Musicals.

Jeff writes musicals with NYC-based composer Will Van Dyke.  Jeff writes book and lyrics and Will writes music and lyrics. They were 2019 finalists for the 2022 Kleban Award and the 2019 Fred Ebb Award. Their first musical, Imagine Harry, was a finalist for the 2017 O'Neill Festival of New Musicals and a semi-finalist in 2015, and was featured in the 27th Annual Festival of New Musicals for the National Alliance of Musical Theatre in October of 2015.  Wintersong was a part of the 2016 Goodspeed Johnny Mercer Writers Colony and a finalist for NAMT's 2017 Festival of New Musicals. Seven Broken Hearts was chosen for the 2019 ASCAP Musical Workshop and 2017 Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. They were commissioned by Grove Entertainment and Barbara Whitman Productions to write a new musical called The Circle and the Wheel.  Their musical Ten Brave Seconds was optioned by Avalon Road Productions and had a workshop and public presentation in November of 2022. They have also just finished work on a new musical called fuzzy. They have released three EPs - The Mayor, Forks Don’t Break and A View of the River, and have released three singles -- "A New Year" featuring Annaleigh Ashford, "I Hate to Love You" featuring Daniel Quadrino and “Take Me to the Party” featuring Wesley Taylor.  The EPs and singles are available wherever digital music is sold. For more information about Will Van Dyke, check out his website. For more information about Jeff & Will as a team, check our their website. They also have a YouTube channel with videos and info!


Imagine Harry

Imagine Harry is an 8-person, two-act contemporary musical by Will Van Dyke and Jeff Talbott.   It's a story about recognizing that your real life is better than anything you could ever imagine; you just have to look. When Tucker was 8, his best friend, Harry, was imaginary. Now, Tucker’s all grown up, and he’s not making much of a mark on the world; he lives at home and works as a waiter. And Harry? Well, he’s left the imaginary friend business and is living as a mortal, a married guy with a kid on the way. But Tucker isn’t dealing with the fact that his father has Alzheimer’s and it’s time for Tucker to step up and be a son. And Harry is having a hard time committing to his very ordinary life; in fact, it turns out that if he doesn’t fully engage with this life he chose, he will literally fade away, one limb at a time. So Tucker and Harry have to find a way to help each other before it’s too late. Imagine Harry is a musical for grown-ups about the very tricky business of growing up.

You can check out a couple of sample tracks from the musical HERE.

To contact the authors about Imagine Harry, email ImagineHarryMusical@gmail.com.

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A View of the River

A View of the River is an EP of 7 songs by Will Van Dyke and Jeff Talbott.  The team wrote these standalone songs in-between writing sessions for their musicals.  Ranging from soulful, soaring ballads to driving uptempos, the collection features the pop-infused melodies and heartfelt lyrics that make Will and Jeff's sound distinctive.

You can listen to sample tracks from the EP HERE.

You can purchase the EP on iTunes, Amazon or wherever digital music is sold.

And if you are interested in sheet music for any of the songs, you can find info on that HERE.

 

Wintersong

Set in the Nebraska Territories in the 1850's, Wintersong tells the story of Leo Harper, a homesteader with a lot to love and a lot to lose. He came west with his wife and his brother, and they are making a go of it - but Leo is his own worst enemy and can't control his suspicious thoughts.  In a land where emotions are as limitless as the sky, Leo needs to learn that joy comes at the cost of abandoning jealousy before it is too late. And that love requires you to awaken your faith.

You can check out a couple of sample tracks from the musical HERE.

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Seven Broken Hearts

Samantha (Sam) Walker and Denny Clark are best friends and small town kids, just getting through their days working in a diner in Eastern Wyoming.  They've got each other, but they're both ready to bust out, terrified of wasting one more day going nowhere.  As they inch their way East, from small town to big city, they leave a string of broken hearts behind - but the question is, will the last two hearts to be broken be theirs?  Seven Broken Hearts is a brand-new three-person pop-driven musical about the wending ways of love and friendship,  and how staying true to yourself is so hard when you're not quite sure who you are yet.

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The Circle and the Wheel

10 friends. 1 break-up. 8 slo-mo nervous breakdowns. The Circle and the Wheel is a new original musical about a group of friends getting ready to celebrate the marriage of their favorite couple.  But when the couple suddenly and unexpectedly breaks up, it forces everybody else to look in the mirror and examine their own relationships, and nobody is ready for what they see.  A little bit of self-reflection is a good thing; too much can be a disaster.  The Circle and the Wheel was commissioned by Grove Entertainment and Barbara Whitman Productions.

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Ten Brave Seconds

Mike is 16 and today is a big day. He’s been holding in a big secret for awhile, and today his secret is totally coming out. But there are two important things about secrets: (1) everybody has ‘em and (2) however scary they are, the build-up is always leading to those ten terrifying seconds in which you just . . . say it. All it takes is a little reckless courage. Mike is about to find out that it’s on the other side of the telling that all the good stuff sits waiting. Mike, his dad, his sister, his friends . . . they’re all about to step bravely into those scary and rewarding seconds, and it all happens TODAY. Ten Brave Seconds is a bight and shiny new musical that takes place from sunrise to sundown on one big day for everybody.

fuzzy

fuzzy is the story of a furry little creature (named Fuzzy) who has come home to take care of their currently-ailing mother (named Muzzy). fuzzy is also the story of a storyteller we’ll call The Human, who has come to a theatre to tell the story of a furry little creature who . . . you get the gist. A teeny tiny musical (with puppets! lots and lots of puppets!) about great big things, fuzzy is mostly a story about stories themselves - why we tell them, how we tell them and what happens to a group of people listening when we do.

Will and Jeff in the recording studio.  July, 2015.