Interview: Book writer Micha Mirto on new musical RAISING GAYS
During London Pride weekend, the first industry presentation of Raising Gays took place at the Garrick Theatre, introducing audiences to this exciting new British musical.
We caught up with book writer Micha Mirto to chat about the inspiration behind the show, its development, and what audiences can expect from this bold new piece of musical theatre.
Please can you tell us what your new musical Raising Gays is about?
Raising Gays is about the parents of Queer people. It's not about the homophobic villains, and it isn't about the liberal allies - it's everyone in the middle. It's the parents who are messing up - but trying anyway. More specifically, it's about sitting in the uncomfortable, allowing people to get it wrong, and genuinely trying to listen.
Where did your inspiration for the musical come from?
Our own parents, who took a while to come around but absolutely have. The book is a complex mosaic of conversations I've actually had in my life (like a conversation with my auntie where she literally said “please don't stop coming home”), conversations I've overheard - the tube is great for this, as is a small town church cafe; the responses we got when we interviewed parents of queer people in preparation for this project. The final colour in the book is the things I wish more people could hear or things that I wish more people had the opportunity to ask. The final scene is the scene I needed. It exists because I needed to see a group of parents going hard for their kids and I needed Marcie's unabashed pride - and I don't think I'm alone in that.
What does your collaboration look like in order to make sure the book, music and lyrics all work together?
Jord [Jordan Paul Clarke - composer & lyricist] and I have no fixed way of collaboration - and we've worked in all sorts of different ways since the start of this process. There are things we always do together; like beating out structure and combing through notes, but there are also parts that we do separately. I always write the book separately - so I can bring offers back to Jord. Jord tends to write the music and the lyrics by himself once we know what beat the song is serving, although we might chat through offers during this process.
One of my favourite parts of the writing process is when I overwrite a scene and Jordan absorbs the bits that sing to him into a song - for example, Steph had several monologues about meeting Rhiannon and they were all absorbed into Steph’s gorgeous solo. We then cut the monologues because we never want to repeat beats.
You've just presented the musical with an all star cast to a public audience. How did audiences receive the show?
Oh my gosh, so well. The room was so onboard from the very begining. They fell in love with the characters as hard as we did - and they've offered some really useful feedback. We know this is an early draft of the show, and we're so excited to start working all of the discoveries that we made whilst in front of the Garrick theatre audience. The team on that sharing were a dream come true, both cast and crew, and so many of the audience have gotten in touch to tell us their stories.
What will your creative process look like to develop the show further now that you've had initial audience feedback?
So Suz [Suzanna Rosenthal - Producer], Jord and myself with go through the feedback with a fine tooth comb and, of course, we also have notes ourselves. Nothing will show you your work like a full house. We will then move into a two week workshop to pressure test the material and start playing with design and movement.
What are your hopes for the musical going forward?
I want it to reach as many people as humanly possible. That being said - having our rehearsed reading in the Garrick was already a dream come true. So I suppose I want it to keep growing, keep developing, I'd love it to tour - the UK and elsewhere, and then end up in London's West End.
When it's increasingly difficult to get new work staged, what advice would you give to people who want to write musicals?
Oof. Honestly - I'm not sure. I am certainly no kind of authority on the creation of musicals. Although, if I had to pick one piece of advice, I think it would be to try and really love what you're making - and not like fun summer fling love, I mean 65+ years married type love. Because that's approximately how long it takes to get a musical on - kidding! But the point remains, musicals are a long haul, and it's a brilliant adventure - I have LOVED writing Raising Gays, but this kind of project is going to be in your life for a very, very long time, so make sure it's a world that you want to spend a lot of time in.