The Longest Halloween Musical
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The Longest Halloween Musical was originally set to be a tapestry of already published, widely known and favorite Halloween themed songs. The story would be based on my novella of the same name and still tell the story of two brothers who run afoul of a wicked purple goblin out to make the Halloween holiday last forever.
When the rights to use the songs became cost prohibitive to obtain, an audacious idea was born—what if there could be a musical of the story but featuring all new, original songs never heard before?
It was ridiculous, I was not a musical writer (still don’t think I am really) and more importantly, I knew nothing about composing music. But nothing ventured, nothing gained and so I sat down on a whim just to see if—for starters, I could come up with a lyric that the chief antagonist, that crazed goblin, Googamond, would chortle. And as he was a altogether charming creature—my editor actually called him “crazy sexy” I knew that the song should have an enticing and alluring overtone to it—as if you were being invited to a party that you know goodness well you shouldn’t be going to. Before I knew it, Underneath the Purple Moon was born. Then came one of the protagonists, Polly’s song—This Halloween—meant to welcome everyone not just Joel, Jasper and Jasper’s friends—into the season. We wanted them to indeed suspend all reason for it was all about believing the wonders that you’re seeing, coming at you soon this Halloween.
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That’s what my longstanding affection for Halloween really comes from –memories of my childhood, the pageantry, theatricality and color that go along with the season. And for one night out of the year, you can forget your troubles and be a kid again, playing pretend with your best friends. Hey, and the candy didn’t hurt either.
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So in any case and over the next several years or so, the rest of the songs began to come and the story itself became more fleshed out; there would be new supporting characters and the world of Portersville became its own universe of sorts. We got to pull in some elements from Book Two of the series, itself the hopeful subject of a translation to the big screen, and before we knew it, we had a full-fledged, twenty odd some song musical.
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And I have to pause here because none of this would have even been possible were it not for Caleb.
I met Caleb Parker I think through one of those internet job search sites. I was looking for a composer to add music to the then two songs that I had for the musical. I got a good number of bites but I think that the thing that stood out to me about Caleb was he was very serious about music and as I would soon find out, he was a master artisan who was only about giving you his absolute best. I completely adored the haunting, mischievous tones he put to the Purple Moon and the brilliant, ebullience of This Halloween, which now bubbled with excitement and anticipation. I soon agreed with Caleb that it was this song that set the tone for the whole story—completely capturing the magic of the season and the arcing principle of stepping back into your life after you’ve suffered a setback.
So with that hero's journey setting the backdrop for our story, I'll turn it over to Caleb himself to introduce you to more of the songs featured in The Longest Halloween : The Musical Journey. Have a listen:
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