A Musical without Music

What's a musical without music? 

“iMPERFECT” is a new Australian musical on the life and times of an ordinary teenage boy tasked with an extraordinary responsibility.

The iMPERFECT Story

A gentle and warm-hearted teenage shepherd boy is love-starved, lonely and friendless.  Yet he gets chosen to build a nation out of 12 fragmented tribes, To ascend to this role, David has to become a ruthless warrior, a shrewd politician and a Machiavellian leader as well as become the progenitor of Jesus the Messiah. 

But all  David ever wanted to do was play music on his harp and watch his sheep!

The drama is gritty, bordering on confronting; sometimes sensual; oftentimes poignant with the occasional comic relief to give respite to the audience' sensibilities. It is ancienct and yet contemporary. There are 19 scenes in 2 Acts and more than 26 characters to be acted out.

The songs and music of iMPERFECT are a fusion of ancient and modern; Eastern and Western. iMPERFECT is not a sung-through musical. It has a total of 28 songs, recitatives and musical ditties. 

So why this Crowdfund?

Only 13 songs have been composed, so far.

This iMPERFECT Music Composition Intensive 

scheduled for MAY 2019

• is designed to complete the composition of the remaining 15 songs, 
• develop the iMPERFECT full musical score,
• print and bind the song and score sheets and
• create a music rehearsal track.
• The Lead Composer, Co-composer, a Music Transcriber and the Writer will shut themselves away from the world for 60 hours or more to achieve this. 

The iMPERFECT Artists

Beth Mondragon Williams

Writer

You and I are just like David - the leading character in this iMPERFECT musical. We are ordinary people, tasked to do the extraordinary - to live this life with purpose.

iMPERFECT is not just another religious play. The storyline just happens to come from the Bible. 

I am Beth Mondragon Williams and I fell in love with this ruddy, reckless man-boy, named David more than 10  years ago. It was not until 2016 that I istarted writing the book and lyrics of iMPERFECT by researching through pages of the Holy Bible, the Quran, and the Tanakh; listening to and reading countless church leaders’ sermons, dissertations, and analyses of the one who was called “the man after God’s own heart”.  I even watched films that came out of church "propaganda" and that Hollywood movie that featured dreamboat Richard Gere.

I have more than 35 years experience directing, producing and scripting professional and amateur theatre and live shows; and artistically directing local and international festivals both here and in the Philippines. These experiences inform and shape the dramatic pulse and structure that is iMPERFECT. 

I chose a handful of handpicked creatives from Australia and the Philippines to collaborate with and create iMPERFECT. Here are a couple of them:

Sean Fernando Hutton

Lead Composer and Music Producer

 Born and bred in the flagship recording facility of the Northern Territory in the 1990's (Kakadu Studios), Sean set up his own recording studio immediately after completing his Contemporary Music degree at the Australian Institute of Music in Melbourne. He has worked within the commercial songwriting stream both as a writer and producer with his last four releases charting Top 5 in their respective platforms. Early this year, Sean launched Creator Hub, a boutique, multi-functional work space for creatives, for which he is Founder and Director. 

Sean is a purveyor of jazz, soul, funk and contemporary musical expressions. He is also part Filipino, bringing into iMPERFECT a subtle sense of cultural fusion. 

DEMO REEL:

https://vimeo.com/325230366?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=29220&utm_term=1199457

Daniele Buatti

Co-Composer and Arranger

Daniele is a Melbourne-based accompanist, arranger and musical director and has been the resident musical director of Melbourne’s Broadway Unplugged since it launched in 2013. He has worked with professional artists Rob Mills, Queenie Van De Zandt, Amanda Harrison, Chelsea Renton-Gibb, the cast of King Kong and many more. Daniele was the assistant Musical Director for Stage Art’s Hair, New Theatre’s Venetian Twins and is frequently seen playing at musical theatre auditions around Melbourne. He also teaches at Federation University, Patrick Studios Australia and Jason Coleman’s Ministry of Dance. 

The iMPERFECT Journey

The development of new theatre works is a very lengthy process.

First Public Reading (26th Revision) 

MARCH 2017 - MELBOURNE VIC

A cold reading with musical theatre students of the Australian Institute of Music (AIM) in Melbourne. iMPERFECT received its first applause.

Music Development Workshops 

SEPTEMBER 2017 - MELBOURNE VIC 

AIM students and Sean Hutton (Lead Composer, Music Producer) worked on and completed a studio recording of the songs of the Wives of David (Yes, David had several wives. Seven in fact, not counting the concubines!!)

APRIL 2018 - BOHOL, PHILIPPINES

Workshopping songs and music for 2 major all-cast scenes with my mentor and dramaturg, the multi-awarded composer and musical director Maestro Lutgardo Labad, assisted by his performing arts ensemble (Kasing Sining of Bohol, Philippines).

IN ADDITION, Altiyan Childs (Grand Champion of X Factor Australia, Season 2) agreed to record and make a demo video of a highlight song from iMPERFECT, entitled “What is a King".

Second public reading

NOVEMBER 2018 - GYMPIE QLD

Through a grant from the Queensland Regional Arts Development Fund and the Gympie Regional Council, we held a public reading of the most recent revision of iMPERFECT at the Heritage Theatre in Gympie. 

We received our second round of applause! 

Your Part

1. By pledging your financial support, you will be contributing to a critical phase of this creative undertaking.

2. iMPERFECTis almost there and we'd like you to come on this journey with us.

3. Cheer us on as we give you insider access to the iMPERFECT artistic and commercial processes.

You can also FOLLOW US ON  www.facebook.com/imperfectmessiah/

And then what?

The iMPERFECT full book and music will be performed in a theatre-concert setting after July 2019.

Then, iMPERFECT will be ready for its Producers.

An iMPERFECT World Premiere in 2020! 

In  the last six months, Beth (Mondragon-Williams), worked to get the music artists' honoraria sponsored privately.  

This Crowdfund will cover the cost of recording the music rehearsal tracks, the printing and binding of the music sheets, the copious amounts of coffee to keep the artists caffeinated and the 2 voice actors who will feature in the recorded tracks. 

Expenses for this Music Composition Intensive :

Music Artists Honoraria (Private Sponsorship)           

$ 3750

Venue hire, recording,

other production costs  (This Crowdfund)                   

$ 2700

Voice Actors x 2   (This Crowdfund)                            

$   600

TOTAL                      $ 7050