Turning a 15-minute Oscar-winning short into a two-act musical is no simple feat, but Julianne Wick Davis and Dan Collins were up for the challenge. Inspired by Celeste Lecesne and Peggy Rajski鈥檚 film Trevor, Wick Davis and Collins wanted to expand the universe of the title character鈥攁llowing audiences to see the world through his imaginative 13-year-old eyes.
In the show, which began previews October 25 at Stage 42 Off-Broadway ahead of a November 10 opening, Trevor鈥檚 imagination unfolds in front of the audience. 鈥淲e get to turn these fantastical moments into some exciting theatre,鈥� composer Wick Davis explains. And even though the musical is set in 1981, audiences can expect to see a recognizable journey of self-discovery play out on stage. 鈥淭he dynamics and the eco-system of middle school hasn鈥檛 changed much over the last forty decades years,鈥� she adds.
While the musical itself is set in '80s, the composer describes the score as a contemporary pop musical with some Diana Ross sprinkled throughout (Trevor is obsessed with the diva). 鈥淚t鈥檚 probably unfair to say that the show sounds like Trevor, but鈥e is such a driving force in the narrative, and Julianne鈥檚 music is so wonderfully driven by character and story, that it truly feels like a sound that is a world unto itself,鈥� says book writer and lyricist Collins.
The pair started working on the musical in 2014 with several readings before a 2017 world premiere at the Writer鈥檚 Theatre in Chicago. 鈥淭revor is a theatre kid. The stage is his home and his dream come true,鈥� says Collins. 鈥淚n fact, one of the first things that attracted me to this story was the opportunity to bring this character to life on a stage.鈥�
From the beginning, Trevor has been an evolution. 鈥淲e learned so much from our audiences in that production and began to really deepen the journey that the character, Trevor, experiences in the show,鈥� says Wick Davis. Even during the pandemic, the pair were writing new material, both for the script and the score. 鈥淲e explored a lot of different ideas that, even if they didn鈥檛 ultimately make it into the current draft, gave us further insight into the piece,鈥� adds Collins. 鈥淛ust knowing that we鈥檝e now traveled some roads and followed the threads of certain ideas to their conclusion is such a valuable foundation to be standing on.鈥�
