David Vernon
Producer/Director
DAVID VERNON: I grew up with musicals—. raised in an eccentrically artistic family and exposed to more art than I could possibly process. I became fascinated by people who burst into song when emotions became too complicated for ordinary conversation.
Some people ask, “Why are they singing?”
My response is: “Why aren’t we all?”
I mean, admit it—wouldn’t “Death of a Salesman” be a teensy-eensy bit more fun with a power ballad or two?
Musicals happen because emotions exceed language.
I became associated with the ridiculously talented Robertson family (who have more musical skills than the Von Trapp Family rolled into one), when I directed a staged presentation of Don Robertson’s musical, “Family Reunion”.
With our current show, “Harmony’s Edge” I became fascinated with Don and Shirley’s wonderfully complex concept about legacy…and what happens when we finally tell the truth. And the question of ‘how do you make a musical about characters who are already singing’. Perhaps it exists in the difference between what they are singing…and what they aren’t really saying—to each other, and to the world.
Now, onto my credits and life skills. Here are three facts. One of them is not true.
I was a writer/producer on the movie, “Berlin, I Love You” that starred Helen Mirren, Keira Knightly, Luke Wilson and Diego Luna, among other German actors whose names I still can’t pronounce.
My father was the voice of the animated Rankin/Bass animated TV show, “Frosty the Snowman” and I still melt everywhere when I watch it.
I wrote “The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green” a gay screwball comedy based on a famous gay comic strip.
Actually, those are all true. The fact that one of them was not true, was the part that was untrue.
Why should you see “Harmony’s Edge”? Because it has more than 15 totally original songs and has a theatricality that aligns with our fabulous Cat’s Crawl Theater—the theater becomes part of the show. The audience is part of the show. It’s a concert! It’s a play! It’s theater!
