From our abandoned Magic Flute adaptation FLUTE.
Tamino is a lonely and frustrated young man living in a cyberpunk near future. When he meets the pop star Pamina the two of them find a connection. Tamino panics that this connection was a fluke and that he needs to impress her the next time he sees her, and encouraged by his friend Papageno, falls into the arms of cultic pick-up artist Sarastro, who encourages him to lie and trick his way into relationships

Lyrics: Joe Venable
Music: Samuel Macdonald
Demo recording by Samuel Macdonald

Six Foot Two

The show opens with Pamina, a pop singer trapped in an exploitative contract, performing a break-up song for her adoring fans.

Music: Samuel Macdonald (and also Mozart, I suppose)
Lyrics: Joe Venable

Miserable

Pamina has been forced by her unscrupulous manager to work with right wing mens rights activist Sarastro. She has formed an unlikely friendship with one of Sarastro's disciples Papageno, who has always believed that Sarastro can make them the one thing they believe they're supposed to be - a man.

Pamina needs Papageno's help to escape, but Papageno believes they cannot help because they're not manly enough.
In an effort to to knock sense into them, Pamina says she doesn't need a "man" in Sarastro's mould - if that's what a man is, Papageno can be something much better.
This sparks a thought that has been in the back of Papageno's mind for a while - that maybe they never wanted to be a man in the first place, and maybe they don't have to be one.

Music and Lyrics: Samuel Macdonald
Lyrics: Joe Venable

What A Man Can Be

Composer-sung demos for Technical Difficulties, a new musical by Joe Venable and Samuel Macdonald

Out of My Misery

Get My Head Down

Totally Chill

Don't Come Knocking

Muggs's Lament

Smooth

Macdonald and Venable are a musical theatre writing partnership based in the UK.

Joe Venable (On Your Bike, Rishi's Doing a Musical, Jingle Street) is a lyricist, book writer and composer based in Cambridge.

Samuel Macdonald (SAVOY! Everybody's Doing It!) is a composer, lyricist and musical director based in Glasgow, Scotland.

Together, we began work on FLUTE in 2021, but we've both worked on other projects since then. Recently we rediscovered the demos we made and thought they deserve to see the light of day, so here they are!

Macdonald and Venable

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