Jimmy's Journal

By Jimmy Mak - SHADOWBOX

Entry #8 - February 19th, 2008

In no time, Steve along with Adam Fauth and Matthew Hahn created the music. And by “no time” I mean many months of incredibly hard work.

We’ve had a few rehearsals now and the show is starting to gel. It was truly amazing watching all of the pieces start to come together.

I’m still rewriting some scenes that don’t quite work the way we need them to and have a feeling I will be right up to opening (maybe even after).

But I feel so lucky that I have surrounded myself with such an amazing and talented group of people who have helped turned one crazy idea (Anna Nicole Smith meets Citizen Kane) into a giant production number featuring great rock n’ roll, singing, dancing, video, etc. I hope you, the audience, have as much fun watching it as we had creating it. You know, “Sometimes Work is Doing What You Hate.” But this wasn’t one of those times.

(And goodbye Tanya Michelle. I’ll miss you.)

SALLY: All she did was show her boobs and she became a superstar.
BUD: I see what you’re saying.
SALLY: Good!
BUD: You wanna show your boobs.

Entry #7 - January 24th, 2008

It’s funny. I found out that in a “musical” you actually need “music.”

For those of you who might find it interesting, I have a collection of over 1000 old records...and that’s where my musical talent begins and ends.

After getting a first draft of the book done, I met with the Gandalf-esque Steve Guyer to discuss the musical aspect of the show.

We parsed through the script suggesting places where a song might be appropriate and what the song would be about. I then wrote a paragraph synopsis for each song and sent these to Mark Slack (of Shadowbox Newport fame) who then turned my paragraphs into lyrics (don’t mean to oversimplify – Mark had a lot of feedback from Steve and me and some songs went through a number of changes to make sure they were in the ‘voice’ of the character who was singing.)

OK, so now we had a working script with song lyrics...seems like we were still missing something...oh yeah, the music.

Entry #6 - December 28th, 2007

Tanya Michelle vs. Anna Nicole. Although I wanted Tanya Michelle to be a recognizable take-off of Anna Nicole, there were some parts of Anna Nicole’s life that didn’t work for my story. Here is a list of similarities and differences:

SIMILARITIES

• Both grew up poor
• Both became famous after posing for Playboy
• Both married an 89-year-old multi-millionaire
• Both had a reality TV show
• Both died suddenly from mysterious causes

DIFFERENCES

• Anna Nicole is from Houston Texas. Tanya Michelle is from Triadelphia West Virginia.
o WHY? My cousins are from Triadelphia and as a kid I spent a lot of time there. It was incredibly easy for me to visualize the neighborhood Tanya Michelle grew up in.

• Anna Nicole had children, Tanya Michelle does not.
o WHY? Honestly, because the play was already too long and that would have added a completely new chapter to the mix.

• Stealing a bit from Paris, I gave Tanya Michelle a “Party Partner” in the form of Britney-esque Bethany Styles. As far as I know Anna Nicole was not great friends with the other paparazzi princesses of her time.
o WHY? Since it’s a musical, I thought it would be a good idea to have a celebrity singer in the mix. And with Britney making as many headlines as Anna Nicole, why not spoof her persona as well?

• The Anna Nicole Show lasted three seasons. The Tanya Michelle Show lasted only one.
o WHY? Because someone important to her asked Tanya to stop doing the show (sorry, you’ll have to see the play for more info.)

Entry #5 - December 27th, 2007

I started thinking about the news.

Most people get their real news from a fake news program called “The Daily Show.” Whenever I turn on the “real” news networks, they’re talking about Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears.

This is a true story – I was watching CNN as they were interviewing a U.S. army general who was giving a progress report on the war in Iraq. Suddenly, they cut to the anchor-person in the middle of the general’s sentence. The anchor-person apologizes for the interruption but then tells us that Paris Hilton has just gotten out of jail. They then spend the next 10 minutes showing footage of Paris Hilton walking out of a building and getting into a car.

What is going on here? What is our fascination with celebrity? Why do we care so much when these rich and famous people act like idiots? To me, it’s both funny and sad. So that’s how I approached Tabloid.

I would definitely describe it as a comedy, but it certainly has some tragic themes just below the surface. (But please don’t let that scare you – I swear it’s a funny show.)

Entry #4 - December 19th, 2007

The characters became really fun to write.

I came up with Danielle Jones, Tanya Michelle’s overbearing mother. Next was Gibby Maxwell, the slimy agent who convinced young Tanya to pose for Playboy. Then there was Lars Morbley, the flambuoyant party-boy who produced her reality show.

At the time I started writing this, there were pics all over the internet of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears out partying. So I invented Bethany Styles, a pop diva who would be Tanya Michelle’s best friend.

Next was J. Harrington Bible, the 89-year-old millionaire that Tanya Michelle married, and his daughter Meredith who is out to bad-mouth Tanya Michelle every chance she gets. Then I came up with the nurse who is with Tanya Michelle when she dies, and may be the one un-selfish character in the play.

These are the people Sally would interview to find out about Tanya Michelle. OK, so now I had the main characters and a basic structure. But what about the tone? What was I trying to say with this play?

Entry #3 - December 12th, 2007

Now that I had the angle, I started thinking about characters.

Tanya Michelle Jones became my Anna Nicole. I decided to have a narrator that could move the story along. I thought of those awful gossip TV shows (E! News Daily, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood) and came up with a host named Ronnie Rexy who would be the face of the fictional POP! Newz Network.

Next came Sally Dubrowski, the Tabloid reporter who hates everything about Tanya Michelle Jones but gets the job of reporting on her.

Then I invented her boss Bud Orson. Bud is loud, abrasive, and sarcastic. Some who have read the script asked if I based him on J. Jonah Jameson, the editor-in-chief from Spider-man fame. But no, truthfully I based him on Steve (who I believe based his own life on J. Jonah Jameson.) Who better to play him then, right?

Entry #2 - December 7th, 2007

I sat down at my computer trying to think about what the “story” for Tabloid ought to be.

I jotted down a few really bad ideas – 3 vignettes about Bigfoot, Flying Saucers and the Loch Ness Monster. Too much like Batboy the Musical.

I decided to focus more on the celebrity gossip angle like the Enquirer.

I started thinking about the movie “Citizen Kane.” If you’ve never seen the movie (first of all, shame on you) a newspaper mogul (Kane) says a mysterious word before he dies and a reporter talks to various people in his life to try and figure out what the last word meant. Through flashbacks, we learn about the difficult and interesting life of Charles Foster Kane.

So... what if, instead of a Tabloid King dying, it’s a super-star a la Anna Nicole Smith? And what if she says something before she dies? And what if a reluctant tabloid reporter has to find out what it means? Hmmmm... I may be on to something here...

Entry #1 - December 5th, 2007

So yeah, Tabloid the Musical.

About a year ago, a few of us from Shadowbox were sitting down to lunch discussing the success of the musicals Shadowbox had just started producing.

Steve Guyer, president and pirate-imitator mentioned that there was no reason why we shouldn’t produce an original work. He had a few rock operas under his belt (EVO had actually played Off-Broadway in New York) and was eager to get back in the musical theater game.

We bandied about some ideas and someone in the group mentioned a musical about the tabloids. Anna Nicole Smith had recently died and you couldn’t turn on the television without hearing about it.

We all agreed that “Tabloid the Musical” was a great name. Steve looked at me. “Write it,” he said.