THERE'S SOMETHING I NEED TO TELL YOU

This delightful and engaging musical comedy is based on a play by Robert Strozier, Fault Lines, that was a given a full Equity production a few years ago at the WorkShop.

WorkShop-member Strozier wrote the book and lyrics for the musical, and Barbara Hustedt Crook wrote the music. She and Ferdy Tumakaka, the Musical Director, did the arrangements. In late 2005 the musical presented a sit-down "reading/singing" at the WorkShop, and it's currently being reworked.

The basic premise for the show stems from an experience Strozier had in New York. Feeling a bit lonely and somewhat in his cups, he was passing a theater on Broadway one Saturday night and paused to admire an attractive woman who was holding tickets and obviously meeting someone. Glancing at him repeatedly, she finally approached and said, "Excuse me, are you Todd?"

In actuality, Strozier acquitted himself well and said "I sure wish I were, but I'm afraid not." In the musical, the character says "yes" and gets himself deeper and deeper embroiled in his lie as the evening proceeds. In addition to the two main leads, there are four other characters, and they share 22 songs - everything from lovely solo ballads to lively ensemble numbers.

Strozier is a long-time magazine editor and a widely-published author. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of GRAND, the first magazine for grandparents, and his writing has appeared in numerous publications including Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, and Saturday Review.

Crook, a former Cosmo senior editor and radio announcer, has written for national magazines including Reader's Digest, Redbook, Mademoiselle, Marie Claire, and Fitness, and is a regular contributor to Woman's World. Though her early passion for music took an unexpected detour into journalism, she is glad to be making up for lost time.

Tumakaka, Indonesian-born, made his musical debut at age 17 by taking first prize in the Jakarta Piano Competition 2001. He has studied in Paris, Berlin, and New York, given piano concerts on three continents, and acted as Musical Director for productions in Jakarta and New York including The Sound of Music, West Side Story, and Quilters.

In its January 16, 2006 issue, Time magazine featured Strozier & Crook and the musical in a story titled "The Surprising Power of the Aging Brain" by Jeffrey Kluger. The story included prominent hotographs of the pair taken at the WorkShop. Recently, they've also been profiled in a nationally-syndicated TV segment on creativity in mid-life. (For information on the singer who was also featured on the segment, Andrea Rae, contact her at andrea@andrearae.com.) The two will also be teaching a course, "The Making of a Musical," at New York University next year, sponsored by the Lifelong Learning Institute.

Nothing is predictable in the wild, wooly world of the theater, but the pair are confident that a second incarnation of There's Something I Need to Tell You will be ready for another WorkShop airing sometime later in 2006.