30 Days Of NYMF: Day 28 LIVE!NUDE!GIRL!

Live!Nude!Girl!
By Donna Kaz, book and lyrics

In 2004 my piano tuner suggested that I meet composer Wayne Barker. We met, we wrote a few songs and in 2005 we received a commission to write a musical. We talked over many ideas but in the end came up with an original story. This is how "LIVE! NUDE! GIRL! began.

Fast forward to 2009. The commissioning program we were involved with shut its doors. Wayne and I locked ourselves in a friend's house in upstate NY for 10 days to finish the project. 2 readings, 20 rewrites and hundreds of hours of research later, we have a show.

Inspired by a fantasy of a female Rat Pack and a Vegas act starring Betty Friedan, the plot centers around a 1950s Midwestern housewife who snaps and runs away to Vegas with her mother and daughter. Along the way various objects help her in her quest to become more than just a housewife. Yes, there is a singing meatloaf, ladies magazine and tampon dispenser.

Wayne and I are thrilled that a reading of "LIVE! NUDE! GIRL!" will be part of the ‘09 NYMF. Moral of the story: listen to your piano tuner. (Thanks Michael Irwin.)