Twelve Years Later

I recently caught myself singing a song that I hadn’t heard since 2014.

I started working again with a guitarist I hadn't seen in years. At our last gig we performed music from an original musical called “Mick & Leo” that intertwined the stories of Michelangelo and Da Vinci. The show was conceived by Stan, a scientist by day and musician by night, who was writing a musical around his primary job — like me.

In 2014 Stan hired me to orchestrate his demos and MD the debut concert performance of Mick & Leo. I remember thinking at the time that this project was unlikely to make it to Broadway. 

When the guitarist and I recalled working on Mick & Leo together, I joked that I had "tried to forget about that." He countered that while the show might not have been perfect, some of the tunes still remain in his head.

Looking at each other, we spontaneously broke out in song. "I'm talking about the man" — and then we laughed. Twelve years later we had remembered the same line.

I think I used to judge work only by where it would end up. Now I can’t help but consider the sacrifice and work it took to make it at all. 

I'd made some fun of a project that the composer had no doubt put months or years of work into developing. 

The same process I'm wading through now. 

I know that he must have experienced much of the questioning and self-doubt that I do and I’m impressed that he continued to do the work anyway. That Stan got 16 songs written and performed is an admirable achievement.

And two men remember one of his melodies twelve years later. That's remarkable.

I catch myself wondering whether someone might be singing something I'm writing now in 2038.

Thanks Stan.