PRT does 1st musical with ‘Flaming Volcano Bed and Breakfast'
Composer-playwright Ned Wilkinson says he was shocked to learn his musical comedy “Flaming Volcano Bed and Breakfast” was chosen as the first-ever musical presented by the Playwrights’ Round Table of Orlando.
“I really thought it was dead in the water for a while,” says Wilkinson. “I had been working on it off and on.”
Central Florida theatergoers know Wilkinson as one of the regular musicians at Winter Park Playhouse or a writer of Orlando Fringe Festival shows. “Flaming Volcano Bed and Breakfast” had its debut at the Playhouse - sort of. Its first act was given a staged reading at the theater’s 2019 Florida Festival of New Musicals. Later, its second act was also workshopped in front of an audience.
That might have been the end of it - so many intriguing musicals never get fully developed for one reason or another - but for the desire of the PRT to expand its repertoire.
The Playwrights’ Round Table, of course, has been creating and championing new works since 1997. It’s best known for its evenings of short original plays, though in recent years it has begun staging full-length works as part of its season. But none of them has ever been a musical. Until now.
It was the group’s president, Katherine Stevens, who pushed for it.
“PRT has long wanted to do a musical, but we didn’t feel it was necessarily in our wheelhouse, since we’re better with words than music - and it is a big undertaking with lots of moving parts,” says PRT executive artistic director Chuck Dent. “But Kat made a case for doing one, and we needed something that would fill one of our summer slots. The board voted, and here we are.”
A call went out for submissions. Wilkinson saw it and thought, “Why not?” His partner, Christopher Leavy, still had a copy of the script on his laptop.
“I submitted it,” Wilkinson says, “and honestly just forgot about it.”
But the show made an impression on the Playwrights’ Round Table team.
“We fell in love with this one,” Dent says. “Ned’s music is great, and he’s written some real earworms on this one. The story is crazy but fun too and goes in some real unexpected directions.”
“Flaming Volcano Bed and Breakfast” is made for our times as artificial intelligence creeps ever more into our lives. Here, AI generates laughs as Karen, unsuccessful at most things she tries, opens a B&B with the help of Polly, a “digital assistant.”
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Karen’s first guests are two couples: teachers Tina and Chris and corporate shark Annie and her husband, Dave. But in comic fashion, things go awry as technology runs amok.
Stevens will direct a cast that includes Christina Griffith as Karen and Lacy Patton as Polly.
In its 2019 reading at Winter Park Playhouse, I described the show as “a lighthearted romp, with a sprinkling of magic and mythology.”
Wilkinson says since then, he has been honing the story even further: “tightening things up,” “clearing up dead ends” and strengthening “the things that pay off at the end.”
He’s pleased with the changes he has made.
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“I have added a couple of songs,” he says, “and now that they’re in there, I think ‘how did this show function without them?'”
He has been attending rehearsals and fine-tuning even more - “I overthink a lot,” he says. During the run, he will accompany some performances and watch others to get a sense of how the show reads to an audience.
Wilkinson hopes theatergoers leave with smiles on their faces.
“I am not known for dark, edgy material,” he says with a laugh. “My place seems to be light, fluffy comedy: Give it a happy ending and zippy tunes.”
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‘Flaming Volcano Bed and Breakfast’
• What: A Playwrights’ Round Table production of a new musical by Ned Wilkinson
• Where: Santos-Dantin Theater at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center, 812 E. Rollins St. in Orlando
• When: June 19-28
• Cost: $22.50-$33
• Info:theprt.com
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