THE PRINCESS MUSICAL
(working title)
Book, Music and Lyrics by PAUL BODDEN

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Taking place mostly in NYC, this musical toggles between fantasy and magical but nitty-gritty realism with the use of live actors and puppets.

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The Three Graces tell us they have a fairy tale to spin, a fairy tale “in every sense of the word.” We see Karl Dennison in 1982 who is under a spell. We then see him in 1971 telling his mother that he has slept with a man. She refers him to her therapist aka the Head Shrink from Hell, played by a large puppet.

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Then, it’s 1962 and we meet Karlie, a highly imaginative 11-year old boy living in the Projects by the East River on Avenue D, who imagines he’s a beautiful princess. The Princess (portrayed and sung by a countertenor in drag) suddenly appears in Karlie’s everyday life. He is making a marionette and the Princess strongly urges him to use it to play the princess in a Sleeping Beauty puppet show that she wants him to write.

Meanwhile, in the tough macho culture of the Lower East Side, Karlie is constantly bullied. In the end, he decides to destroy both the inner and outer manifestations of his Princess persona and he sings about the Power Plant (audio track below) that dominates the neighborhood. 

 
In 1971, Karl is going through conversion therapy with the Shrink. He marries a woman and gives up his dreams of being a puppeteer. 10 years later, he has gotten a divorce and is deeply depressed and only wants to “Go to Sleep Forever.” The Graces and the Princess try to wake him up from the Terrible Spell. They must find a magic prince who will waken Karl with a kiss. With prodding from the Princess and support from the Three Graces, Karl meets his Prince who wakes him with a magical kiss.