Tobin Mueller: Best of the CenterStage Years
Volume 1 and Volume 2
See also: Reviews
TOBIN MUELLER: Best of the CenterStage Years (1988-1992) is a compilation of Tobin Mueller's best songs written during the years he wrote for CenterStage Productions.
Volume One highlights Tobin Mueller’s earlier Children's Theatre educational musicals. Volume Two presents the later CenterStage years when he began writing literature-based musical dramas. The progression of complexity and theme also illustrates the maturing of the youth troupe as they grew. Three of his latter shows were adapted and expanded for Off-Broadway in the middle 90s. Several of those new songs are included in this compilation.
Mueller composed over 125 songs and nine plays for CenterStage. He also directed and toured each show. His involvement with UNEP and the World Youth Environmental Movement during that time culminated in his troupe being inducted into the Global 500 Roll of Honor in 1994. After transferring his energies to writing for Off-Broadway, his CenterStage musicals continued to tour under the direction of Lyn Miller until 1998. They continue to be performed by students in classroom and auditoriums world wide. (To Save the Planet alone has been performed over 600 times, on five continents, and was made into a film.)
Many of these recordings are performed by adults (CenterStage Players) with a children's chorus. Several others are performed by members the CenterStage Youth Touring Troupe themselves. A few tracks are composer demos not previously released ("Raggedy & Me", "One Voice", "Walls"). All are outtakes from Mueller's nine CenterStage plays and their derivatives: seven educational musicals, two musical dramas based on literature (the legend of Robin Hood and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein ), and two adaptations for Off-Broadway ("Freedom's First Light" and "Creature").
Featured singers: Janet Planet, Timothy Dorsey, Emily Rohm and composer Tobin Mueller. Janet Planet is a Grammy nominated jazz singer, Tim Dorsey is a jazz/pop writer-performer from Wisconsin, and Emily Rohm is a musical theatre professional from Chicago. Other featured singers include R&B singer Jessica Flood, progressive rocker Anton (Twon) Mueller, musical theatre performers Jim Hart and Rebecca Welhouse. Many additional performers from the CenterStage Theatre Troupe went on to careers in the performing arts, including Brianna Davis, Justin Leath, Stacy Funk, Holly Thomas, Kate Brehm, Lisa Jarret, Kathryn Purdy and more.
Janet Planet - Tim Dorsey - Emily Rohm
This album is remastered by Factory Underground Studio's Tom Stewart. Since these are theatrical performances, many of the original tracks included scenes, narration, etc. Whenever ppossible, the talking sections have been edited out. Links are provided to original project pages in case you are interested in listening to the complete soundtracks.
Every track is both streamable and downloadable (see MP3s below). To purchase, see the "available" list at the top of the page.
Originally written as the theme song for the international youth envoronmental organization C.A.R.E. , this song was adopted by the 1992 United Nations World Environmental Day celebration. It was featured in the June 5 1992 extravaganza put on by the U.N. in Washington D.C. Later, Mueller added it to To Save the Planet as an encore song. "We are the ones wioth the future in our hands." Features Emily Rohm, Jessica Flood, Kathryn Purdy, Brianna Davis, Chris Vanderlinden, Tobin Mueller.
Opening song for Mueller's first children's educational musical depicts the evolution of our solar system. Featured singer: Janet Planet. Backing singers: Tobin Mueller, Tim Dorsey, the CenterStage Children's Chorus. See: lyrics.
A moving duet homage to Earth by Janet Planet and Tobin Mueller. See: lyrics.
Janet Planet is featured in this cabaret style song to Pluto, written back when it was still our official 9th planet. See: lyrics.
A slightly abridged version of The Dinosaur March, the opening song from Mueller's kid friendly show about the evolution and extinction of the dinosuars. See: unabridged lyrics.
Tim Dorsey is featured as he introduces the lead character of the story: the ancient and wise Tuatara. See: lyrics.
Tyrannosaurus Rex boasts about surviving the comet cataclysm. But starvation is on the horizon as mass extinction unsues. Tuatara looks for a final hope in this climactic moment. Featured singers: Jim Hart, Janet Planet. See: lyrics.
Opening song of Mueller's award-winning envornmental musical. Performed by the CenterStage Youth Theatre Troupe. Written in 1989, this show toured the world, was performed on the floor of the United Nations, and remains as relevant as ever. Features Emily Rohm. See: lyrics.
As the ozone hole heals, this song becomes a song of hope, even though it was originally written as a warning. May each of the issues brought up in the show be as successfully dealt with as the years go by. Features Emily Rohm. See: lyrics.
An abridged version of the climactic song, when the Scientist's daughter Melanie begins her rebellion, taking matters into her own hands. Soon she will spirit away the world's children to a secret island, until the world realizes it is jeopardizing the future of humanity through inaction. This song takes place in Mexico City, one of the world's most congested, polluted cities (back in 1989, before the economic rise of Indian and China created far worse problems). See: unabridged lyrics.
The Scientist tries to find his daughter. This haunting lament is peformed by Chris Vanderlinden, a founding member of the CenterStage Youth Theatre Troupe. See: lyrics.
Mickey Spleen (Justin Leath) is asked by the Lymphette Sisters (Kathryn Purdy, Dawn Thomas, Brianna Davis) to help them discover what is making them all sick. Vinny Virus (Anton Mueller) and his RNA Gang (Chris Vanderlinden, Philip Vanderhyden, Dan Jessup) provide the villiany. The show is written in the style of film noir private eye stories, complete with swing era music. See: unabridged lyrics.
Lucy Lymphette (Kathryn Purdy) is featured in this homage to the body's muscular system. See: lyrics.
The Lymphette Sisters (Kathryn Purdy, Dawn Thomas, Brianna Davis) lead the cast in a rousing circulatory homage as Mickey Spleen (Justin Leath) tracks down the evil Vinny Virus. See: lyrics.
Adam Smith and the Pin Maker teach about the Division of Labor. Features Tim Dorsey and the CenterStage Players. See: lyrics.
After learning about their comparative advantages and all the other free market concepts, the cast celebrates their success in this islander finalé. Features Tim Dorsey, Tobin Mueller and the CenterStage Players, with Jeff Marozek on percussion. See: lyrics.
A rousing prologue song opens this show about self-esteem, choosing good friends and avoiding drugs. Features Tim Dorsey, Janet Planet, Tobin Mueller and the CenterStage Players.
The main character needs to find the strength to see himself free from to be his best self and transcend the less than perfect life in which he finds himeself. Features Tobin Mueller, Tim Dorsery and the CenterStage Players.
Joyous finalé to "Say Yes to Life!" Features the CenterStage Players.
One of Tobin Mueller's children's songs not associated with any educational plays but fun and supportive nonetheless. A kind of Bonus Track to Volume One.
Prologue song to Mueller's show about the history of science and invention. It is also an homage to curiostity, perserverence and the indomitable human spirit. Featured narrator: Stacy Funk. See: lyrics.
This abridged version presents the first section of a sweeping 11-minute History of Science medley. It features Rebecca Welhouse (Magical Priestess), Stacy Funk (narrator) and the CenterStage Players. In the unabridged version these sections follow: Egyptian Agriculture and the Calender; Persian Medicine, Astronomy and Algebra; The Age of Faith and the Scribe; The Renaissance; The Birth of Classical Physics and the Age of Electricity, Einstein and the Future (see next track). Each section is accompanied by music that matches each historical period. See: lyrics for the words to the original version.
This abridged version is the final section of the 11-minute medley The History of Science. the Modern Age of Einstein. Features Tobin Mueller (Einstein), Rebecca Welhouse and the CenterStage Players. See: lyrics for the words to the original version.
Part 3 of the History of Transportation Medley that starts with The Sail and ends with Flight: Touch the Heavens. Features Tobin Mueller. See: lyrics.
Last movement of the Industrial Revolution Medley that introduces the idea of robotics. See: lyrics for entire medley script.
The scene in which Diana convinces Robin Hood to leave the safety of the forest and begin to spread their revolution acoss the land. "We're free men, all! Beyond the law! We head the call of Robin Hood. Before us all the mighty fall. The weak stand tall with Robin Hood..." Features the CenterStages Players, especially Kate Brehm and Tobin Mueller.
Robin Hood and Lady Marion find a moment alone in the Abbey. Robin wrestles with a lack of certainty. "Who am I but a common man, common dreamer. Just a man in love, wanting more than time allows." Features Emily Rohm and Tobin Mueller.
The cast sings about their hope. "We can change the world, change it now. Throw away the chains, free us all. Build a better land, dressed in joy, dressed in forest green..." Features Emily Rohm, Tobin Mueller and the CenterStage Players.
From the confines of prison, Robin sings about the many kinds of walls. "I was once a ʻrespectableʼ man. Owning gold, owning souls, owning land. An existence so parceled and planned. I hadnʼt a clue of what freedom meant. The power that I held bought its own consent. The wealth that I owned, it really owned me. Demanded my soul... I had to break free. So I cast off all petty pretense. Turned my back on my inheritance. To be true, Iʼve not stopped running since..." Features Tobin Mueller.
The Merrie Men break Robin out of prison, but everyone's favorite youth, Much the Miller's Son, is killed. Collatoral damage. The cast mourns. "One more life gone. One more wrong. One more lesson learned, too hard won..." Features Kathryn Purdy, Tobin Mueller and Emily Rohm. This is the arrangement used in the Off Broadway version.
Marion leads the women in a song about the future while the men are away fighting in the Crusades. "Let’s wage peace, in the Great Dream. Hate must cease, in the Great Dream. Each must be, in the Great Dream, equal and free..." Features Angela Verrier and the CenterStage Players.
Tobin Mueller wrote this song in 1984 when the Statue of Liberty restoration began. It was performed at the 1986 Centennial in D.C. He later adaptaed it into a duet between Robin Hood and Lady Marion. "See her great light, parting the night. My only queen: Sweet Liberty..." features Tobin Mueller and Jessica Flood.
Mueller's groundbreaking one-act rock opera "Frankenspell Superstar" debuted in 1992 to fabulous reviews. He would later expand the show into two acts for a family-friendly Off Broadway run in 1995. Then, in 1996, he rewrote the script with a far more adult bend, adding edgier storylines and character arcs, renaming it "Creature". This track is from the original CenterStage Players one-act, the scene that introduces Dr. Victor Frankenstein as he creates then celebrates his Creature. Features Jessica Flood, Kathryn Purdy, Lisa Jarret, Lindsey Teetaert, Holly Thomas and Emily Rohm as the Gypsies; Chris Vanderlinden as Victor Frankenstein: See: lyrics to the uncut version.
Featuring Emily Rohm, this song captures the moment Hilde, the little mountain girl, meets Victor Frankenstein. See: lyrics.
Again featuring Emily Rohm as the mountain girl, this abridged scene takes place as Hilde encourages the Creature, as well as all of the lab animals caged in Frankenstein's laboratory, to escape and follow her into the mountains.
Safe in the wilds of the mountains, Hilde begins to teach the Creature about life. Featuring Emily Rohm as Hilde and Matt Knudsen as the Creature. The CenterStage players round out the chorus of gypsies and lab animals. See: lyrics.
A beautiful duet between Hilde the little mountain girl and the Creature. See: lyrics.
Beginning with underscoring, the scene shows the making of the Creature. As Dr. Frankenstein assembles the human organs, the Spirit of each organ (the actors who make up the Broadway version chorus) watches and comments. Victor Frankenstein (Tim Cunningham) is accompanied by his fiancé Elisabeth (Jessica Flood).
This was first added to the show when it was expanded into two acts. It remained a centerpiece of the next version, the Creature's dramatic solo soliloquy. It represents the moment he discovers his own voice from within the cacophony of the spirit voices that make up his organs.
This is Mueller's most recorded song. It was first used in the Broadway version of "Creature", and subsquently used in "Runners in a Dream." It also appears in Mueller's album If I Could Live Long Enough and many other artists' albums and live shows. This version features Emily Rohm.
This replaced "When You Came" as the finalé when the Off-Broadway version of "Frankenspell Superstar" evolved into "Creature" (as performed at the John Houseman Theatre). Mueller has created a medley of this song for his 2020 album Wonder (Volume One, track 11), as well as an instrumental version (Volume One, track 12). He also repurposed this music to underscore poetry in his spoken word album Afterwords. A version of the "Afterwords" adaptation appears as a piano solo on Afterwords: Bonus Tracks under the title "One With Stars".
The Creature dies saving Hilde from the burning of Frankenstein's Tower. The cast gathers around his fallen body to pay homage. A reprise of "When You Came". This song as the finalé of the original "Frankenspell Superstar" one-act. See: lyrics.
