The 1994 short Trevor already has an impressive legacy. It was one of the first films centred on a gay character to win an Oscar (picking up Best Live Action Short Film), and also inspired the creation of The Trevor Project, The US’ leading crisis and suicide prevention organisation for young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) people.
Now it’s in the process of finding a new life as a stage musical.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the musical premiered last Wednesday at the Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois. It’s the first of the tryouts for what they hope will eventually lead to a Broadway run.
The original Trevor followed a middle school boy, living in the Bible Belt of the US in the 1970s. While he’s interested in the typical teen pursuits he also realises that he’s gay, which leads him to being ostracised to the point where he thinks the only solution is to kill himself. Despite the somewhat dark themes, it’s a surprisingly entertaining short, but with a very serious point to make.
Trevor actually started out as a solo piece by actor James Lecesne, who then wrote the script for the short film and is now one of the creators behind the musical. He has worked with the U Rock Theatricals production company, and most particularly John Abrosino to take the story of 13-year-old Trevor to the stage, and expand it from a 12-minute monologue and short film into a fully fledged musical production. They also got Marc Bruni, who directed the hit Beautiful: The Carole King Musical to helm the stage production, with book and lyrics by Dan Collins, and music by Julianne Wick Davis (Southern Comfort, When We Met).
You can read the full story of how Trevor got to the stage over at the Chicago Tribune (it’s well worth a look). And you can take a look at the opening number from the show below.
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