'Halley's Comet' musical flying into Little Theatre of Fall River

FALL RIVER — It’s nearly 40 years early, but Halley’s Comet is returning to the city.

Ok, so it’s not the actual comet, but “Halley’s Comet, A New Musical.”

Presented by the Little Theatre of Fall River, the musical does center around the famed comet, and the last time it appeared in our skies: 1986.

It’s been a labor of love for nearly 10 years for Eli Bigelow (composer, lyricist), Michael C. O’Malley (lyricist), and Cam Torres (book writer).

The show begins with Halley’s Comet about to pass over the town of Huntersville.

“The town has pulled out all the stops for this spectacular wonder,” Torres told The Herald News. “As the town prepares, a young girl spends her night reuniting her parents, a teen scrambles to keep friendships intact, and an elderly couple gets lost in their past. Through the mysticism of the comet, the park, and the night itself, moments from the past meet the present and guide the town towards the future, as they embark on a night that is truly once in a lifetime.”

They were inspired by musicals like “Into the Woods” and “Sunday in the Park With George,” TV shows like “Boy Meets World” and “Parenthood,” and movies like “Love Actually” and the works of John Hughes.

“I feel if you were to put all of those musicals, tv shows, and movies into a blender you’d get our show,” Torres said.

Bigelow is a songwriter, music director, accompanist, arranger, pit musician, voice and piano teacher. He has a BA in theater education and has been performing and music directing professionally for the past 14 years. He’s been the head of the Music and Voice program at the Capachione School of Performing Arts in Bridgewater for the last 9 years.

O’Malley graduated from Middlesex Community College and Bridgewater State University, and “set out to write a show years (won’t say how many) ago with my two buddies from college.” His inspirations are Sondheim, Ashman, Ahrens, Yeston, Kleban, and Miranda, among others.

Torres is an actor and playwright based in Boston. He graduated from Emerson College with a degree in theatre arts. As a writer, he has written for 2nd Act, providing scenes and shorts plays surrounding substance use disorder. In 2018, his solo performance piece, “don't feed the bear,” received a workshop with Brown Box Theatre Project. In 2019, Brown Box produced “don't feed the bear,” which toured Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maryland.

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For the trio’s musical, “Halley’s Comet,” it all began “way back in 2013”:

“Mike and Eli approached me with an idea for a musical and at the time all they had was the idea about a town witnessing Halley’s Comet and the beginning lyrics to a song: ‘Some things happen once in a lifetime.’ These lyrics became the first theme of the show and very quickly we worked on building various stories that centered around characters experiencing this once in a lifetime event,” Torres said.

Since then, the show has gone through many different iterations, whittling down the number of characters, changing their arcs, and rewriting much of the music.

“I think since we began this process nearly 10 years ago, it is a clear indicator that we truly love working together,” Torres said.

Although it’s been a passion project, they have experienced doubts and low points over the years.

After some tough-to-hear feedback in 2015, they shelved the project for a time.

“We had to start over. Particularly for myself and Eli it felt impossible and thus the project was shelved,” Torres said. “However, every so often we’d have Mike whispering in our ears, pushing us to continue, never losing faith in the project. It wasn’t until the 2020 shutdown that the three of us came back to the show in earnest and we’ve been working on it consistently ever since.”

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They’ve done four informal readings of their show over the years, and in the past two years have done more major overhauling. They’re also nearly done with Act 2.

Now they’re taking the next step: a formal reading where audiences come to hear the script read and the songs sung.

While Halley’s Comet itself is visible to the naked eye, this “Halley’s Comet” is a little tougher to see at the moment as staged readings for this weekend at Little Theatre's Firebarn were sold out. They're hoping to add another performance this summer.

Taunton Daily Gazette/Herald News copy editor and digital producer Kristina Fontes can be reached at kfontes@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News and Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Halley’s Comet, A New Musical is ready for the stage