PROJECT BRINGS ARTISTS HOME
RICHARD ALLEN, TARAN GRAY RETURN TO SAN DIEGO TO RECORD THE SOUNDTRACK TO THEIR MUSICAL ‘FREEDOM RIDERS’
Richard Allen and Taran Gray grew up in San Diego and met in their teens at Lamb’s Players Theatre before moving to Los Angeles many years ago. But when it came time for the theater collaborators to record the just-released soundtrack for their debut project “Freedom Riders: The Civil Rights Musical,” they came home.
All of the music was recorded at Studio West in Rancho Bernardo, and all of the musicians, as well as half of the singers, are from San Diego. The 18-track digital album was released Nov. 19 by Broadway Records.
“As a performer, I’ve made some solid friendships from shows in San Diego,” Allen said. “We use many of those folks to this day, and some ended up on the album. We recorded in San Diego because ultimately it’s our home.”
The musical is based on the true stories of collegeage activists who challenge the legality and optics of the Jim Crow laws in 1961 by riding buses in integrated groups through the South to initiate social change. The musical had its first staged reading at the New York Musical Festival in 2016 and won the fest’s Beta Award. It returned there as a full musical in 2017, where civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis sat in the audience and later described the the show as “extremely accurate.” Lewis died last year at age 80.
Allen and Gray, who produce under the business partnership Allen & Gray Musicals, talked about “Freedom Riders” in a recent joint interview via email.
Q:
What is your local
theater background?
Gray: My father, Nathan Peirson, has been on staff as a creative at Lamb’s Players
Theatre since before I was born. I remember sitting on his lap at rehearsals back when the theater was in National City. And when I came of age — I’m 35 now — I started working for the theater in Coronado. I was born in North Park and then, in fourth grade, moved to Chula Vista, where I lived until my adult life. Both Richard and I became roommates in San Diego, and then both of us, including one other close friend, all moved to L.A. together about eight years ago. Allen: I grew up in Spring Valley and grew up doing theater at Monte Vista High School and with Christian Community Theater. I also did shows at Starlight. We now live in Burbank, although we come down to San Diego every other week for family.
Q:
What inspired “Freedom Riders”? Allen: While talking with my good friend Jeremy, he told me about the freedom rides, and I decided that’s what I wanted to tackle. I think I saw that it was a very musical subject and a very inspiring story. The songs were meant to act like the freedom songs did. They were meant to capture
the emotion at the time and be inspiration to move forward.
Gray: This story is about a shared moment in American history among all races and religions. It took the effort of Black, White, Asian, Latino, Jewish, Christian (the list goes on) individuals to come together and create this change in 1961. We don’t collectively have many stories in our history like that. So the importance of this, in our current climate where tribalism continues to rise, is extremely precious and important.
Q:
Besides “Freedom
Riders,” do you have
any other musical projects?
Allen: Currently, there’s “Freedom Riders,” “Bayard” (civil rights organizer Bayard Rustin), “Walt and Roy” (musical about the Disney brothers), “Legendary” (an original rock musical) and “The
Frog Princess.”
Q:What has happened with “Freedom Riders” since the 2017 New York Musical Festival? Gray: In 2018, we announced a concert version of the musical, which we have since performed in San Diego, Temecula, Los Angeles, Midtown Manhattan, Harlem and Alabama. During COVID, we presented the entire show digitally as a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Broadway for Racial Justice. Now we have the world-premiere recording.
Q:
Did the 2020 Black
Lives Matter and civil rights protests nationwide bring new energy to your project?
Gray: Black Lives Matter was actually gaining momentum at the same time we were writing the musical back in 2015. It’s sad to think that this story wouldn’t have steam behind it without the changes we’ve seen since then, but I do think we’ve been part of an awakening in the greater America’s willingness to learn this part of their history.
Q:
Do you hope to see
“Freedom Riders produced in San Diego someday?
Gray: It would be wonderful to present this musical in San Diego before looking at a Broadway run.
Allen: I would die to see “Freedom Riders” play in at the Old Globe or La Jolla Playhouse. Teenage Ricky would geek for sure. I’d like people to know we are just getting started.