A Misfortune: 5-year project to bring musical to stage, says composer

Five years after he began composing the music for A Misfortune, theatre musical director Scott Christian says he is excited to see its world premiere at the Charlottetown Festival on Sept. 7.

"We've been writing it since 2012. It's the second show I've written with this team, with my writing partners."

The musical is based on a short story written more than 100 years ago byAnton Chekhov, a Russian author. Christian said his writing partnerKevinMichael Shea stumbled upon it,fell in love with the story, and wrote the script.

"He took it to Wade [Bogert-O'Brien], who writes the lyrics and they sort of started delving into it and they tossed it to me once there were some lyrics to set those lyrics to music."

Christian said a project like this is a challenge but they love it.

"Writing a play set in 19th-century Russia, I tried to evoke that time and that place and try to think about the composers from that era."

Busy composer

The musical tells the story of a young woman who begins to doubt her marriage after a childhood friend confesses his love for her.

Christian works all over Canada on shows like those at the Confederation Centre but adds he does a lot of composing for different things.

"I've done some composing for short film and in Toronto I play occasionally for Second City and Improv Comedy. It's a mix of things."

But he said it's rare to hear his original work come to life in a musical and in a world premiere.

"It's incredibly stressful but it's ecstasy. It's both of those things."

The play will run from Sept.7 to 22.

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