The story of a soldier in Australia is the subject of a musical theater song that earned two local students national attention this August.
A songwriting duo who recently graduated from Centennial High School in Franklin are the regional winners of the National Endowment for the Arts Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge. Makai Keur and Julian Watson are one of six regional winners selected to workshop their song with two New York City Theater artists, and become part of the program’s cast album, set to release in October.
Keur and Watson wrote Charles’s Song, which centers on Charles Williams, a soldier fighting in the Great Emu War of 1932 in Australia. As he is living with post-traumatic stress disorder from World War I, Charles has just found out that Mavis–the woman he loves–has been with his commanding officer and “brother in arms” Major GPW Meredith. The song that begins on a reflective note quickly turns to passion for his beloved then shifts to darker thoughts of revenge. While Charles is the antagonist of the show, Keur and Watson said this song is meant to set his story in a more sympathetic light.
Also this summer two Nashville students were nominees in the National High School Musical Theater Awards, also known as the Jimmy Awards. Lilla Galgoczy-Toler, a student at Nashville School of the Arts, and had played the role of Hope Cladwell in the school’s production of Urinetown. Trenton McCrary, from John Overton Comprehensive High School, was nominated for his performance as Clyde in Bonnie and Clyde. Galcoczy-Toler and McCrary had previously been recognized by Nashville’s Spotlight Awards, held at Lipscomb University in May.