The Flying Trunk is a rock musical that riffs on many other genres from pop, to progressive rock, jazz fusion, and ragtime. The 14 songs (comprising 18 numbers, with medleys and reprises) are well distributed among principle characters and ensemble.
The creative team released an album, Songs from The Flying Trunk, in September 2013 to offer a preview of most of the show's music.
Click on songs for description and audio samples (linking to our stuff on iTunes and Nimbit Music):
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Direction,
Music:
With Violin
Based on |
Keyboard &
Guitars/Bass/Banjo:
Drums:
Violin:
Oboe:
Clarinet: |
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Originally Produced by Spotlight Youth Theatre of Arizona
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The Maestro and his troupe prepare a performance on a hillside somewhere in the Mediterranean, in a last-ditch effort to raise funds before disbanding. Their task is to gather as many local villagers as they can, in order to attract the more well-to-do visitors arriving at the nearby port. The Maestro begins with a slow solo, then the troupe enters with a more rousing tempo.
Featured Vocalists:
The townsfolk of the Gold Rush boom town of Winnemuck, California, hold a saloon wake for their richest and most successful citizen, Shiny Shonin. Shiny's spendthrift son Hatch, who also lost his mother a couple of years before this, promptly lets his inherited fortune slip through his fingers.
Featured Vocalists:
The destitute Hatch has nothing left of his inheritance but his mother's old travelling trunk. Soon after he receives it, her ghost pays him a visit and encourages him to travel much like she used to do.
Featuring Carly Bates as Sherry Shonin.
For a longer excerpt, play the sample of "Hit the Ground Running" posted on our Nimbit Music Flying Trunk page.
When Hatch Shonin uses his mother's "flying trunk" for shelter one night, he learns it really does fly... and it whisks him through the sky overnight to the other side of the world!
Much later in the story, Hatch has learned to fly the trunk at will. While soaring through the sky, he throws fireworks to announce his upcoming wedding.
Featuring Evan Tyler Wilson as Hatch.
The iTunes samples play only the beginnings of the tracks by default. For longer excerpts, play the samples of "Star Shooting" and "Star Shooting (Reprise)" posted on our Nimbit Music Flying Trunk page.
After Hatch lands in the faraway land of Havara, he meets Tumbler and Harley's roaming band: sometimes a theater troupe, sometimes highway robbers. They talk Hatch into using his flying trunk to intrude upon the castle fortress, where they hope to get a job as court performers. To shrug off the danger, the clownish Harley revels in the attraction of "jumping from the frying pan and into the fire" in this rock tune.
Featuring Joshua Vern as Harley.
The iTunes sample is taken from the beginning of the song by default. For a longer excerpt from the middle of the song, play the sample of "Jump into the Fire" posted on our Nimbit Music Flying Trunk page.
In the three verses of "Treasure Me" we hear the frustrations of three powerful women in the Kasbah of Havara: Ferah, the servant who knows all that goes on; Lady Hadia, the Sultan's sister vying for power; and Princess Meliha, who secretly runs the kingdom to cover up for her ill father.
Featured Vocalists:
The ghost of Sherry Shonin (with her backup of angels) interrupts "Treasure Me" with this song of encouragement for Princess Meliha.
Featuring Carly Bates as Sherry.
These songs are arranged together as a medley. For an excerpt of "If You Let It" from the middle of this track, play the sample of "Treasure Me / If You Let It" posted on our Nimbit Music Flying Trunk page.
Troubadour narrates the budding romance of Hatch and Princess Meliha as they ride in the flying trunk and ponder their future.
Featuring Noel Miller as Troubadour.
A longer sample of "Sands" is posted on our Nimbit Music Flying Trunk page.
Hatch's proposal of marriage puts Princess Meliha in a quandary -- she feels that with her family politics, the decision is too heavy a burden for young shoulders. Hatch convinces her that youth is the right time to dare new directions. Tumbler's troupe, celebrating their opportunity to perform for the Sultan, joins them to turn the duet into a big ensemble number.
Featured Vocalists:
With irony, Lady Ayla sings another verse of this song to soothe the elder Sultan as his illness makes him revert to a mental state of childhood.
Featuring Alexandra Melikian as Ayla.
The iTunes samples play only the beginnings of the tracks by default. For longer excerpts, play the samples of "'Cause We're Young" and "'Cause We're Young (Reprise)" posted on our Nimbit Music Flying Trunk page.
Hatch emcees Tumbler and Harley's troupe, as they perform "The Ballad of Sierra Zod" for the royal court. The story is a loose parody of Arabian Nights told in four musical numbers:
(Ensemble sings "New Horizon (Reprise)" later when Hatch hits a low point.)
Featured Vocalists:
For longer excerpts of these tracks, check the samples of all these songs posted on our Nimbit Music Flying Trunk page.
Our villain, Lady Hadia, professes to Meliha her beliefs about how the royal family should relate to the common classes -- specifically, with all the deceit and manipulation it takes to keep the status quo of rich and poor. During the bridge she indulges in a romantic dance with her servant Kareem.
Featuring Michaela Slezak as Hadia.
A longer sample of "We'll Always Have Idiots" is posted on our Nimbit Music Flying Trunk page.
The visiting Sultana engages in a duet with Maestro at the close of the show -- promising some hope in relationships after all. The song segues into the Finale, a reprise of "'Cause We're Young" performed by the ensemble.
Featured Vocalists:
A longer sample of "Trust in Me" is posted on our Nimbit Music Flying Trunk page.