Wellington Stories

Look, I'm willing to licence adaptations, but I have zero interest in participating. I will never change my mind. Barbara has to find another singer, and I might add that Manny is virulently heterosexual. Find a hetero tenor with a good range and power. Sing the harmony parts, do the full score. I'm also going to clarify that you can't do my pieces as a two-act piece anymore. You can do all three pieces, or you can do none. Why? Cos Julia's songs are bangers and she's literally dying of cancer atm. All three pieces have scripts, and presumably music. - The rules change when people start dying. It's a brilliant film musical, and I would rather write original stage pieces rather than replaying my old hits. We could still make a really significant amount of money via film distribution: if people genuinely think it's a world-class movie of significance, we could make millions. As I said, profit participation is critical. We promised it, and we will deliver. Why? Because in stage musicals, you only make a few percent as the creative team. - As for the controversy regarding my Christmas Ad. 1. Very few people saw it. I have the numbers. 6,118 views, with 1215 from England. As I said, 1,000 is enough in NZ. The cultured audience isn't exactly large. There is no depiction of a sex act in These Words, as Your Scent doesn't have a tongue. These songs were ALL Manny writing about women. I queered it cos I wanted Barbie to sing more songs for me. As for the title song and the ad: I wasn't nude, I didn't move. All that happened was that the orange wash slowly dissolved (much in the style of the soprano videos). It described zero sex acts, and is largely remembered in the queer community for being a love song that didn't specify a gender. Why did this happen? Because I'm trans and because the cultured audience were actively busy slutshaming me, and justifying Jake's exploratory poke. Nobody likes me. This isn't new to me. Here's something that I find comforting: 'As you know, it got reviewed as usual - dismissively and condescendingly - but that's what every show that I write with John Weidman gets, so it's par for the course. And, not to sound too cynical about it: it will be revived in five or ten years and everybody will say it's really good.' - Stephen Sondheim (on Road Show).