BEHIND THE SCENES: The UK's First-Ever Crowd-Sourced Musical, By Laurence Mark Wythe And SimG Productions!

Director/creator Simon Greiff and Tomorrow Morning composer Laurence Mark Wythe are initiating a brand new piece of music theatre, 'Stories from the Lighthouse'.
 
"We are inviting people to anonymously share a moment in their lives," says project composer and lyricist Laurence Mark Wythe. "This moment can be a short story, a few lines, a poem even - something that has stayed with them: a first date, an interview, an illness - anything that for better or worse has remained real and close."
 
Those who wish to take part should post their moment anonymously on the website www.StoriesFromTheLighthouse.com, after which Greiff and Wythe will review all submissions and craft a brand-new musical theatre piece from the real-life stores collected. The completed musical will receive its London premiere in 2011.
 
Crowdsourcing - which involves engaging audiences in the creative process - is "an exciting development with real potential for Contemporary Theatre" according to director Simon Greiff. 
"With the recent announcement of an upcoming Broadway revival of Godspell being funded by crowdsourced investors, this piece takes this idea even further. It's a bold and scary move but Laurence and I can't wait to see what material emerges and inspires us and, when finished, our audiences."

Greiff and Wythe first met working on the very first showcase of Tomorrow Morning, which has just opened at the Landor Theatre.

"Laurence's 'trunk' songs are a beautiful collection of stories about people, and situations, and generally based on his personal experiences and feelings," says Greiff. "I decided that instead of just stringing the songs together with a 'story', or packaging them as a revue, we should try something original.

"As far as I know this has never been done before. It would have been easier to just write a story, but I felt that asking for people to anonymously contribute something, and something personal maybe, could open the doors to some amazing 'moments'. My idea is to let the audience know that the stories are completely true. I honestly believe that if an audience knows what they are hearing is real and actually happened to someone, it adds a dimension that a 'made-up' story couldn't possibly bring."

Laurence Mark Wythe is composer and lyricist of Tomorrow Morning, which has been performed in London, Melbourne and Chicago, where it won a 2009 Jeff Award for Best Musical. The show returns to London in October 2010 at the Landor Theatre.

SimG Productions (incorporating SimG Records) was formed by actor/director Simon Greiff in July 2009. It recently produced the sold-out Scott Alan London concerts featuring Shoshana Bean, Sierra Boggess, Patina Miller and top West End talent at the New Players Theatre on Sunday 26th September.