Album Notes

THE REVIEWS ARE IN:

From MASQUERADE (Mike Gibb):

The work of James Corey Kaufman and Michael Bitterman, Discovering Magenta
is an enjoyable slice of modern show music. Judging by the synopsis the
story is somewhat complex, set against the background of a mental hospital
and involving a catatonic patient. The music is however quite
straightforward, melodic and affable.
Michael Bitterman has a tight control on the variety of musical styles
adopted and certainly can turn out a quality ballad ("Wake Up", "Where Do
I Go From Here?"). Lyricist Kaufman is equally impressive and with the
likes of the risque "Lonely Guys Club" displays a wicked sense of humour.
The cast of four -- Douglas Farrell, Amy Fradon, Mark Ruse, and Vicki
Russell are first class and the arrangements, despite being largely
synthesiser based, are inventive and tuneful. Discovering Magenta is a
most pleasant slab of show music released privately by the writers. For
further information on the work check web page www.midmod.com/magenta.html

From AMERICAN THEATRE WEB-XM RADIO

At the other end of the spectrum is "Discovering Magenta," by James Corey Kaufman and Michael Bitterman. This show follows several story lines that converge in ways that sound, at least from liner notes, completely riveting. The show's main focus is on the relationship that develops between a young health worker and one of his patients, Katrina, whom he manages to wake from a catatonic state. Alongside this story, you meet some of Henry's friends, and a relationship between two of these characters proves to critical to Katrina's ultimate recovery.

It's a dark musical and one that slides with ease from the jocular (the guys extolling single life in "Lonely Guys Club") to the truly haunting (this is particularly true of Katrina's "Days of Madness.") Bitterman's score is a mixture of pop sounds and elusive melodies that capture the slippery mental landscapes of many of the characters.

"Discovering Magenta" is available online – you will probably want to track both of them down. A good place to look is CDBaby.

This has been Andy Propst of AmericanTheaterWeb.com

from SHOW MUSIC (Max Preeo)

DISCOVERING MAGENTA is a musical-in-progress by Michael Bitterman (Five After Eight) and James Corey Kaufman. Something of a psychological love story, it concerns Henry, a mental health worker attracted to Katrina, a patient haunted by past incidents involving her brother, whose identity is a plot point. Secondary characters are henry's friends and fellow psychology students, Elliot and Rose, the later seeming near a breaking point herself in her songs "Little Boys" and "This Ain't Oz". Other numbers also reveal the characters and their feelings, including "Let Me In" "Do You Understand?" "Repress My Feelings," "Days Of Madness,: and "Cliche Of Love." They are well sung by Douglas Farrell, Amy Fradon, Mark Rust, and Vicki Russell in synthesized arrangements by the composer, but the musical would probably play best at theatres looking for the unusual.


Synopsis of Discovering Magenta
BOOK & LYRICS: James Corey Kaufman MUSIC: Michael Bitterman

DISCOVERING MAGENTA opens with a young mental health worker discovering a new, attractive patient, Katrina. The scene shifts to Henry and his friend Eliot, who works at McDonald's, standing outside the window of Henry's ex-girlfriend, Lisa. Henry pines for Lisa and wonders why he can't TURN AWAY from her window. The next day, Henry and Eliot are attending the first day of an Abnormal Psychology class, where they meet fellow students Rose and Cole. While Eliot talks with the sarcastic Rose, Cole chats with Henry about the need to challenge yourself -- to DO THE UNEXPECTED.

Cole invites Henry to join him for pizza after class, and Henry breaks from his routine and says yes. At the pizza parlor, things progress well for the four new friends until Rose's speech about the best little boy in the world gets more and more strange (LITTLE BOYS). An embarrassed Cole silences her, and they leave. The next day, Henry's back at the hospital and slowly becoming fascinated with Katrina, who is catatonic. Indeed, he realizes, the silent woman is in many ways a MODEL PATIENT. Before long, Henry and Eliot are getting very drunk and celebrating their memberships in the LONELY GUY'S CLUB. Cole comes to join them and finds himself alone with Henry after Eliot gets too drunk and passes out. Henry confides in Cole about his work, specifically his catatonic patient Katrina. Cole tells Henry about a new treatment he read about for rousing a patient out of a catatonic trance -- singing to them. Cole demonstrates one such song (WAKE UP).

The next day, an embarrassed Henry tries the unorthodox treatment (WAKE UP, reprise), and to his amazement, Katrina not only wakes up, but wakes up screaming. Henry finds in the coming week that even when awake, Katrina is not very forthcoming about her past. He is intrigued by his untrusting patient, and against her protestations he begs her, LET ME IN. Before long, however, Katrina's insurance runs out. Scheduled to be kicked out of the hospital, she ridicules Henry's attempts to help her as naive -- after all, if Henry isn't willing to really help her, to see her outside of the hospital setting, then what good is he? She doesn't believe he can help her, or understand anything she's going through (DO YOU UNDERSTAND?). At the last minute, however, Henry breaks hospital protocol and slips her his phone number. As the first act ends, both Henry and Katrina wonder what the future will hold (WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?)

The second act opens with Henry and Eliot coming to their psychology class to find Cole asking Henry to come talk to him. Henry leaves with him, while Eliot and Rose strike up a conversation. The enigmatic Rose puts up with Eliot's inept small talk, and then launches into a tirade against what she perceives to be Henry and Eliot's shocking naiveti (THIS AIN'T OZ).

Meanwhile, Cole tells Henry of his growing concern for Rose's sanity (HOW CAN I HELP HER?) To Henry's surprise, Katrina calls him. Over pizza, Katrina finally unburdens herself and tells him of a traumatic childhood, with a brother who grew more and more violent. She tells him of how her parents came home one night just in time to stop her brother from raping her. After that, he was sent to a mental hospital, and she never saw him again. Henry tries to console her, but later that week, while talking with Eliot, he realizes that his feelings toward Katrina are becoming more than merely therapeutic. Although he realizes his romantic thoughts are inappropriate, he is only partially successful about hiding them (REPRESS MY FEELINGS).

Henry and Eliot are interrupted by a frantic phone call from Cole, who tells them he hasn't been able to get through to Rose. Henry and Eliot join Cole at Rose's door, and break it in. They find her dead, of an overdose, holding a suicide note. Henry finds himself Katrina again, and she tells him of her DAYS OF MADNESS. Maybe, she worries, she really is crazy. Henry shares with Katrina about Rose's death, and then tells her about his latest theory of life, based on the psychological fact that the color magenta doesn't exist in the real world. The human eye creates the color magenta when it sees certain amounts of red and blue. Perhaps, Henry thinks, happiness is like that. It may not truly exist, but it's capable of being created.

Meanwhile, Cole, Henry, and Eliot are all dealing with their own amounts of GUILT over Rose's death. Despite Henry and Eliot's attempts to console him, Cole blames himself for her death. Later that week, Henry goes out with Eliot and Katrina. Their excursion to the mall is interrupted, however, by the appearance of Lisa, Henry's ex-girlfriend. Henry is surprised to see her, and upset by her condescending attitude toward him. But he's even more surprised when Katrina helps him show up Lisa by pretending to be his girlfriend, and kissing him. The next day, over coffee, Henry tells Katrina that he enjoyed the kiss quite a bit, even if it was just "pretend." This time, though, they kiss for real. Katrina confides in him further, telling him that before she went into her catatonic state, she remembered recognizing her brother in a supermarket. This scared her so much that she passed out -- and woke up in a hospital. Henry tries to comfort her, but Katrina can never truly relax because HE'S OUT THERE, NOW.

With Henry and Katrina now together, he plans a dinner with Cole, Eliot, and his new girlfriend. When Katrina is delayed, Henry and Eliot go out for some last-minute shopping. While out, Henry discovers he accidentally kept Rose's psychology notebook several weeks ago and still has it. Looking through it, he realizes that her handwriting doesn't match the handwriting on the note. Starting to panic, Henry and Eliot rush home to find Cole attacking Katrina and about to rape her. Henry tackles him, but Cole easily pushes him away. Eliot then comes in and smacks Cole with their Club from the car. The next day, Katrina visits a shaken Henry. He knows now that Cole was her brother. Henry had been manipulated almost from day one -- including Cole's lullaby song, which Henry finds out was a song that Cole used to sing to Katrina when they both were children. Henry professes his love for Katrina (CLICHE OF LOVE), but they both know it cannot work out. Too much has happened. They embrace and promise to stay friends. As Katrina exits, Eliot wakes up and enters, expecting Henry to be miserable over the loss of his relationship. But Henry desperately tries to find the good in the situation -- Katrina has been helped, Cole was stopped -- and realizes that he is discovering magenta in his own life. It's not enough to TURN AWAY (reprise), he realizes. He has to turn toward something.

The studio cast is Amy Fradon, Mark Rust, Vicki Russell & doug farrel