WATERFORD based musician Jay Turner has wanted to write a hit musical for more than 30 years and has relished the chance to cross that goal off his bucket list.
The 68-year-old's musical, Billy Buckett - A Rock 'n' Roll Love Story will be performed over four shows at the Logan Entertainment Centre from May 16-19.
It was previously staged for two short seasons at The New Hereford Theatre in England in 1988 and 89 just after the singer/ songwriter completed it.
But while the talented musician had planned to further develop the show and sent the script to around a dozen UK publishers, he received only two replies which he described as "disheartening".
His music career took off and the script and music was put to the back burner as he spent 20 years on the international folk circuit, first as a solo performer and then performing as a duo with wife Cath Mundy.
In 2010, Jay and Cath found themselves looking at the script again and still found it to be funny and moving.
Cath- a theatre and music graduate from QUT, identified a number of plot holes and inconsistencies that would need to be worked on and Jay set about the process of reworking the script.
He said the process resulted in the deletion of some characters, writing of new scenes, addition of some new songs and re-working some existing ones, but he was now confident the script was better than it had ever been.
The script was accepted and offered a contract by Stagescripts UK, was premiered at the Creste Street Theatre in 2013 and went on to win five Gold Coast area theatre Awards.
The story itself is based around Jay's childhood upbringing in Essex.
'"It's based around some people I knew when I was growing up and my growing awareness of music as a kid," he explained.
"I used to live with my grandparents and my older cousins would come around to stay and bring their records."
"My cousin Gene taught me how to jive and by the time I was 6 or 7, I was a champion jiver."
Not just a story about family and music, the plot also contains a strong romantic element and addresses some themes which highlight how the world has changed since the story's setting in the late 1950s.
"Some freedoms that we absolutely take for granted weren't available to children and to women of those times," he said.
"But there were also freedoms we did have that we no longer have today. Life is much more dangerous," he said.
