New "Mini-Opera" Due from the Who?

On January 10th I had a sudden flash. Nick Goderson who is the manager of Eel Pie, has been ill with cancer for quite some time, and is often on my mind. I remembered that he had once suggested I turn TBWHM into a ‘Mini-Opera’ rather than a Magnum-Opus. This was what I needed. With the story fresh in my mind, and with hundreds of useful comments from those who had responded as I had published the chapters one by one, I was able to quickly scratch out a lyrical synopsis of The Boy Who Heard Music. This comprised seven or eight short lyric-poems. I took into account none of the depth, background or complexity of the story. In a way, I deliberately skipped over what I had explored and elaborated in my Novella, and just grabbed at whatever came into my mind as I sat with pen and paper. I had the benefit of my notes from the Lifehouse script and lyric-guides from as far back as1971, one of which – Sound Round – I used to start the collection. I also used some of the lyrics I had written especially for the Novella. Quickly I found I had enough coherent lyrics to comprise a short song-cycle or ‘Mini-Opera’. I did a couple of quick demos and by January 17th knew I had about 30 minutes of music that would create a vigorous backbone for the Who album, but allow me to continue to draw on the bloodline of The Boy Who Heard Music.

I hope that Zak is the drummer on the final product.