First timer’s musical looking for a stage
Broadway aficionado and education professional Gayle Westmoreland, who says she can’t carry a tune, was inspired to write the lyrics, story and much of the music for a musical she has titled Just Soar. She is now hoping to find a way to stage it locally.
Photo courtesy of Gayle Westmoreland
Four years ago, Columbia resident Gayle Westmoreland was watching the news when inspiration struck. Her television was filled with bleak news about the high unemployment rates in America and Europe, and suddenly the words “Just Soar” appeared in her mind.
Those two words began an unexpected chain reaction for Westmoreland. After jotting them down, she developed them into what she thought was a poem. Pretty soon, a catchy, upbeat tune popped into her head and she converted the “poem” into a show tune.
After much work, she now has a full-scale musical, which follows a young man’s quest to find a fulfilling career and settle down, focusing on the positive attitude it took to make it all happen. “Just Soar” became the title song and the name of the musical.
No musical background
A lifelong creative writer and education professional, Westmoreland has always enjoyed attending musicals, from Kinky Boots to Man of LaMancha.
But she never imagined that writing a musical would be on her resume. In fact, she has never had formal musical training. “I can’t even carry a tune,” she joked.
She does, however, have experience helping young people with their writing. “It was so natural of me to utter the two words ‘Just Soar,’ because I formalized my SOAR (Success Oriented Aims & Results) Program in 2004 at South Carolina State University.” There she taught students how to craft successful resumes and cover letters.
Without musical training, Westmoreland only had the lyrics and the tune of her single, and no way to formally record it and shop it around to find someone to produce it.
She turned to the local community to solve her problem, and met Demetrius Taylor, a music teacher at Deerpark Middle Magnet School in Randallstown, Md.
Listening to the vocalist bring her song to life, she felt the beginnings of a story. Two weeks later, she began writing the rest of the musical.
Listen to one of the musical’s songs at www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhHIIqilKcA.
