‘The Lottery’ short story inspires teacher’s musical
Beverly man uses pandemic to live his dream to create production
When Beverly’s Terence Morrow wrapped up another year as a Chicago Public schoolteacher in 2020, faced with the uncertainty of the pandemic summer ahead of him, he walked into a Walgreens and bought a spiral notebook. He told his wife and their twins he was going to start writing.
Morrow had his heart set on fulfilling a dream to write a musical. He started digging through some of his favorite stories from mythology to modern literature for something he might adapt.
“I kept going back to this short story ‘The Lottery’ that was written by Shirley Jackson,”
Morrow said. “It’s just a really haunted and creepy tale about conformity and blind adherence. It really resonated with me.”
Morrow was not sure “The Lottery,” in all of its darkness, lent itself to becoming a musical. But he read it again, twice in one day.
“The primal nature of the townspeople, it’s almost tribal in a way,” Morrow said. “I was immediately picturing big drums and almost a chant-like melody that they all just sing in perfect time despite their lack of identity, despite their place in society. To
me, that blind conformity and almost dystopian vibe that comes from the original was
like, ‘We could do something with this.’ That was how it all started.”
The melodies came to him first. When he had enough, he started writing an outline. A lot like in English classes, he broke down parts, acts and themes. All of it went into that spiral notebook.
“As long as I’ve been alive, I’ve had notebooks,” Morrow said. “There’s something about a fresh notebook and a fresh pen.”
His notebook is now filled with words, arrows, circles, squares and things crossed out and highlighted.
Morrow continued to record music with scratch vocals, substituting lyrics and text when he found combinations he liked. He played all of the instruments on the
demo, from keys to synth to drums, though he planned to replace much of it with the work of more proficient musicians. Sometimes he would hit play on an audio recording, flip open the notebook and find something that matched perfectly.
“Those are great moments,” he said.
What came of that creative process was “Ritual The Musical.” Morrow finished writing the music and lyrics roughly one year after he started, describing it as a rock opera with a bit of punk, country, groove and electronic. It tells the tale of a conformity driven farm town driven by superstition, sexism and tradition. As the town celebrates its annual lottery ritual, Tessie Hutchinson and her daughter Nancy make a discovery.
Morrow was facing his own form of darkness while working on “Ritual.” Unable to see people and working remote, writing a musical provided both an outlet for his creativity and a way to collaborate virtually.
“I don’t think it’s dramatic to say that it saved me, because it gave me a place to put that energy,” Morrow said. “It literally got me through the pandemic.”
“Ritual” is to be staged Feb. 18 and 19, on the second floor of Reggies, 2105 S. State St. in Chicago. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8:30 p.m. both evenings. Tickets are $10 online, $15 day of show.
Fulfilling a fantasy
Morrow, 38, said as a child he was surrounded by musicals. His sister had a “Miss Saigon” poster in her room and his parents would play Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Raised Catholic, Morrow was particularly drawn to the latter.
“I just thought it was so cool and blasphemous,” Morrow said. “It was just gripping.”
But it was a fourth grade trip to see “Les Misérables” that hooked him.
“It was a big deal to me, just the fact that a bunch of people get together and sing and dance and tell a story,” Morrow said. “It was a moment where I enjoyed going to school that day. I didn’t know what the heck I was getting into. ‘Les Miz’ as an adult has shaped me in a lot of ways.”
He later fell in love with “Rent” and has found a spark in the creativity of modern musicals.
“It just feels like a great time for musical theater,” Morrow said. “I’ve fallen in love with shows in the past decade that are just next level and really played a part in inspiring me to try to create my own.”
Morrow has played in Chicago area punk bands, gives guitar lessons and, for Back of the Yards College Preparatory High School, teaches choir and electronic music.
At first, adapting “The Lottery” seemed almost impossible. The end devastated him, too. But Morrow has twin 7-year-olds, and parenthood gave him an idea: He could simply change the ending to be more hopeful.
He spun the 12-year-old Nancy into a voice of hope — the one who could get away from this town. That shift in tone allowed Morrow to get a little more creative in his songwriting, too. In addition to the dark and tribal songs, he found “barn-burning show tunes” in a child’s hope.
“I wanted her to have a fantasy life in her head,” Morrow said. “The only way I was going to get up-tempo, major-key songs is if it was pretend, because the whole show is rooted in darkness really, and hopelessness.”
Giving it new life
Morrow talked through ideas with his wife, Amy. He wanted his children to see him working through a creative process. But for a time, it was mostly a solo project.
“I liked the idea of having no one’s input and just being able to spill it and vomit whatever it was and to work through it and revise without any pressure or feeling like I let someone down or disagreed with someone,” he said.
But he knew a musical would require bringing in more creative people. He asked Erica Marfo, a 23-year-old Chicago singer and actress who once sat in Morrow’s music class, to record a song called “Nowheretown” for the lead character of Tessie Hutchinson. Marfo did not hesitate.
“He’s actually the person who inspired me to pursue music,” Marfo said. “I loved the music he was writing for the musical, and I was so excited he asked me to be the lead.”
Marfo said her musical background is classical, but she loves singing a variety of styles. So, she tried to put her own flair on things.
“I just tried to incorporate all the things I love,” Marfo said. “It was fun to just play around with different tones and styles. There’s definitely different aspects of my voice being shown in the musical.”
Morrow said he encouraged all the performers to do their thing. He said they surprised him and made it a better musical.
“It’s more exciting than anything,” Morrow said. “What happens very often is talented folks put their stamp on it and they give it this whole new life.”
Saying something
Marfo said she read “The Lottery” in school and thought it was an interesting choice. She also saw its power to make people question conformance to society’s standards.
“It really calls to mind people not saying anything and speaking up to outrageous things that happen in society,” she said. “You can really make change if you want it. I think that’s the most beautiful thing about this musical.”
The villagers in “Ritual” never question the state of their town, where the power dynamic heavily favors the men. They don’t stray from their day-to-day lives. They are complacent.
“There’s a pain that comes with standing up for your convictions,” Morrow said.
While modern times in this country may not be as brutal as the situation in the story, divisions have been inflamed in recent years over racial inequity, masks, vaccines or the pandemic in general, Morrow said.
“I think a lot of our history is based on archaic rituals, and people will do insane things to defend them,” he said. “Many of us are realizing the status quo is not a great fit for us as a society, and more and more people are being held accountable, but more and more people are getting defensive.”
Historically, those who have stood up against the status quo are seen as blasphemers and rebels, Morrow said.
He said he is inspired by students of his who are activists.
As a parent who likes to immerse his children in what is happening in the world, Morrow said it was important to involve his twins in the process. They would ask to hear new songs, and it opened them up to a different medium.
“They’ve fallen in love with more musicals and just theater in general,” he said.
Amy Morrow also sang on two important parts. And many crucial storytelling ideas were hers, Morrow said.
“We tackle everything together, and this has been no different,” he said.
Now it is time to see his dream materialize on the stage.
“Where it stands right now, I’m very happy with it,” he said.