Twenty-four years ago, guitarist Jon Gutwillig wrote a steampunk rock opera about a hopeless romantic’s quest to fly. He called it “Hot Air Balloon.” Gutwillig and his Philadelphia-based band, The Disco Biscuits, have played the nine songs from the opera hundreds of times since then. But the music has never been adapted for a theater stage.

Until now.

On May 13–14, join Gutwillig at FringeArts for an open workshop of THE VERY MOON: A STEAMPUNK MUSICAL. This intimate night of musical theater, presented by Gutwillig and co-producer, writer, and lyricist Nicholas Schmidle, will feature the first public performances of THE VERY MOON. Other contributors include Aron Magner (composer) and Alex Bechtel (arranger, musical director).

Gutwillig and Schmidle will host a conversation after the performances, where attendees will be invited to participate in a discussion about the show. This is a developmental workshop, so no audio or video recordings by audience members will be allowed.