Father-and-son team collaborate on ‘Loch Ness’ musical
After nearly three years of writing, composing, and workshopping songs and scenes in front of live O.C. 
audiences, the Chance Theater’s 2013 artist in residence Marshall Pailet is ready to unveil his latest work, “Loch Ness, a new musical,” this Friday .
The production features an 8-foot tall, 20-foot-long puppet of the Loch Ness monster herself, about 20 original songs featuring Celtic instruments and Scot-Gaelic phrases, and a cast of 10 actors on a moving stage, complete with fog tank and special effects.
But for all the complex moving parts, the play has a simple message.
“At its core it’s about a father and his daughter,” said Pailet, 27, who co-wrote the piece with his own father, lyricist A.D. Penedo.
The duo joined forces once before to write “Who’s Your Baghdaddy?” in 2011, an irreverent musical comedy about a support group for those who started the Iraq war.
That production featured dancing C.I.A. agents and catchy, youthful songs about days spent “hanging with my bro-bros/ playin’ Nintendo Sixty Four-Four.”
“Don’t let the age fool you,” said Penedo, 57, about his lyrics full of slang and teenage references. “My son’s the mature one.”
Now with “Loch Ness,” the father-son team has polished up a longtime project that Pailet first dreamed up when he was 9 years old.
“It’s a big, magical musical for a family audience that has certainly a lot of comedy but certainly a lot of heart,” Pailet said.
The story centers on 12-year-old Haley Westerbrook, the daughter of a scientist who becomes best friends with a small reptile living in the depths of Loch Ness in the Scottish highlands.
Haley’s scaley mate warns her that they must escape Loch Ness together before something terrible happens. Little Nessie soon sprouts into a gargantuan “monster” onstage.
“This is no ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ puppet,” warned Pailet of the expandable dragon contraption built especially for the show.
“We have one actress who appears on stage and voices Nessie, and up to five other actors who are also being the body and tail. Their expressions are following what’s going on with the lead actress working the head … they are like one organism.”
Add a dense layer of fog, and the 20-foot-long puppet looks almost real.
Rounding out the mix is an array of colorful characters with French, Scottish, and Southern English accents, each salting their speech with provincial idioms.
“It’s pretty striking, if it all comes together,” said the writer/director.
In addition to making sure the physical components of the play come together, a host of re-writes are still happening to the dialogue and orchestration just days before opening night.
“This show people are going to see is a collaboration of brilliant artists from all walks of life,” said Penedo. “It’s awe-inspiring to see how many people it has taken to put this together, and the dedication and expertise each one brings to the table.”
Pailet agreed, calling the work a labor of love.
“We did do a two-hour improvisational session where the cast acted out the 15 years before the play begins, and we based our rewrites on what they imagined – that’s how collaborative this was,” Pailet said.“By the end people were weeping … they taught us about our characters.”
“That’s what makes this show so special,” added Penedo.
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