The Beggar's Waltz (Musical)

Matt Fetbrandt, composer, and Jay Floyd, writer and producer, are a powerhouse team. In 2023, they reached out to me after listening to my string arrangement of "One Summer's Day" by Joe Hisaishi, on my YouTube channel, and my mini-musical "Passive Aggressive Roommate" on the viral YouTube channel, Pixel Playhouse. They immediately knew I had a diverse background in composition and orchestration - from intimate string arranging, to fully fledged epic orchestral music, they knew I could bring exactly what they needed for their new musical. The Beggar's Waltz is a story of EPIC proportion spanning several decades in the 1900s and following the story of a young man raising through the social hierarchy while unknowingly being manipulated by those around him for their own agendas. I'd try to describe it in better detail myself, but I will share with you the description from the website: "The Beggar's Waltz is the story of Lance Thompson, a kid from rural North Carolina who grows up in the 1970's dreaming of a less painful world than the one he was born into.  His doting, warm hearted mother can't protect either of them from the rage of his violent, drunken father, so he retreats into any magazine he can get his hands on searching for what might be possible beyond the cornfields.  Glamorous ads and pop culture articles in glossy magazines aren't the best way to develop a realistic view of the real world, though.  Then one day he meets Chrissy LaFonde - who seems to be right out of one of those advertisements... and his adventure begins.

Chrissy is a mischievous, willful child when they meet, laden with the trappings of enormous wealth and privilege.  Lance has never met anyone like her - but truthfully, neither has anyone else.  There's only one Chrissy LaFonde.  She takes interest in this self assured little country boy and dares him to make good and come find her one day.  

So that's exactly what he does.

Under Chrissy's guidance (which is a more charitable way to put it than shameless manipulation) she grooms Lance to be the perfect husband for her.  The wild, self destructive socialite marries the curious, misguided country boy, both under the spell of subconscious appetites that masquerade as love.  Lance brings his values with him into her world, though, so it's not a perfect fit.  Then Lance meets Addy Redlin, a self assured, kind and driven young black woman and his heart suddenly discovers what actual love feels like - but a little too late.  Sometimes when worlds collide the explosion can take a while, but it always comes.

With a story and music influenced by classic musical theatre, infused with just the right amount of magical realism, The Beggar's Waltz is a new American musical on a grand scale about finding out what love is by chasing everything it's not.

The show urges us all to dream... but dream wisely."

As you can probably tell, this story is MASSIVE. To me, it's kind of like the Les Miserables of middle America. Likewise, the range of musical influences we have to work through between each song is equally as diverse. From big band and "Disney-like" to soft and intimate strings and piano. I can't wait to share more with you as the tracks are released and as we further develop the musical.