Cast size: From nine to fourteen:
- 2 female-identifying leads
- 2 male-identifying leads
- Chorus: 5 with doubling or 10+ without
Length: 90 minutes (50+40)
Setting: A large unnamed Canadian city, and Barnabus Bay (a neighbouring small town)
Current Status: Pre-workshop. First draft of script complete. Scene 1 provided. Further script and song samples available upon request.
SYNOPSIS
Lucy, a brilliant but uninspired queer 40-something accountant by day, true crime-binging introvert by evening and weekend, discovers a pattern in the serial murders that have recently plagued the quaint neighbouring town of Barnabus Bay.
“READ OUR FIVE STAR REVIEWS
WE’RE A HOME RUN ON EACH FRONT
OUR LOCAL SHOPS
ARE MOM AND POPS’
NO STARBUCKS MAR THE BEACHFRONT”
She enlists her longtime bestie, Aldo – a recent father with a five-month-old strapped to his chest – to help crack the case. Through exploits, arguments, and escapades, they learn that tackling their emotional baggage may be even harder than catching a killer. Armchair Confidential is a buddy comedy/mystery musical that playfully riffs on existential and midlife crises while exploring our society’s morbid fascination with murder.
Click here to read Armchair Confidential Script Sample
Click here to view What Are the Chances? Piano Vocal Score
DEMO TRACKS
(featuring Jaymz B, Bruce Dow, Hailey Gillis, Aaron Jensen, Ryan Kelly, David Lopez, Sarah Strange, & Paula Wolfson)
Prologue (Ensemble)
What Are the Chances? (Aldo & Lucy)
The Game’s Afoot! (Lucy)
In Barnabus Bay (Ensemble)
Why Armchair Confidential?
I believe that now more than ever, audiences are hungry for entertainment.
We could all benefit from a little escape. Armchair Confidential has carried me through a winter in quarantine, and provided me with a lighthearted creative world to explore. The concept was dreamt up by my wife, Tara, who like so many others, is obsessed with True Crime. She asked: “What does it say about our society when Netflix can’t keep up with the demand for new murder shows? What fuels this obsession? Morbid curiosity? Underlying fear? The desire for neatly tied-up resolutions in the battle of Good v.s. Evil?”
“NEED SOME DRAMA TO DISTRACT YOU FROM THE BLEAK AND BLACK ABYSS?
D’JA COME TO RECONNOITER? GET ROPED IN BY A FRIEND?
COMPELLED BY SCHADENFREUDE? LORDY, HELP ME COMPREHEND
WHO’D DELIBERATELY SUBJECT THEMSELF TO THIS?”
So began this journey.
I’ve always loved musical theatre from the Jazz Age to Post-Golden Era, but unfortunately, most of these shows age terribly. I’m interested in exploring how larger-than-life characters; an unpredictable whodunnit plot; and snappy numbers reminiscent of Gershwin, Porter, and Arlen can be reimagined to feel contemporary, progressive, and even (subtly) political. I want to take a page from Canadian offerings like The Drowsy Chaperone and Schitt’s Creek, and give voice to emotionally complex, traditionally marginalized characters, while inviting the audience on a delightful adventure. I want to investigate our society’s obsession with the macabre and meditate on themes of post-COVID work-from-home isolation, the management of fear, the superficiality of influencer culture, and the perversity of sensationalist news, all through the lens of memorable show tunes, lively dance numbers, and good old-fashioned entertainment.