Hunter Foster knew by third grade that he wanted to be a playwright. Intrigued by “Dracula,” he wrote a four-page script, conducted rehearsals and starred in the title role. It was a classroom success, but the playwright within him would be placed on hold. Armed with a fine arts degree from the University of Michigan, he headed for New York and began earning accolades for Broadway roles. While he was performing to great acclaim, the playwright re-emerged, first with the libretto for “Summer of ’42,” an off-Broadway musical based on the film. The 2002 production received an Outer Critic Nomination for Best Off-Broadway Musical. Next came “Bonnie and Clyde: A Folktale,” chosen as New York Musical Theatre Festival’s Most Promising New Musical in 2008.
Now he and “Spider Woman” co-star Matt Conner are the proud creators of “The Hollow,” based on Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The project came to life during a Signature Theatre workshop two years ago.
| Onstage |
| ‘The Hollow’ |
| Where: The MAX, Signature Theatre |
| When: Tuesday through Oct. 16 |
| Info: $81 to $96.20; 703-573-SEAT; signature-theatre.org |
“I had heard some of the music Matt composed and liked it, so when Eric Schaeffer suggested we work together on a musical based on ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,’ one of my childhood favorites, I was eager to get started,” Foster said. “At first we sat down and tackled the idea of legends and how they come about. We wanted to tell the story by weaving the plot around the songs Matt wrote based on the characters. Musicals are all about storytelling. Every element must move the story forward.
“Legends grow from in-depth psychological events that play upon fear. They’ve always been part of our society and cause people to fear many things, including political parties and religions. The story of Ichabod is a wonderful way to show how fear can act as a catalyst in a town. When fear gets into a society or a group of people, it causes them to do illogical things. An example of that is 9/11 and how the fear that grew out of it changed our society. After that, the rules of government changed and people became fearful of ethnic groups.”
Among the plays on Foster’s drawing board is a musical utilizing the score from a pop duo’s catalog. In it, as in his comedic version of “Bonnie and Clyde,” his goal is to turn what people expect on its head.
“The Hollow” runs in repertory with “The Boy Detective Fails,” based on the book by Joe Meno with music by Adam Gwon. They are part of Signature Theatre’s American Musical Voices Project, a commitment to commission and produce full productions of world premiere musical theater works, the largest such initiative in the country.
” ‘The Hollow’ with its darker themes and ‘The Boy Detective Fails’ are similar in many ways,” Foster said. “Except for the major characters, we utilize the same cast, do a lot of listening and play off each other. Our show is a ghost story. It will be fun scaring the audience.”
