The Logline

While HERCULES is brewing for 2027-2028, meet project number five for 2026-2027!

For fans of Hadestown, Epic! The Musical, and the like of small-starting, mythology based stories, I present my WIP musical, A Church in New York (title pending).

Similar to the talented Jorge Rivera-Herrans, I decided this musical would be my college senior project and it has been nearly three years in the making. The story is a largely sung-through musical following the events leading up to a murder and the subsequent investigation, all from the perspective of the murderer. The musical features an estimated final count of 17-19 songs, including titles like “Welcome to the Seven Rings”, “Replaceable”, “The Rules of the Game”, and “The Deal.” The character list includes the seven deadly sins, an arrogant but chivalrous detective, and a main character who is in fact, the murderer.

We meet Naomi, a young woman on the brink of eighteen, who was stood up by her divorced father for her birthday dinner. The moment she turns eighteen, she is greeted by the Seven Deadly Sins, who have come to collect on a soul deal; the only problem being Naomi never made a soul deal and the sins can’t find the paperwork. As she strives to prove her innocence, she discovers the truth that her father sold her soul to save himself from being killed by an affair partner, and her desperate denial melts into rage as she seeks justice and to free her soul.

Now you may be wondering, this is called A Church in New York, so where’s the church. One of the key themes of this musical is accountability in the church. Not villanization of Christianity as a whole, but showing the wrong ways and the right ways a church and Christians are supposed to hold their own accountable. One of the main topics handled is adultery, and the abuse of the parent who was cheated on, acknowledging how “bro culture” and true “toxic masculinity” can seep into the church and handicap the tools available to hold the unrepentant cheater accountable and protect the person who was cheated on. In this particular presentation of the musical, the husband had the affair, but the same principles of accountability still hold true if the characters were the opposite sex. No matter which character had the affair, the church should protect the spouse who was cheated on.

But I digress. The story also has a theme of the consequences of toxic positivity and “pray about it” culture. By toxic positivity, I mean seeing the good in someone to avoid holding them accountable for their bad or encouraging forgiveness to avoid hard confrontation. Naomi experiences this when the pastor in her church is still painting her father as the victim and her mother as crazy. Also when her friend tries to distract her and avoid “wallowing in the past” although her father’s actions are still continuing in the present. For “pray about it” culture, in the church, it is far too common to say “I’ll pray for you” but not inconvenience yourself by offering time, help, or company. In some churches, you may say you’ll pray for somebody as a passive-aggressive form of pity while you gossip about their situation. Both of these are key aspects of the musical, and key reasons Naomi’s story plays out.

The story follows Naomi’s downward spiral because, surrounded by toxic positivity, victimization of the cheating parent, and gaslighting for being frustrated with her father’s manipulative parenting, she takes matters into her own hands. In this way, the musical also addresses the topic of “church hurt.” The only version of the church she knows is one that ignores her neglect and protects her father from blame. She no longer does the right thing by Christian standards, because people who do the wrong thing are protected by the same church that presents both good and faulty values. Her story is a tragedy in many ways and this dark comedy a la The Heathers (if it were pg-13) shows the frustration of someone with church hurt, while also showing the necessity for accountability for the individual’s actions in spite of church hurt.

Will this musical be popular? I couldn’t say. I don’t know if either the church community or the church hurt community will like it or if it’s too touchy of a subject. But as someone who is a part of both, I think this story acknowledges an important failing in the modern church, while also emphasizing the importance of holding yourself accountable in spite of the actions of others. Stay tuned for updates regarding some of the songs!

Thanks for reading!