A Simple Man - A New Musical

Act Two
Who Is He?
A Simple Man (Reprise)
Find Your Own Way Home
Closing The Deal (Reprise)
A Thousand Words
Let Me Do Good By You
Unconditional (Reprise)

New York Reading: The Cast

Bobby Simple - Fil Dela Cruz
Buck Bodine - Clay Nelms
The Boy - Mike Jones
Brenda La Chattechien - Talya Price
Brad La Chattechien - Nathan Temby
Stage Directions - Jonathan Arnold

About The Show

James Martin, who has been detailing my career in photos and on film for the better part of nine years, and who is also responsible for the photography on all of my albums, wrote a play called "A Simple Man". After getting a reading in Sacramento, CA, James gave me the script to turn it into a musical. Five years later, the show got it's premiere at The Duplex in New York on June 13th, 2009.

The show follows the story of Bobby, a well-off painter who is having an opening at a small gallery in San Francisco, CA. His best friend, and business partner, Buck is helping to sell his artwork. Bobby is involved with a lover who is only ever referred to as The Boy. When The Boy cheats on Bobby for the last time, Bobby kicks him out and Buck takes Bobby to a friends' Bed and Breakfast in the foothills for a working vacation. Once there, he meets the owner, Brenda, and her charming son, Brad. The story continues as Brad shows Bobby what a real love can be, as The Boy is making plans of his own to win him back.

The story digs deep into relationships, love, and how we all affect each other with even the simplest actions. The score features 15 musical numbers that I have scored, two of which can be found on my latest release Late Night Piano Bar. Those songs are A Simple Man and Let Me Do Good By You. A third song will be released very soon as a free download after the show sees it's reading in New York. You can hear the other two songs on the MySpace Page.

Book Writer James Martin Discusses "A Simple Man"

James, you are a very creative person. What are your creative hobbies?
Gosh , I wanted to be an art teacher and did studio art for years, watercolors, acrylics, and did un wearable wearable art: plastic dresses, sewn paper shoes ..Stuff like that. I have done photography as a side job for a few years now.. I also knit, crochet, have designed t shirts and purses, do beading, macrame, Scrapbooking. Anything to keep my hands busy!

What inspired you to write Simple Man?
My Hubby was in a scriptwriting class at sac state and I was working on the same assignments as he was (but I wasn't in the class mind you) ...and I thought..Heck I bet I could write a play if I tried. My hubby basically said "show me" My thought was a gay themed play with a small cast that a regional company could produce easily.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of "Simple Man"?
A month or so ? something like that I would get up on Saturday mornings and have coffee and work at the laptop for a few hours it all fell together quickly. I didn't have any information about structure or format...just knew the story in my head.

Was the fact that all the characters' names started with a "B" coincidental or intentional?
Intentional .. the idea of a group of people all with B names was just silly and so unlikely.

Did you think of it as a musical from the beginning or did that come later?
Really It was a musical in my head from the start, I didn't hear music. just knew that the emotions and the contemporary setting would make it interesting for actors and easy for theatres to do and would lends itself to great ballads and some funny lines.

Are any of the characters based on real people in your life?
I guess you can only really write what you know and understand, so there are bits of everyone I know tossed here and there but no one character is specific.

The original play of "Simple Man" had a reading done in Sacramento. What was that like?
I had sent in my script, just hoping that someone might read it and give me a few pointers, but it was chosen for the lambda player's readers theatre set one year, and I was told it was chosen from 75 submitted scripts. It was so exciting just because I never set out to be a writer.

What are your feelings on having something you created getting a reading in New York?
I am still overwhelmed. But it has Beautiful score,and marvelous lyrics.

Do you have any other plays in the works at the moment?
I have 2 plays in the works at the moment. Not sure where either is going but working with a ghost story plot and a may-september romance plot.

What do you hope will happen with "Simple Man" next?
I think every one in the theatre dreams that a small scale production will make it big time. I am content just to watch this one grow as it needs.