Songs

Life as a Parent

Music and lyrics by Joe Barsanti

This is a comedy patter-song sung about a young married couple coming to terms with what life is like as a parent.

Did You Know?

Music and lyrics by Joe Barsanti
Inspired by “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime” by Simon Stephens

As part of an application for a graduate program, I was asked to take a straight play and create a musical number from it. After much thought, I decided to choose “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime” by Simon Stephens based on the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon. A few months before getting this assignment I got diagnosed with Autism, so this song let me explore a part of me that I was still coming to terms with.

In this scene we find our main character Christopher info-dumping about space. I wanted to show that there can be a deeper meaning when someone with ASD info-dumps. For Christopher, it is a way for him to process the instability of his life.

Nathaniel Breaks

Music and lyrics by Joe Barsanti
Inspired by The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

As an assignment, I was told to pick a public-domain piece of media and write a song for a musical adaptation. I chose The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a book I had never read. Once I opened the book, I was surprised by the introduction. Where I was expecting to get right into the story of Hester Prynne, I found a short story about a man working in a customs house. About to be laid off, he finds a box hidden in a dusty corner. Inside the box he finds a collection of letters, and a piece of red cloth cut into the shape of the letter A. The man goes on to explain that after reading the letters he decided to write the story of the woman talked about in the letters.

I became obsessed with the idea that Hawthorne wrote in a fictitious author, and I had the idea to frame the musical around Nathaniel Hawthorne writing the book. He is faced with the atrocities of his puritanical ancestors and tries to forge a path for himself. The moment in the show is when Hawthorne begins writing his book.

You’re Not Going Alone

Music and Lyrics by Joe Barsanti

This song is from a scene and song I wrote as an assignment. With the threat of the destruction of democracy, two brothers find themselves find themselves at an impasse. One brother wants to go fight for his country, while the other wants to take his family and flee.