In 1994 I wrote a play called Ned Durango Comes To Big Oak.  It was done a few times and then disappeared from the landscape.  In 1997 I wrote The Last Resort, a musical, with the wonderful Leslie Arden.  The Last Resort enjoyed a pretty good success across Canada and is still being done today.  It was done last summer at the renowned Charlottetown Festival.  In the years since 1997, Leslie and I have often talked about writing another show together, but we couldn't settle on an idea that interested us both, and so we kept putting it off.  Then last year I got to thinking about Ned Durango Comes To Big Oak and about how much I liked the play and the characters in the play.  (Believe or not, I don't always like the older plays when I look back on them.)   And how I thought that Ned never really did get it's due out there in the theatre world.  I sent the play to Leslie and we decided to turn it into a musical.  The story changed.  The character of the daughter became more prominent.  There was more on the line for the characters.  Suddenly it became what I think is a very relative play, given the state of the North American economy today.  And of course, I got to work with Leslie Arden again which made the entire idea all that more enjoyable and worthwhile.  I hope you all enjoy this ride with Ned Durango.

When Norm Foster sent me his play, "Ned Durango Comes To Big Oak", and asked me if I thought it would make a good musical, my answer was an emphatic "yes". I couldn't wait to get started on this project for two reasons:

1) I adore Norm Foster's play and 2) I adore Norm Foster. Norm is the most gracious, collaborative, supportive, talented playwright a composer/lyricist could wish for, and I'll write musicals with him for as long as he can stand it.