Good things come... Playwright finds creative partner after 20-year wait

ERIC D. SNIDER The Daily Herald on Wednesday, October 2, 2002

PROVO -- Relationships, love and, yes, a little song-and-dance are at the heart of "Soft Shoe," a new musical comedy opening this week in Brigham Young University's Pardoe Theatre.

"There are three characters in my play, and all of them have come from quite dysfunctional settings," said BYU theater professor George Nelson, 47, who wrote the book and co-wrote the lyrics for the show. "It's that mess of trying to deal with love and life and what it takes to be happy."

And it's all set against the backdrop of vaudeville's fading days, during the 1930s. One of the characters, unwanted by his mother, has been dumped off as an apprentice at a theater; another character has come to town looking for her father, whom she never knew.

Despite the heady subject matter, Nelson said the play is a comedy, and a romantic one at that.

"I think a lot of musicals have pretty light characters," he said. "I've tried to write deeper characters, dealing with deep issues, but in a romantic-comedy way."

His composer and co-lyricist is Daniel Larson, 24, a BYU senior and one-time student of Nelson's. His collaboration with Nelson came 20 years after Nelson began writing the play in the hopes of one day finding a songwriter.

Nelson had approached several composers, some of whom were interested but none of whom could commit to the project.

Then came Larson, a theater education and music double-major who sought advice from Nelson on writing for musicals.

"I've always wanted to write a musical, and I was frustrated because they don't have a program at BYU for that," Larson said.

Nelson said he "felt inspired" to show his script to Larson. "I gave the caveat that if I didn't like his music, we wouldn't have a relationship, and if he didn't like my play, let's not waste time," he said.

Three months later, in December 2001, Larson came back with rough versions of several songs. Nelson said, "After having waited close to 20 years to hear these characters sing, I literally burst into tears."

Recalling the incident, Larson said, "It was kind of funny, because I didn't know if he hated the songs or loved them. I didn't know what was going on."

Larson wound up using bits and pieces of lyrics Nelson had sketched out, adding to them and changing them where necessary. Through the collaboration process, no songs were scrapped entirely, though most were rewritten, as is usually the case with a musical.

The show makes it debut tonight, with Nelson as director and Larson as musical director.

"I really asked to (direct)," Nelson said. "I knew that we'd taken it through the reading phase, but it still needed a lot of rewriting. I've taken 24 pages of dialogue out of it in the rehearsal process. I felt like I needed to be there all the time anyway."

Nelson and Larson have nothing but praise for each other and for the collaboration process.

"It has been amazing," Larson said. "George is so open to ideas. I want people to tell me exactly what they feel, and that's the way I like to work, too. We're both like that, so it worked out well."

Of his student and protégé, Nelson said, "He so brilliantly took what I had scratched out and made it work. I think his work is stunning."

Nelson directed BYU's production of the opera "Tartuffe" last year and the Joseph Smith-centered play "Burdens of Earth" the year before that.

"Soft Shoe" stars Marvin Payne, Tom Every and Tia Marie Majeroni.

E-mail Eric D. Snider at esnider@heraldextra.com
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C1.