First Staged Reading for "A Crack in the Egg," A New Rock Musical by UB Students

“A Crack in the Egg” is a new rock musical written by senior UB Music Theatre major Jeremy Ephraim Meyers, with alumna John DellaContrada (‘24 Theatre BFA). Its official premiere won’t be until February 2025 as part of the 2024-2025 Theatre and Dance (THD) production season, but this Sunday, September 15, 2024 audiences can preview the show as a work-in-progress / staged reading at UB Katharine Cornell Theatre on North Campus beginning at 8pm.

This “Lab Series” presentation is open to the public without an advance ticket. All three acts of the show will be presented, featuring five THD student cast members: Ryan Butler, Alex Louis, Allie NeGron, Abby Tyler, and Julia Witt, stage manager Juno Hunter, along with guitarist Jack Chadwick providing accompaniment.

Inspired by the short story “The Egg” by Andy Weir, first published in 2009, Meyers and DellaContrada’s new work is difficult to discuss without spoiling key aspects of the plot. Meyers’ promotional summary describes it as follows: “God decides humanity is going to end. Ian Voe Meyer, a recently deceased heart surgeon, must be the one to pull the plug. Ian will be the last soul to exist in the cycle of human reincarnation, leaving the rest of the world to fade away. To demonstrate the ugliness of humanity to Ian, God takes him through his chaotic home life, and across time and space into past lives. Will Ian challenge God’s decision or will he be the final casualty in the long line of human rebirth?”

Meyers first read “The Egg” when he was about 15 years old, and it made a strong impression. “A few summers ago, I was traveling home to New York City after my freshman year at UB. I was in Penn Station and looking around and thought, ‘Wow, there are all these humans around me and they all have their individual stories, but they’re all connected to me in some way. They all have wants and desires just as important as mine,’” he said.

“I just felt like there’s something (metaphysically) bigger at play that explains this all, this phenomenon. And then I recalled Weir’s story and thought, this is a way of interpreting that feeling, and I can translate it into a full show.”

Aspects of “A Crack in the Egg” relate to what some have described as a growing loneliness epidemic in America and the world in the wake of COVID-19, historical social and political disruption, and the increasing influence by, and reliance upon, powerful evolving technology. “We create our own worlds in these (technological) devices (and social media platforms) and we’re trying our best to almost escape the (real) world we live in by placing that loneliness in something that’s not real,” Meyers said. “We’re all feeling the pain, hurt and suffering of the world and we do whatever we can to try to place that somewhere else, but what that does is distract us from real human connection.

“I’ve always been interested in science-fiction. (The show) is a way to decrypt and understand how humans are connected and what makes us human in the first place, which is exactly what I think theater is meant to do and how we can love and hate each other and live through our pain and survive in a world where it becomes more about who we love than who we hate.”

In addition to the character of Ian, we meet other family members, including Ian’s wife, son, and daughter. There’s also a time-travel element. “It’s a Christmas Carol-type structure in a sense, but it plays with time and how each scene is important to informing God’s actions and connecting it to Ian’s lives and past lives,” Meyers said.

“John and I have been working with the cast a while and written multiple versions of the show. Many, many drafts. I never want to say it’s complete, but it’s very well progressed for the Sunday reading. Our approximate run time is two and a half hours. It’s a full musical. Part of the read (on Sunday) is to work on the logistical stuff. We have one guitarist (as accompanist), Jack Chadwick, also a UB student, from the Buffalo rock group Prairie Pavement.”

The debut of the full version in February 2025 will be more dynamic. “It’s a rock musical, so we want to harness that energy,” Meyers said. “Prairie Pavement has two guitarists, a drummer and a bassist. It’s a classic four-piece rock band without keyboards.” The cast members will sing all the songs.

“I grew up singing and loving music,” Meyers added. “I’ve taken music theory classes and have taught myself to play a few instruments. A lot of my knowledge comes from running the Buffalo Chips, UB’s male a cappella vocal ensemble. In that group we’re self-arranged, and now I’m leaving college having arranged a lot of songs for the Chips. I learned a lot about vocal arrangement specifically, but also the structure of how chords and songs work and the movement through that process.

“In working with John, he’s a very experienced and knowledgeable musical talent with a deep understanding of rock specifically. He has a deep understanding of music theory as well. In that sense we’re a very good duo when it comes to writing music, because he came with a lot of technical and historical knowledge of how music has developed through time as we explore this fresh-faced sound. It's been a very collaborative process.

“There are currently 11 songs in the show, with one reprise. A lot of them are long. There’s a 10-minute song, plus ones that are 8 and 7 minutes in length. Part of that is because we’re using songs to drive the storytelling to take the audience through different moments to get them where they need to be. The second reason is because the character Ian has past lives (which are featured in the show) and we needed a way to express what they were like in song form, but which were short enough not to have to write a separate show.

“The show is based in rock music, which is an ambiguous term, but we wanted to make sure we had different voices and styles represented, not only for entertainment but for storytelling. The show opens with a funkier, upbeat kind of song. We also have a hard rock song like AC-DC, and we have a Disney villain style song too. We’re harnessing a lot of different genres, but it feels connected and grounded in the world and the tone.”

What are Meyers’ hopes beyond the weekend reading and February 2025 debut? “I have very big ambitions and aspirations. I intend to write more in the future and have other shows, but I really believe in this project. I think it can go somewhere. John and I both think that. I can’t predict what’s going to happen but I definitely want to invite everyone I can and sell out KCT (Katharine Cornell Theatre) both nights!

"I hope that local Buffalo (professional) theaters like Alleyway, which produces new works, will see what we’re doing and give us their thoughts, or perhaps put it up somewhere in Buffalo. The intention is to get it professionally produced after college, anywhere.

“I’m originally from Queens. John is from Buffalo. I’ve been in some beginning talks to have the show workshopped in the city (New York) and I also have connections to Chicago. It really is dependent on who’s interested.”

Meyers is also emphatic about letting audiences know that the show is entertaining too. “I know I’ve talked about all of these philosophical ideas about humanity, and that is the show, but what’s also great about it is that it’s palatable for all audiences. You can see the deeper messages (if you choose), but it’s also just a rock musical and you can have fun and enjoy it that way, plus its dramatic moments.

“I’ve never been more passionate about anything in my life than I am about this. The words I’m saying now don’t even express how excited I am to see it come to fruition.”

“A Crack in the Egg” (A New Rock Musical)
Book by Jeremy Meyers
Music, Lyrics, and Vocal Arrangements by Jeremy Meyers and John DellaContrada
Instrumental Compositions by Prairie Pavement (Jack Chadwick, Sal Constantin, Dylan Lumb, and Owen Shotwell)
Inspired by “The Egg” by Andy Weir
Directed by Jeremy Meyers as part of our Student Directed Series
Feb. 7 - 8, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
UB Katharine Cornell Theatre
Tickets: https://www.ticketmaster.com/search?q=katharine%20cornell%20theatre%20crack%20in%20the%20egg