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PLEASANT GROVE — There were plenty of tears but also many laughs Thursday during the world premiere of "Relative Space: An Atypical Musical."
More than 400 people strutted across a red carpet during opening night for the brand new Utah-born musical that highlights mental health through a unique lens of generational trauma.
The musical received national interest after some of the music was leaked and award-winning Broadway and music producers from across the country flew in to attend the red carpet premiere in Pleasant Grove.
Producer Jeremy Long said this musical brought together the best theater talent in Utah.
"If magic happens and if this show goes on a ride, the 450 of you here will know truly how special it was to make this, and how special the people are who did it. And they're from the great state of Utah," Long said prior to the performance.
The musical is still being developed and will likely change as it vies for a spot on Broadway later this year. Because of that, Long asked the audience to submit feedback on how it could be better.
Broadway Records President Van Dean attended the show and has already expressed interest in being a part of "Relative Space" moving forward.
"I think what they've achieved is something very unique and very powerful. The way they've brought attention to this incredibly important issue of mental health, I think is going to touch a lot of people and hopefully help a lot of people," the Grammy and Tony award-winning producer said.
"Relative Space" is a rock concert, mixed with a play, that focuses on a mother who struggles to find the energy to get out of bed and do her interior design job; and a daughter, who feels so alone and worthless that she keeps skipping school to paint and escape.
The mother and daughter find out the other is also shirking responsibilities and they secretly start ignoring their obligations together and start to bond by painting. Then, tension hits when the mother tells her daughter it's time to return to school, and the daughter finds out she inherited mental health issues from her mother.
The performance suddenly shifts back in time, depicting the mother's struggles in her teenage years, dealing with her own mother. The musical continues, again shifting to the previous generation, illustrating a great-grandmother's struggle, that ultimately ended in suicide.
The final scenes return to the mother and daughter, both realizing, in dire and emotional circumstances, that they need each other and can do hard things.
Liz Golden – who played the role of the mothers — said she felt exhausted after the show because it feels like a marathon portraying the difficult experiences of three different women.
"I think about the final scene where the woman has an opportunity to lie, and say, 'No, I've never done that,' or say the shameful thing. And the bravery to say the hard thing — that's what I hope people will take from (the show)," Golden said. "I hope people go home and call their mothers and say, 'Tell me more about you and your childhood.'"
Golden said if people want to support Utah artists and know what Utah artists are capable of, "Relative Space" is the show to see.
"We're talking dozens of people who live and work and create here and we're doing really good important stuff, so spend your money in your local theaters," she said.
Throughout the performance, powerful songs are sung by 16-year-old Kjersti Long, who wrote all of the music with her father, detailing her own struggles with depression.
"I feel really good," she said after the performance. "It was very connected and meshed together. I am so excited. I want everyone to see it, I want everyone to feel what they need to feel."
Kjersti said the acting and story meshed together perfectly with the music she wrote and she wants everyone who sees the show to feel something. She was happy there were laughs and tears throughout the show.
"I feel like we put everything out there. ... We did a great job," she said.
Grammy-winning vocalist coach Wendy Parr has trained famous singers such as Sara Bareilles, and also works with Kjersti. Parr has helped the teen develop songwriting and was the vocal producer for some of the songs in the musical.
"It's really exciting. This is what happens in creativity. You never know where something could go and what becomes of something," Parr said Thursday. "This work we did together is finding a different life and I'm really excited to see the show tonight."
Parr loves being a coach because she gets to empower people to find and expand their voice. She said it takes seven to 10 years to find yourself as an artist and Kjersti is already "way into that journey. This is an exciting vehicle for her and an opportunity."
Utah Valley University student Leah Carr, 19, played the role of the daughters and said she loved working on a new show.
"It was exciting because it would evolve with us. As we're experimenting with characters and figuring out who they are. It was more of a collaboration, instead of taking what's on the page that's already written in stone," Carr said.
Having things change while rehearsing was difficult, but Carr is grateful she gets to be such a foundational part of the musical.
"It's something to be proud of that I'm the first one to have been the daughter, because, with plays that have been done over and over, there's a set way of doing it. With this, I got to completely create it and whoever plays Britt after me, they'll look at me and create their character based on the work I did," she said.
She was happy there was a full crowd at the premiere. After several mishaps occurred during the final dress rehearsal on Wednesday, Carr said the opening night show was "a really good run. I'm really proud of it."
"Relative Space: An Atypical Musical" is performing at the Liahona Theater for the community in Pleasant Grove on Saturday, June 24, and again each night June 29 through July 1. The show has an industry reading in New York City set for October, to start the process of potentially becoming a Broadway show.
