The Good Omens Musical Masterpostđ”â€
Some time before 2013: Vicki Larnach, the australian composer and lyricist, read the Good Omens book, imagined figures dancing on stage with brilliant music and thought, âAh, Iâm gonna ask Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman if I can turn it into a musical.â and sent an email to the publishers. The next day she got an email saying, âWe donât want a musical but Terryâs coming to Australia, so come and say hello and tell us what you got.â
Rob Wilkins came down to meet Vicki and Jim Hare - Vicki's husband and writer - and took them to meet Terry. They spent an hour and a half with them where Terry asked âpiercing questionsâ, had tea with them and they showed Terry a song that Vicki wrote (about the Chattering Nuns). Terry said to Rob, âRob, write and email to Neil, âDear Neil, this is Terry. Iâm sitting in front of two hippies from Sydney and they want to make a musical out of Good Omens and Iâm tempted to let them do it.ââ which was the best email they ever heard and then Terry said, âOkay, you have me curious.â - it was because of the Nuns song which sounded like the book. âIâm gonna give you six months, come back with a first draft libretto and five songs.â
They then sent it to Terry who sent it to Neil. Terry said, âI really like it, youâre moving story, youâre doing all the right things, but whereâs showstopper, whereâs the toe-tapper, you know I need people to go to intermission just snapping their fingers with the song they just canât get out of their head, and I havenât heard that.â - and they realized that they were so busy serving the story they forgot to do the wow-factor, but found it very encouraging from Terry that he wanted to make it better.
They went through the whole book again to find a centrepiece - and they found it when Warlock is growing up and Aziraphale and Crowley are with him, and spent months working just on that one thing and called âAll Living Thingsâ [the song at the start of this post :)] which is a line from the book.*â Terry gave that song to a person he knew and asked him to play it to his wife with no context and when the next day the person said that his wife woke up still singing the song Terry said to Vicki and Jim: âWell, thatâs what I asked you to do.âÂ
*Â [âThis hereâs Brother Slug,â the gardener would tell him, âand this tiny little critter is Sister Potato Weevil. Remember, Warlock, as you walk your way through the highways and byways of lifeâs rich and fulsome path, to have love and reverence for all living things.â âNanny says that wivving fings is fit onwy to be gwound under my heels, Mr. Fwancis,â said little Warlock, stroking Brother Slug, and then wiping his hand conscientiously on his Kermit the Frog overall.]
Vicki and Jim got the permission to being adapting it as a musical in 2013.
Vicki and Jim on it a couple of years âfumbling aboutâ, took it as far as they could and decided to bring another person into it: Jay-James Moody
In 2015, Jay James-Moody joined the collaboration initially as a dramaturge and directorial eye, eventually evolving into co-book writer. Vicki, James and Jay have continued to evolve through countless more revisions and a number of private development readings with the support, time and talent of numerous wonderful Australian performers testing the material.
In November 2017, the musical was presented in its then-current form and entirety for the first time before an audience of over 500 eager attendees. The cast included Luke Joslin, Lachlan OâBrien, Nancye Hayes, Barry Quin, Brett OâNeill, Lauren McKenna, Nicholas Craddock, Paul Capsis, Rob Johnson, Amy Lehpamer, Debora Krizak, Blake Erickson, Nat Jobe, Ana Maria Belo, Jordan Hare, Bella Thomas, Anthony Abrakmanov and Samson Hyland.
Following a rapturous response to this reading it continued to be refined and developed.
In 2019, ten days before the show came out they did their last presentation, since then theyâve been to London and shown a videotape of that workshop to Neil and Rob which was âa pretty heartstopping experienceâ but both Neil and Rob were âso lovely and very generous with their timeâ and they were showing it to them and in the intermission Neil said âI wish Terry could have seen this.â (see here :))
Differences between the musical and the book
The ending of the musical is a bit different, they were worried about it but Neil said, âI totally understand, the ending of the TV series is different, because I had something that was book-shaped and I needed to make it TV-shaped. And you had something that was book-shaped and you needed to make it stage-shaped.â
It opens with the burning of Agnes Nutter and Aziraphale and Crowley are introduced there.Â
Act One ends with them âessentially breaking upâ because of a huge argument and they dissolve their friendship, Act Two starts with the first time they meet.
What is the future for the musical: in 2021 they said that they need to work on some things and then they hope to do another run, initially in Australia.
There will be a CD of the soundtrack available when the show is produced in itâs full version.
Vicki, Jim and Jay talking 46min about the musical (this video was shown at the Ineffable Con 3 in 2021 :))
Anathema singing The Perfect Place
Crowley calling Dagon to check on the hellhound
Aziraphale vanishing Hastur đ
Instagram - a lot of more bts videos and pics :)
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