Alexsei’s Quest was born out of a collaboration event sponsored by Create Theatre where Jamie and I met and I pitched him the idea of writing something about Alexsei Navalny, the Russian dissident that was found dead in a remote Russian prison in February 2024. After several false starts we decided on the current story line which has us meeting Alexsei when he arrives in the afterlife where he is greeted by an endless galaxy of stars. He believes he is in heaven.

Alexsei’s Quest is a musical, it had its first reading at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Studios in NYC on November 8th 2024 where it was received with great enthusiasm. 2025 is a busy year in the life of this work. In the months following the November reading the play was revised, with new scenes and songs added, which, of course, is part of the development of any new musical.

Alexsei’s Quest will go up again in May 2025 as part of Create Theatre’s New Works Festival to be held at MTC studios in NYC. At that time demos will be created at Milliron Studios of all the music so that it will be available to promote the work to prospective producers, theaters, and others. The work will also be submitted to the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s fall 2026 conference this summer. In the meantime Jamie and I will be attending this year’s conference in October in NYC to promote the play.

Alexsei’s Quest is now a non-profit under the umbrella of Fractured Atlas, which enables us to raise money to further the play’s development. As a non-profit all donations are tax deductible. Future plans? Have it picked up by a like minded producer who realizes the timeliness of the piece, the beauty of the music, and the integrity of the script.