on a plane having just come from a trip to Quebec where I happened to see several rows of school kids walking in tidy lines down the sidewalk. Seeing them made me think about American kids and that led to thinking about what American kids have to face now – the prospect of being shot while they’re at school. And how we all sort of absorb the news of the latest shooting. I started researching interviews with kids who had survived school shootings and how the trauma persists. I proposed the idea to Michael of writing a musical about the kids who experience a shooting, how it affects who they are, and who they become.
JH: Was this inspired by a particular school shooting or more of the general concept of school shootings being so common in the United States?
MW: We were particularly inspired by the Parkland students who became activists and whose activism brought unfair online antagonism against them that re-traumatized them. But the musical itself is not based on a specific shooting, but on the type of shooting that makes the 24-hour news cycle and then fades in the public mind – only it doesn’t fade for those who experienced it or who are affected by its metaphorical blast effect.
KC: No, not a particular shooting. As Michael mentioned, the survivors of the Parkland shooting were on our minds. I was especially interested in David Hogg because he turned his experience into the inspiration for his purpose in life. I did some research into the way that for some, trauma and grief become the source of their faith and purpose. It makes them want to devote their lives to changing the world for the better. The character of Billie (portrayed in the musical by Cortlandt Barrett) was inspired by that idea. It is also behind the feeling expressed at the end of LATE; the survivors find their hope and purpose.
JH: Did you have a target audience in mind when you were developing this show?
MW: We are writing LATE to give adolescents a voice. While we hope we are achieving that, we also realize that it is the adults in the room who most need to hear it.
KC: In a sense, LATE was written to honor the adolescents whose lives have been either taken away or been permanently changed by shootings. The targeted audience are the adults who are in a position to do something about it. We want LATE to give them a way to think and feel about this – to keep thinking and feeling after the headlines fade.
JH: What was the hardest part about coming up with the story?
MW: The non-linear narrative has gradually become more linear but we still jump forward and backward in time. We are also balancing an ensemble piece in which each character matters, while highlighting a central story to follow the main characters.
KC: As the writer, when I started, all I had was the event. I remember when I wrote a character page with names on it and brief descriptions of who they were, Michael said it felt exciting to see that we actually had characters. Then came the months of inventing events and Michael writing music about those events – and then scrapping them and starting over. After the first staging, which was produced by Moonbox, I started thinking that the whole story should take place a year after the shooting and I wanted to change the title to The Reunion but neither Michael nor the director liked that idea. All of which is to say that the hardest part of coming up with the story is coming up with the story.
JH: What usually comes first when developing the songs – the lyrics or the music?
MW: More often than not, the lyrics came first. But each song has been rewritten so many times that new lyrics have been added to existing melodies over time, so it’s also impossible to track it all at this point!
KC: In the case of LATE, it was usually the lyrics. I often enjoy writing lyrics to music but with LATE it was never music first. And Michael is a professional at making the lyrics and music fit each other to the best effect, like how a Parisian clothes designer makes the fabric fall just right around the model.
JH: What is the hardest part about developing a new musical, especially one that is not based on any existing source material?
MW: The book and structure is often the most challenging aspect of developing a new musical in my experience! And how the songs can continue to actively tell a story rather than stop the story.
KC: This is a good question because when I was studying musical theatre writing at NYU we were told that it is best to create a musical around stories that already exist (and Shakespeare wrote his plays around stories that already existed). So the poetry and music enhance the story. Telling a good story is really a challenge. It is like the ground is full of minefields which can blow the whole thing up. But there is a stubbornness in me that wants to tell my own original story.
JH: Do you think there is a need for more musicals that are able to connect with an audience the characters themselves are a part of?
MW: Similar to my answer for your third question, but I also think it is very productive to think about who the specific audience is for a new musical.
KC: Musicals are a great way to tell stories about difficult subjects – the music inspires, touches, soothes, amuses, and gets us to the heart of things.
JH: Which character was conceptualized first? Which one was last?
MW: Billie, Katie and Makala were in our early drafts for sure. The other characters were there too, but their relationships have changed drastically and storylines have been transposed. The relationship between Vernell and Cole is a fairly recent development.
KC: As Michael said, Billie, Katie and Makala were there from the beginning. The other characters have changed or they are new to the story.
JH: Did any characters go through a major rewrite from their original concept?
MW and KC: Yes, Cole started out as a first-generation son of a single mom struggling to make ends meet. Now he is a middle-class theater kid who loves bird-watching.
JH: Why was Boston the best place to work on and produce this show?
MW: It’s where I live! And Boston boasts so many college students studying musical theater who are convincing as high schoolers. It is also where I found support from Moonbox Productions, NOMTI and Berklee “Newbury Comics” faculty grant.
KC: Michaels lives and works in Boston and knows the creative community there!
JH: What does the future look like for this show now that performances are done?
MW: Like most writers in our position, we have so many hopes and dreams! We feel the piece is pretty close to “finished” although the feedback we are receiving from audiences and colleagues is certainly giving us ideas about tweaking it. We are hopeful that another entity will pick up where we left off to produce a longer run at some point in the near future.
KC: To me, the piece is like a painting which I keep looking at and every time I see something new.
My review of LATE: A New Musical will be released shortly, so stay tuned for my thoughts on this production! Thank you so much again to Michael and Kathleen for answering my questions. For more information on the show, please visit latemusical.com
Jessa Hay: How did you come up with the concept and story for LATE?
Michael Wartofsky: Kathleen came up with the idea on a plane ride – I recall her first idea was more conceptual; snapshots of kids in the early morning as each gets ready for school, often while texting. But they never even got to school in that vision…we leapt to a memorial service. We kept a couple of songs that take place in the early morning but there used to be more. It’s so odd to look back, now that the locations of the play include so many scenes that take place at school.
Kathleen Cahill: As Michael mentioned, I was sitting on a plane having just come from a trip to Quebec where I happened to see several rows of school kids walking in tidy lines down the sidewalk. Seeing them made me think about American kids and that led to thinking about what American kids have to face now – the prospect of being shot while they’re at school. And how we all sort of absorb the news of the latest shooting. I started researching interviews with kids who had survived school shootings and how the trauma persists. I proposed the idea to Michael of writing a musical about the kids who experience a shooting, how it affects who they are, and who they become.
JH: Was this inspired by a particular school shooting or more of the general concept of school shootings being so common in the United States?
MW: We were particularly inspired by the Parkland students who became activists and whose activism brought unfair online antagonism against them that re-traumatized them. But the musical itself is not based on a specific shooting, but on the type of shooting that makes the 24-hour news cycle and then fades in the public mind – only it doesn’t fade for those who experienced it or who are affected by its metaphorical blast effect.
KC: No, not a particular shooting. As Michael mentioned, the survivors of the Parkland shooting were on our minds. I was especially interested in David Hogg because he turned his experience into the inspiration for his purpose in life. I did some research into the way that for some, trauma and grief become the source of their faith and purpose. It makes them want to devote their lives to changing the world for the better. The character of Billie (portrayed in the musical by Cortlandt Barrett) was inspired by that idea. It is also behind the feeling expressed at the end of LATE; the survivors find their hope and purpose.
JH: Did you have a target audience in mind when you were developing this show?
MW: We are writing LATE to give adolescents a voice. While we hope we are achieving that, we also realize that it is the adults in the room who most need to hear it.
KC: In a sense, LATE was written to honor the adolescents whose lives have been either taken away or been permanently changed by shootings. The targeted audience are the adults who are in a position to do something about it. We want LATE to give them a way to think and feel about this – to keep thinking and feeling after the headlines fade.
JH: What was the hardest part about coming up with the story?
MW: The non-linear narrative has gradually become more linear but we still jump forward and backward in time. We are also balancing an ensemble piece in which each character matters, while highlighting a central story to follow the main characters.
KC: As the writer, when I started, all I had was the event. I remember when I wrote a character page with names on it and brief descriptions of who they were, Michael said it felt exciting to see that we actually had characters. Then came the months of inventing events and Michael writing music about those events – and then scrapping them and starting over. After the first staging, which was produced by Moonbox, I started thinking that the whole story should take place a year after the shooting and I wanted to change the title to The Reunion but neither Michael nor the director liked that idea. All of which is to say that the hardest part of coming up with the story is coming up with the story.
JH: What usually comes first when developing the songs – the lyrics or the music?
MW: More often than not, the lyrics came first. But each song has been rewritten so many times that new lyrics have been added to existing melodies over time, so it’s also impossible to track it all at this point!
KC: In the case of LATE, it was usually the lyrics. I often enjoy writing lyrics to music but with LATE it was never music first. And Michael is a professional at making the lyrics and music fit each other to the best effect, like how a Parisian clothes designer makes the fabric fall just right around the model.
JH: What is the hardest part about developing a new musical, especially one that is not based on any existing source material?
MW: The book and structure is often the most challenging aspect of developing a new musical in my experience! And how the songs can continue to actively tell a story rather than stop the story.
KC: This is a good question because when I was studying musical theatre writing at NYU we were told that it is best to create a musical around stories that already exist (and Shakespeare wrote his plays around stories that already existed). So the poetry and music enhance the story. Telling a good story is really a challenge. It is like the ground is full of minefields which can blow the whole thing up. But there is a stubbornness in me that wants to tell my own original story.
JH: Do you think there is a need for more musicals that are able to connect with an audience the characters themselves are a part of?
MW: Similar to my answer for your third question, but I also think it is very productive to think about who the specific audience is for a new musical.
KC: Musicals are a great way to tell stories about difficult subjects – the music inspires, touches, soothes, amuses, and gets us to the heart of things.
JH: Which character was conceptualized first? Which one was last?
MW: Billie, Katie and Makala were in our early drafts for sure. The other characters were there too, but their relationships have changed drastically and storylines have been transposed. The relationship between Vernell and Cole is a fairly recent development.
KC: As Michael said, Billie, Katie and Makala were there from the beginning. The other characters have changed or they are new to the story.
JH: Did any characters go through a major rewrite from their original concept?
MW and KC: Yes, Cole started out as a first-generation son of a single mom struggling to make ends meet. Now he is a middle-class theater kid who loves bird-watching.
JH: Why was Boston the best place to work on and produce this show?
MW: It’s where I live! And Boston boasts so many college students studying musical theater who are convincing as high schoolers. It is also where I found support from Moonbox Productions, NOMTI and Berklee “Newbury Comics” faculty grant.
KC: Michaels lives and works in Boston and knows the creative community there!
JH: What does the future look like for this show now that performances are done?
MW: Like most writers in our position, we have so many hopes and dreams! We feel the piece is pretty close to “finished” although the feedback we are receiving from audiences and colleagues is certainly giving us ideas about tweaking it. We are hopeful that another entity will pick up where we left off to produce a longer run at some point in the near future.
KC: To me, the piece is like a painting which I keep looking at and every time I see something new.
My review of LATE: A New Musical will be released shortly, so stay tuned for my thoughts on this production! Thank you so much again to Michael and Kathleen for answering my questions. For more information on the show, please visit latemusical.com