Conversation with Nicolette Blount, the creator of the new musical, “Savage, the musical”

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Nicolette Blount, the creator of Savage, the musical. As a registered Chickasaw Native American, Nicolette shines light on her great grandmother, Wanda Savage in this new musical. Savage is a powerful story of redemption about a indigenous mother who fought racism, sexism, and abuse to make a name for herself, but at the heart of the story is a mother and her son. Nicolette is a singer, actress, songwriter, writer, and vocal coach that lives in Massachusetts, but from Southern California. In this podcast we talk about indigenious representation, the Chickasaw disappearing language and what’s next for Savage, the musical. We listen to the opening number, “Wanda Savage”. You can follow Savage, the musical on Instagram at: @savagethemusical and www.savagethemusical.com.

MWI - Episode 7, Savage, the musical

Spencer Williams: Welcome back to Musicals with Impact we're so happy to have you here today. We have Nicolette Blount who is one of the creators, co-writers, co-composer and lyricist to the new musical Savage, the musical. Welcome.

Nicolette Blount: Thank you. 

Spencer Williams: Now Nicolette you're coming from Massachusetts today. So, that is awesome. This musical caught my eye. And I'm really excited to share this one out with our listeners. Not only because it is a women centered story, but I love that it's connected to your family heritage. And also it is, and you can tell us all about this, but it's a musical about indigenous people that is connected to your family.

So, this is all really exciting to me. And I think really important, especially in musical theater, we don't have those stories and so welcome.

Nicolette Blount: Thank you. 

Spencer Williams: Why don't we start right off the bat with telling us, what was the moment that you realized that you had to write Savage the musical?

Nicolette Blount: Oh boy. So, my great-grandmother, her name is Wanda Savage and oddly enough, I had my first birthday at her ranch in Wyoming, and I've always had this weird connection with her. Cause she was a performer and I didn't know of any other performers in my family except for myself.

And this is on my mother's side. So, a cousin of mine did a documentary about her. And when I saw it, I went, Oh, geez, this needs to be a movie. Like, she had the craziest life. So, then fast forward a few years, I was in a musical. It was well, I did a lot of local musical theater.

And the theater that we were in had a celebration for how long they had been running. And I heard a song during that show, rehearsals for that show. And I went, wait, what, where, what musical, is that song from? And then I found out that one of the owners of the theater had written a musical, him and his son, John.

And that it was a song from the musical that they had put on and produced. And I thought, huh, you know, I had been writing music since I was young. I would say I actively started writing music when I was in my twenties and I've been writing lyrics or poetry since I was a teenager. And I've always written books and whatnot.

And I did major in theater and voice in college. And so I thought, huh, I could do that. I should write a musical. And then I thought, well, what would I write it about? And then immediately it came to my mind Wanda Savage my great-grandmother because she has such a crazy life. I mean, I'm not even showing half of it in this musical.

So, I guess that could be in a movie some day. So, that was the point that I thought, you know, I'm going to try and write a musical.  So, I thought well I'm going to ask John, who was a friend of mine who had written that song that I heard at that show, and see if he wants to write with me.

And he said he would do it with me. And so we kind of start fiddling around. And then I thought, you know, I would really like someone to write the book with me who has experience in writing plays.  I said, Hey, Lyndal do you want to write a musical with me? He's like, huh? Cause he had written a play that was an adaptation of Frankenstein and it went to the Fringe Festival and he said, well, I've never written a musical before, you know, I've written plays. But I think what intrigued him about the story is that it was a true story. I told him I wanted it to be a dramatic musical. I didn't want a happy, wonderful, let's go have cupcakes ending because that wasn't my grandmother And then John, my collaboration with him, one of the main reasons why in addition to him being extremely talented, he's a jazz pianist. And I knew since this takes place in the twenties, that I really wanted jazz music and I love jazz music.

So, I thought, you know, I would love to combine my pop writing with more of a jazz sound. So, that's how we started writing. 

Spencer Williams: I love it.  The first thing I would say is it sounds like you've really come up with a really good team. No musical has ever written in a silo by themselves. Rogers and Hammerstein had a great team and a big team that was around them. That's the whole point of musical theater is that collaboration. That's really exciting to hear. 

Nicolette Blount: It's been a great experience. Just the whole thing. I did not intend for it to get to where it is I just started sharing on social media cause I thought, well, I'm just going to tell people what I'm doing and get it out there in the world. And maybe it will help inspire someone. And now like we have over 4,000 followers on Instagram and we have yet to put on a production. It's just crazy.

Spencer Williams: That's really exciting. I love how, it's all connected inside of your family. And I think there's something to it and something powerful that connects the story in a way that's like really inspiring almost.

Nicolette Blount: And I don't want to sound crazy, but weird things have happened in the studio. Weird things have happened when we've been writing like just weird spooky things. So, I've like you know, people have said to me, Oh, you should go to, someone who can like speak to the dead and see if they see your grandma next to you.

And I'm like, if I walked into one of those places and they said, why is there a woman standing next to you with a gun? I think I would just like freak out, like run out of the room. I have avoided that so far. 

Spencer Williams: Fair enough. Why don't you tell us a little bit about Wanda Savage. I'm also a little curious about her last name, you know, because it is an indigenous story, and how that's connected. It's such a unique last name anyways and then like connected into the indigenous part. I would love to know a little bit about that story and how that all connects.

 Nicolette Blount: Her original name was Maddie Wanda Hardwick. And she, at some point shows that as a stage name, which also plays into, kind of, the way that Native Americans, and a lot of this, although we know a lot of facts about her.

My grandfather lived into his nineties and he had told us a lot of stories about her. But although we know a lot of facts about her, we've had to fill in, the extra stuff for the story, right. So, hence why we're saying more inspired by, because you have to do some more dramatic changes and whatnot, and we're not exactly sure if that's how things happened.

We know a lot of it was. But she grew up on the Chickasaw territory in Oklahoma and her and her family would get money from the tribe. The other story in my family is that. So, I'm registered Chickasaw, I know, I don't look it, but it's also funny because my grandmother didn't look like your typical Native American.

And it was interesting though, because like, I look at her and I'm like, Oh, she just looks white. But back in the day, some of the people that they've interviewed for the documentary, this really, really old lady who remembered Wanda, because she was a young girl at the time. And she was like, Oh, we just all knew she was this little Indian girl.

And it was so funny that they, like, it's almost like even if you just had a dash of Native American or even just something about you, I think they could really tell back then, because everything was so segregated. I don't know. It's very interesting. But so the life that we're presenting about her in the musical also has been cut down because you only have so much time and we don't want to four hour musical, I don't know, maybe we do. We can save that for the movie someday, I really think it would be an amazing movie. But her true story is that her mother abandoned her and left her with her dad. So, and her dad was an alcoholic. She married very young, a man from Denmark. They then had my grandpa and his sister. Then the guy from Denmark passed away from cancer, like really young. This is the story. The next door neighbor lady had like a loser son and she wanted Wanda to marry him so that he would get some of her Native American money, from the tribe.

And so she fell in love with him I guess, married him, had another kid with him. Then at some point they go to a circus and he was really abusive as the story goes. Andrew is the abusive husband and basically they went to a circus, there was a shooting competition. She had these marksman skills from when she was little from being on the tribe. Just naturally, really good. The story goes that my grandmother never aimed when she shot a gun, the minute the rifle hit her shoulder, she shot and she never aimed and she always hit her target.

So, she was just like very gifted in this. I think in my mind, she probably wanted to get out of this abusive marriage, she thought it was a way out. She thought that it was a way that she could have a career that she probably always wanted and had put on the back burner for these two kids. Which I identify with a lot.

I identify with my great-grandmother so much because I have two kids and I love my kids, but they've put my career on hold for a long time. I put my husband through medical school so I've had times where I had to put my career on the back burner.

 She's a woman, in a time in the 1920s where women didn't have a voice. She had these goals of having a career, which was totally different than the tribe life of everyone being together and helping each other. And she kind of wanted to go out on her own. And now she has this abusive husband that she wants to get away from. So, she does the shooting competition. She wins, she gets offered a job.

She has to find a place for her kids and she goes on with her career and she shoots in circuses as a marks woman. Then in Vaudeville, and then she meets this guy named, and I cannot make this up, his name, his real name. And we have it in the show is Howard Hard. And I will say that in real life, Howard Hard died of syphilis and he was a womanizer so I don't know how much I should give of this cause I don't want to give the whole show away, but something happens with him at the end of act one. 

She's just like this bad-ass person. She's amazing. But I relate with her because about the entertaining part and like having children and back then women, you know, and this is what I'm hoping we show with our show, is in the 1920s, especially, women didn't have many choices. So, here you have this woman who's indigenous she's now, you know, she has children, she divorces Andrew. She doesn't have many options. She's in an abusive relationship. And all she wants to do is make a life for herself and a career.

And she has like the fact that she's a woman going against her, the fact that she's indigenous going against her. You know, all of those things and she overcomes and tries to pursue this career. But in the end, I think she realizes that what she really wanted and needed was love, which she was getting from her son.

And she realizes that at the end of the musical

Spencer Williams: Well, and all really powerful stories to tell. I mean, I agree with you, like, it's amazing, to kind of hear her story and like what she was able to accomplish, especially in a time, where like Indigenous people were not looked upon highly. They weren't equal. I mean, and I have issues with that today. And that's part of the reason why I think it's such a powerful story to be told today, especially through a woman's lens. I mean, we've got a lot of musicals out there told about women, but through a man's lens. So, I think this is really interesting because I think you're going to be like that story and just inherently that's coming from you, you know, about your grandmother.

So, this family connection is, is through a completely different lens than we've seen on the stage before.

Nicolette Blount: Yeah, I hope so. I mean, so far, I think what we're constructing is, there are funny moments. We have some funny characters, of course you have to break up the drama, you know, you don't want people like so depressed when they leave the theater.

And we're trying to have hope at the end,  but it's more of like hope, but you're not exactly sure what happens after that. Like it's kind of left up in the air for your interpretation. The show focuses on her trying to have this career and being a single Indigenous mother who overcame abuse and racism, and she's also overcoming misogyny and sexism in the show. It's a lot, but at the heart is her and her son and her realizing, what she wanted she really already had and realizing that. So, it's like her wants, you know, how everyone has a want in a musical or play. So, her want kind of changes. You see it as being this one thing, but then her realizing at the end, like she already had this, her wanting to be accepted and loved. She already had that from her son.

Right. She just missed the mark a little bit.

Spencer Williams: I think something that we can all like attest to or relate to, because it is something that I think we all kind of go through. It's like we have these wants and dreams. A lot of the times we look back and we're like, well, we actually had what we wanted or needed at that time.

Nicolette Blount: Yeah.

Spencer Williams: Very interesting.

Nicolette Blount: It's funny how the modern part of society has seeped its way into the show. Because it deals with a lot of hot button issues right now. And one of the things, which was not our intention, but it ended up going this way. Misogyny or sexism or any of that can be so subtle that you can't call it out, but it's there. So, I'm hoping there'll be some discussions around that after they see the show. 

Spencer Williams: Why don't you tell us a little bit about the song that we're going to feature today? Because I would love to hear some music from Savage.

 Nicolette Blount: This song is called "Wanda Savage". And the song that we yeah. Have of "Wanda Savage" that streaming right now is not the version you're going to hear here. This version is going to go on an EP that we're gonna release hopefully next month. And so you guys are gonna be the first ones to hear this version. This song is our opening number for the show. When the show opens, you're going to see Wanda Savage in all her glory at the peak of her performance, performing, singing the song Wanda Savage. The song talks about her background a little bit about how she was raised things like that and it's called "Wanda Savage". 

Spencer Williams: Wow. I love that ending.

Nicolette Blount: Thanks. That is a Samantha Meiburg performing that and me and John is backup vocals. 

Spencer Williams:  Really? Oh, that's amazing. And someone local.

Nicolette Blount: Yeah, she's really talented. She actually was my muse for Wanda and she is Indigenous. She is like 20% native American and she's Puerto Rican and she's super, super talented.

Spencer Williams:  Oh, that's amazing. And also she's incredibly talented. And I also love that there's authenticity inside of all of that as well. That's amazing.

Nicolette Blount: She sang it our NYMF concert. We have five singles that are streaming on iTunes and Spotify and all the things. And she's on two or three of those songs that are streaming, I think. Yeah.

Spencer Williams: Well, really, really exciting. I'm excited for your EP. So, yeah. Why don't you just tell us a little bit about like what's in development. Tell us a little bit about the EP and, you know, kind of your next steps. You were in rehearsals. Is that going to come back? You know, what's happening with Savage?

Nicolette Blount: Yeah. So, we were in rehearsals before COVID hit, for a local production and then I felt really bad for the actors because they had worked so hard on it and I really don't know what's going to happen next. So, we did do a private, invite only zoom performance. And I have some of those performances for the music on our YouTube and snippets of it on our Instagram. But so we did that and we also did the NYMF concert 2019. And we are, you know, we've been working on the show for four years.

We're rewriting again. We just keep rewriting and we worked with the director, Rachel Klein, who has done some off-Broadway stuff and other stuff in New York. She's a great director. Also is part Native American. So, she has a little bit of Native American her and so we've been working with her.

She's been working with us with the script and we've been consulting with David Treatmen, who is a Broadway producer. And yeah, I don't know what the next steps are for Savage because things are so up in the air with the pandemic. You know, my dream would be that we would get a bunch of female producers or a female producer to take the show on and, you know.

Spencer Williams: Yes.

Nicolette Blount: Do something with it.

Spencer Williams: I think it would be so cool to connect women producers, but also have a connection inside of the Indigenous, to continue representation. How, cool would that be?

Nicolette Blount: Yeah, I think so. And I, just side note about my tribe, the Chickasaws, their language is on the  endangered language list.

We have only about, I think it might be about 50 fluent speakers in our tribe right now. And they're all over the place age like 50 or 60. So, our language is about ready to die. And so we have incorporated, we have one song in particular called "Unconquerable" that we have incorporated the language into, and we've also incorporated it into the show, especially in, a few scenes in Act One. When we flashed back to when she was younger. And I've been told that we've done it in a way to the people who have seen it. So, that people know what they're saying. Like, I usually will say the indigenous word and then I'll say the English word or one person will say the indigenous word.

And then the other person will answer in English. So, you kind of know what they're saying. But I'm hoping that that helps preserve the language a little bit and also bring some awareness to the fact that, tribes are losing their languages. And not just tribes, cultures, all kinds of people, you know, it's important to hold onto your language.

Spencer Williams: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for sharing all about your great-grandmother. I loved that. And the musical, and it's really exciting. When does the EP come out?

Nicolette Blount: The EP is going to have two of the songs that are already streaming, which is "Currency of Men" and "Wanda Savage" . It's going to have two new ones, "Start Again", "Lighten Up" and possibly another one. And that will be coming out hopefully February 14. And we're also looking into possibly doing a Broadway concept album.

Spencer Williams: Amazing. I'll look forward to that. That's really exciting. It's always good to get the music out. I always feel like.

Nicolette Blount: Well, it's a musical. It's all about the music, right?

Spencer Williams:  Right. Yeah. How do we follow you as a new listener for someone out there? How do they follow what's gonna happen with Savage?

Nicolette Blount: I have a lot of followers on Instagram, and usually whatever I post on Instagram, I post on Facebook. So, we have an Instagram, we have a Facebook SavageTheMusical     and then we are on YouTube Savage, the Musical. And YouTube has, some of our full performances. And I like to do a lot of like behind the scenes stuff, especially on Instagram and stuff.

So, and then we're on all the streaming sites for iTunes and Spotify. Or you can check us out on   www.savagethemusical.com

Spencer Williams: Thank you for being here today and talking to us about Savage. It sounds like such an interesting story. One that we haven't heard in the canon, and that's part of the reason why I was just so excited to talk to you and learn more.

And we'll definitely be following your journey. This is an exciting one. It sounds like there's a lot of momentum and hopefully after the pandemic, you know, we'll see a full production maybe, or wherever it goes.

Nicolette Blount: I really, really appreciate having this opportunity to talk to people.

Spencer Williams: Well, thank you so much for being here.