Nick has just returned to New York from Sacramento where he was the Musical Director/Sound designer for the Sacramento Theatre Company’s production of Dirty Blonde, Claudia Shear’s homage to Mae West.

Nick’s newest show, “Happily Ever After, After All”, will open on November 6, 2004 in Los Angeles. A “fractured fairy tale”, written for the 75th anniversary of the 9 O”Clock players, it will run through December and be presented again on the NOP spring season for two months in March and April of 2005. Angela Lansbury has recorded the opening voice-over. Nick wrote the music and lyrics and Emmy-nominated Scott Guy wrote the book.

The following is an interview with Nick by NoHoLa, a weekly newspaper:

Noho: What is the storyline in a nutshell of “Happily Ever After…”?

Nick: The classic fairy tale bad guys get fed up with always losing, so the Big Bad Wolf steals Mother Goose’s Big Book of Stories and rewrites all the endings so the bad guys win. We follow the good guys journey to recover the book, while seeing another, not-so-pretty side of our favorite characters and some unlikely heroes emerge.

Noho: Is it a spoof?

Nick: Not really. It’s more of a Fractured Fairy Tale; kind of like the ones in between episodes of The Rocky and Bullwinkle show. (Who gets top billing anyway? Rocky did at first, but in later seasons Bullwinkle took over. Better agent, I guess.)

Noho: What became your musical goals?

Nick: Of course, to amplify the story in a fun and entertaining way, but also to write music and lyrics which are easily accessible to kids and yet maintain some depth and artistic interest.

Noho: Do we hear some unique songs unlike other fairy-tale shows?

Nick: I’d like to think so.

Noho: Is there a variety of musical offerings?

Nick: Yes, which is difficult to accomplish while maintaining a consistent musical palette. I dislike scores where the songs sound like they come from different shows. I’ve tried to vary the styles a lot and yet keep some relationship between the songs.

Noho: How do you like writing music for childrens’ theatre?

Nick: This is actually the first theatre piece I’ve written for children; I love it. I first worked for the 9 O”Clock players as a musical director 5 years ago. I originally took it as a job, but after the first time I saw the faces of the kids in the front row light up (particularly the wheel chair bound) I was hooked for life.

Noho: Does it present more challenges than your standard musical shows?

Nick: Not really, just different challenges. I think the easiest trap to fall into is speaking down to the kids. Many writers underestimate the level of sophistication a child can understand. I guess the biggest difference, though, is you can’t use any dirty words.

Noho: How do you feel about ‘music’ in today’s market?

Nick: There’s some great stuff going on, but there’s also quite a bit of what I like to call LCD music (least common denominator). Unfortunately, I think people are losing any objective basis for deciding what to listen to and are relying more than ever on what they hear over and over again. The classic error of mistaking familiarity for quality. We need to keep educating the kids.

Noho: Should we expect any reversion to the pop genre or will it continue in the style of ‘rap’ ‘hiphop’ and so forth?

Nick: I think we’re going to get whatever the record companies and radio stations think is going to bring in the dollars, at least in the mainstream (including Broadway). The good news is: human nature is such that some people will still be driven to write work of value. We need to seek them out and nurture them.

Noho: What is your favorite musical of all time?

Nick: Either Happily Ever After After All or Sherlock Holmes.

Noho: Why?

Nick: I wrote both of them. Just kidding. That’s a tough question because it changes. Some recent members of the list include: Sweeney Todd (The Wolf’s second act song is an homage, you know.) and 1776, quite possibly the best book to a musical ever written.

Noho: What is the favorite project that you have worked on?

Nick: This interview.

Noho: Why?

Nick: Because it’s about me, me me!!! Actually, this 9 O’Clock Player show is way up there. It was really a lot of fun from start to finish; I love working with Scott Guy. Our creative team, including Nick DeGruccio and Dean Mora is a dream, and Tricia Shaetzle and all the ladies at NOP are just a real joy to work with. They gave us enormous artistic freedom and great support throughout. Every city should be so fortunate as to have a group like this in their town.”

The LA Times will also be running a rather extensive article and a gala opening night party that should attract quite a bit of social attention as well.

In other news, Nick and Scott Guy’s Sherlock Holmes received a table reading at Musical Theater West in October, and was so well received that a staged reading has been requested by their play-reading committee. The next step, would be a fully-staged production.

And finally, Pinocchio, Nick and Scott’s first collaboration, is in the early stages of a co-production between the Hartt School of Music and a Connecticut puppet theater. A combination of live actors, puppets and marionettes will tell the story in a Commedia style. The work goes back to Collodi’s original, restoring the darkness and depth the author intended in this very adult fairy tale. A tentative date is set for early 2006.