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About | Characters | The
Story | Music Samples | Production
History | Press | Collaborators |
(top)
In the late 1970’s, an infant fell from the fourth floor window
of an apartment building in Queens, NY. A young boy, passing though
the alleyway below, caught the child and saved his life. The baby
was the cousin of Richard Vetere -- a Pulitzer Prize nominee -- and
the incident served as the inspiration for our new musical drama
A HUNDRED YEARS INTO THE HEART. The musical imagines an extended
Italian American “familia,” some 25 years later, whose
live intertwine and heal one another, all while protecting the secrets
that hold them together. Their story is told by Carmine Sorrento,
an Italian American restaurant owner whose one secret could change
everything. |
(top)(In order of appearance)
Carmine Sorrento (Early 60’s) - Baritone.
Regina Battista (Late 50’s) - Mezzo-Soprano.
Stephanie Battista (Late 20’s) - Pop Soprano.
Vincent Iannuzi (Early 30’s) - Legit Tenor.
Sal Greco (Mid 20’s) - Rock Baritone. |
(top)A Hundred Years into the Heart is told from the perspective
of Carmine Sorrento. Carmine is the owner of a neighborhood Italian
restaurant -- the kind you can only find in Queens. Much of the action
takes place, however, in and around the Ridgewood home of Regina Battista,
an attractive, middle-aged college professor that Carmine has been
seeing since the death of her husband.
The tale that Carmine tells centers on a love triangle involving Regina’s
daughter, Stephanie, her daughter’s fiance, Vincent Iannuzi,
and a wannabe “wiseguy” named Sal Greco -- two men whose
lives were connected well before Stephanie entered the picture. When
Vincent was seven years old, he caught a baby falling from a open sixth
floor window: Sal. Saving Sal’s life turned Vincent into a local
hero and it created an inescapable bond between the two of them. Vincent
grew up to become a novelist who supports himself by teaching at Queens
College. There he met Regina, who introduced him to Stephanie and encouraged
their romance. A strong-willed, yet restlessly unhappy young woman,
Stephanie has accepted Vincent’s proposal of marriage as the
musical begins. Unfortunately, a short time later she meets and falls
in love with Sal.
As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that Carmine has more than
a passing interest in how it will end. At first it seems as if Stephanie’s
situation reminds Carmine of his early days with Regina. They grew
up in the same Queens neighborhood and were young lovers. But, Regina
broke off their romance when she learned that Carmine had criminal
connections. She was afraid he’d be unable and unwilling to change
his ways. Yet, they never completely lost touch with one another, as
they were bound by a shared secret: that Carmine is actually Stephanie’s
father. But, to give her daughter a stable home, Regina chose to marry
another man -- a sweet, well-meaning educator who was willing to raise
Stephanie as his own.
Regina recognizes that her past is being repeated by Stephanie. But,
faced with much the same choice of men, her daughter makes the opposite
decision. Stephanie breaks off her engagement to Vincent to be with
Sal. Deeply wounded, Vincent swears that he wants nothing more to do
with her. He regrets ever having saved Sal -- having played a part
in altering the fate of a falling child.
Carmine senses that his darker side runs in Stephanie’s blood,
compelling her to favor a man like Sal. So, Carmine takes it as his
responsibility to set things right. But, he is conflicted about what
to do. Should he attempt to change fate or accept that all that has
happened was some way inevitable? Should he do the unthinkable and
have Sal killed? Further complicating his decision is the fact that
Carmine begins to see a lot of similarities between himself and Sal.
Should he deny Stephanie and Sal the love that he and Regina might
have shared, but ultimately denied themselves?
In the end, the hand of fate determines the outcome: Sal is gunned
down in a botched attempt at holding up a bank, leaving Stephanie a
single mother. Carmine begs Vincent to “save Sal” once
again by marrying her and making sure that his grandson has a father.
Vincent admits that he is still in love with Stephanie. So, he does
as Carmine asks and goes to her. Stephanie accepts Vincent’s
offer of marriage, grateful that her son will have what she had: a
good man for a parent. However, Vincent makes her promise that the
child will know that Sal was his father. Carmine, on the other hand,
chooses to honor Regina’s wish that Stephanie never be told that
he is her father, content that his life seems destined to be forever
intertwined with his daughter’s.
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(top)Carmine, Open the WIne - SAMPLE
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Vocalists: Debra Tranelli, Erin
Hill, Eddie Korbich, Jeffrey
Lodin
Down the Park - SAMPLE
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Lodin&Squier)
Vocalists:
Jeffrey Lodin
The Places We Go - SAMPLE
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Vocalists: Erin Hill, Clark Thorell
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(top)
The Village Theater - Issaquah, WA
Seventh Annual Festival of New Musicals. August 17 - 19, 2007
Claudia Zahn, director.
Bound for Broadway IV at Merkin Concert Hall - NYC, NY
Concert of score selections. November 28, 2005
Featuring: Charma Bonanno, David Bonanno, Nick Dalton, Mark Lolito,
Deborah Tranelli
The Spirit of Broadway Theater - Norwich,
CT
Full production. March - April, 2006
Brett A. Bernadini, director.
The New York Musical Theatre Festival - NYC, NY
The Next Link Project
Angella’s Partners, Ltd., producers
in association with the Spirit of Broadway Theatre
Festival production. September 14 - October 3, 2004
Brett A. Bernadini, director.
Performance Dance - Norwalk, CT
FUSE!
Concert of score selections. August 7, 2004
Curtain Call, Inc. - Stamford, CT
Benefit concert. September 22, 2003
Featuring: Charma Bonanno, Jerold Goldstein,
Eddie Korbich, Deborah Tranelli, Andrew Varela
.
The New England Academy of Theatre - New Haven, CT
Arts & Ideas 2003 Edge Festival
“
Best of the New Works” concert reading. June 20, 2003
Featuring: Jerold Goldstein, Eddie Korbich
Rena Strober, Deborah Tranelli, Andrew Varela.
The New England Academy of Theatre - New Haven, CT
New Works Reading Series
Concert reading. March 14, 2002
Featuring: Charma Bonanno, David Bonanno,
Jerold Goldstein, Jeffrey Lodin, Deborah Tranelli.
Music in a Box - NYC, NY
Fall Reading Series
Concert reading. November 20, 2001
Featuring: Charma Bonanno, Eddie Korbich,
Tony Lo Bianco, Alex Timerman, Deborah Tranelli
Tom Rowan, director.
CAP 21 Theatre - NYC, NY
Concert reading. May 4, 2000
Featuring: Eddie Korbich, Mark Lotito,
Amanda Serkasevich, Clarke Thorell, Deborah Tranelli.
CAP 21 - NYC, NY
Monday Night Reading Series 1999
Studio concert reading: Act One. October ?, 1999
Featuring: Beau Bernarda, Tony Hoty,
Christa Justus, Eddie Korbich, Alix Korey.
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(top)"Musical theater is alive and well."
" A HUNDRED YEARS INTO THE HEART also boasts one of the
strongest and most
character-driven scores in recent memory. Composer Jeffrey Lodin's
music is
diverse and melodic..."
" Lodin's work is part traditional Broadway melody coupled
with a distinctly
contemporary musical sound..."
" William Squier easily complements Lodin's work with
lyrics that are
insightful, resonant, and delightfully surprising..."
" Squier finds specific language to define each of (book
writer Richard)
Vetere's characters while gracefully advancing the story."
" Lodin and Squier's songs are complex compositions that
pay off on many
levels."
" A HUNDRED YEARS INTO THE HEART packs a wallop of emotional
force and musical
intensity. It is sure to find a home in regional theatres across the
country
where its themes of lust, fate, and family will appeal to audiences
of all
backgrounds."
Full
review of A HUNDRED YEARS INTO THE HEART
Warren Hoffman -- 9/19/04 -- Talkin' Broadway . com
“The story is involving...the score has a pop sound...the
bouncy "Down the
Park" and Carmine's benedictory "There's More Than One
Way." Variety is provided
by a couple of Sal's numbers, which have a 1960s casino feel, while
the Old
World lilt of Carmine's "Regina" harkens back to the
kind of broad-appeal
material that Dean Martin recorded in his heyday.”
-- Mark Dundas Wood, BroadwayWorld.Com
“
A traditional score, beautifully provided by Lodin and Squier...And
let’s
give a hand to Richard Vetere’s book, too. From “not
for nothing to the
inevitable “ba-da-bing,” it all rang true to me.”
-- Peter Filichia, TheaterMania.Com
“ It was a joy to witness the excitement surrounding
the first New York
Musical Theatre Festival. Of the offerings I reviewed (Joe Starts
Again, And the
Earth Moved, A Hundred Years Into the Heart), each show had its
own small
pleasures. It's terrific to be reminded that so many people are
committed to making
musicals these days.”
-- M. D. Wood, Backstage.com (in a
year end roundup)
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(top)RICHARD VETERE (Author: Book) is a published
playwrite, poet and novelist who has also written for television and
film. He is the author of more than forty plays including ‘The
Classic,’ ‘Gangster Apparel,’ ‘How To Go Out
On A Date In Queens,’ ‘The Marriage Fool,’ The Vows
of Penelope Corelli’ and 2003 Pultizer Prize nominee ‘One
Shot, One Kill’. His television series work includes ‘Dellaventura,’ ‘The
Wonder’ (CBS-TV) and ‘Threat Matrix’ (Buena Vista
Television). His teleplay adaptation of ‘The Marriage Fool’ starred
Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett. He co-wrote the screen adaption of
his novel ‘The Third Miracle,’ starring Ed Harris and Anne
Heche, and the film version of his play ‘How to Go Out On a Date
in Queens’ starred Jason Alexander. He holds a master’s
degree in Comparative English Literature from Columbia University.
He continues to lecture on film writing at Queens College. He is a
member of the WGS, Dramatist Guild, Poets & Writers and PEN. He
lives in Queens.
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