WISH-LIST WEDNESDAY: Violet

Music: Jeanine Tesori, Book/lyrics: Brian Crawley

Artwork for the 2014 broadway revival of Violet

In the eyes of many who know of her, Jeanine Tesori is a severely underrated and under-appreciated musical theatre composer, this in spite of hits like Tony winning best musicals Thoroughly Modern Millie, Kimberly Akimbo, and Pulitzer Prize winning musical Fun Home. Though much less known than her other works, Tesori's first published musical work "Violet", in collaboration with Brian Crawley, still has plenty to love about it, as not only did its original off-broadway production earn 7 Drama Desk nominations and a Lucille Lortel award for outstanding musical, it has also been revived on broadway, in a production starring Sutton Foster and Joshua Henry that transferred from NYCC Encores!.

Violet is based on the 1969 novel "The Ugliest Pilgrim" by Doris Betts, and tells the story of titular Violet Karl, a woman with a physical disfigurement, who embarks on a journey by bus from Spruce Pine, North Carolina, over 900 miles to Tulsa, Oklahoma in order to find a cure for her affliction. Its critical response over the years has been mostly positive, and its broadway revival in 2014 received four Tony nominations, including for best musical revival.

Matthew Harvey and Kaisa Hammarlund in Violet at the Charing Cross Theatre

The show has been seen in the UK, opening at the Charing Cross Theatre off-west end in January 2019, and running for 12 weeks before closing on the 6th of April. Could it be seen again in this country? Its rights have been released, so there's no reason why we couldn't see the show return in some capacity, whether it be professional, fringe, amateur, there is surely an audience for this emotionally mature and complex piece of theatre.