Track 1
Every Piece In Its Place
from "Edward and the Ruy Lopez Opening" (1986)
Originally sung by the cast

"Edward..." was a musical written for the 6th grade in 1985. It is the story of a group of boys who are learning chess from an older man (Edward.) This is the song he taught them to remember where the pieces go.

Track 2
Stuarte's Marriage
from "A righteous and Perfect Man" (1984)
Originally sung by the cast

One of my favorite songs from my first musical, it tells of the marriage of the subject of the musical (Stuarte James) and Caroline. Originally in 5/4 time, it has been fitted into a jazz waltz feel.

Track 3
Jamal's Lullaby
from "On The Line" (1986)
"On The Line" dealt with the struggles of Jamal, a young man who escapes from the disappointments of his family by imagining himself as a basketball player with a chance to win a game with foul shots. This song speaks of the frustration he feels.
Originally sung by Donovan Hohn.

Track 4
Edward's Song
from "Edward and the Ruy Lopez Opening" (1986)
Originally sung by the cast

When their chess teacher, Edward, knows that he has them beat, he sings a song from the old country. In this version of the song, the boys know they will win today, and Edward will not sing the song anymore.

Track 5
Lullaby for Mother and Father
from "Eighth Grade Angst" (1995)
Originally sung by ?????

Dirk Tacke wrote a play about the feelings that 8th graders have as they await news of their high school applications. This lullaby is sung by one of the boys when he returns from a party to find his parents asleep on the couch.

Track 6
1440 Sunsets
from "Eyes of the Child" (1997)
Originally sung by Chris Drake

In 1993, Dirk Tacke and I staged a version of "The Little Prince." My favorite song was sung by the Lamplighter, played by Chris Drake. The Lamplighter's job of lighting and extinguishing street lamps has been getting more and more difficult because the planet is speeding up. He now must deal with 1440 sunsets in the span of what used to be a normal day.

Track 7
Fathers
from "Reunion" (1988)
Originally sung by the cast

This musical was set in the year 2018. The class of '88 has a reunion and bemoans the loss of institutions such as CSB. During the course of their remembrances the cast recalls their fathers. I wrote this song as a tribute to my own recently deceased father and fathers everywhere. Of all the songs I have written, this song has resonated with more people than any other.

Track 8
Next Time
from "Next Time" (1998, 2003)
Originally sung by Paul Fenstermaker and Matt Thier
Max Wolkin and Miguel Canteras

When I wrote "Next Time" I felt I had finally really written a musical. The story of a teenage boy and his mentor was something I felt connected with the 8th graders. This song is one of only a handful of duets I have ever written.

Track 9
Treasures
from "Ithaca Girl, the Myth-Adventures of Ulysses" (1998)
Originally sung by the cast

I was pleasantly surprised at how nicely this song has held up. The bizarre lyrics in the second verse are directly from a conversation I had with a 2nd grader.

Track 10
Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity
from "Crowding" (2002, 2005)
Originally sung by Emmett Stanton and Michael Kociolek

"Crowding" refers to a process of playwriting research that has the writer observing the drama in every day situations. Each of the side stories in "Crowding" came from something I overheard. EM is an actual condition.

Track 11
True
from "Dirty Boy" (2004)
Originally sung by Liam Whelan and Charlie Johnson

A simple story about honoring our true selves, "True" borrows from the words of William Shakespeare. Upon reflection, I am rather surprised how many songs I have written in waltz time.

Track 12
Willy Shakespeare was a Scottish Man
from "Dirty Boy" 2004
Originally sung by Nate Farber

The boys in the class of 2004 asked me if they could do accents in the musical. After initially rejecting the idea, I reconsidered and wrote the accents into the script, then developed the parts further. This resulted in three characters who honored three different cultures, British, Irish and Scottish. At one point they debate the true nationality of William Shakespeare. This is the third part of the song.