A musical about the Lost Boys of Sudan, created by a home-grown, multi-talented Park City artist, has two more performances coming up this weekend on Main Street.
The production “Sudan & Me” had three presentations in February. Now it’s scheduled for the Rockwell Room, on Main Street, on Friday 15th and Saturday the 16th, at 7:00 pm.
It was co-written by Tanya Taylor and Todd Bigatel. Taylor, who is a singer, songwriter, producer and choreographer talked about how she was inspired to write her first musical.
“I met Solomon Awan who’s one of the lost boys of Sudan nine years ago,” Taylor explained. “He told me his story and a lot of the experiences that he went through and I just—I remember sitting in my car balling like how could this happen? Then studying and researching it to realize that 27,000 of these boys were journeying through the jungles of Africa by themselves. Completely alone without parents, prone to wild animal attacks and attacks from (warring soldiers) I felt compelled in that moment to tell the story. I think one of the overarching questions that arises from the musical is how do we become better at integration in the United States.”
The new version of the show has been trimmed down a bit, to a cast of nine, but with one song added.
Joanna Charnes was the narrator in the earlier version, but she says her role hasn’t changed much.
“It’s a labor of love it’s absolutely wonderful,” Charnes continued. “I’m one of the NPR reporters so it’s not too much of a stretch. What I wanted to impart to people was this is something that’s an exceptional production. I say that without bias, I say that if I were watching it, seeing it for the first time and that it’s homegrown? I mean my goodness. It’s also something teenagers should see. When you’re feeling, I mean I do this myself, one of these ‘woe is me’ moments. You watch this show it puts thing in perspective it’s humbling about life and about what some people have to go through.”
Charnes added that the lost boys who have seen the show are proud and awed by it.
Tickets can be bout at the door or here.
