Auburn Jam Records has released the concept album of major new musical Broken Wings, an autobiographical tale of tragic love based on Lebanese-born poet Kahlil Gibran's 1912 masterpiece. The show is written by West End star Nadim Naaman (The Phantom of the Opera) and Dana Al Fardan, one of The Middle East's leading contemporary composers, and with orchestrations by Joe Davison.
ENGAGING SHAW begins in England in 1897 in a comfortable cottage in Stratford, England, where Shaw hopes to complete his new play. As he engages in conversation with his friends, the happily married cottage owners, Beatrice and Sidney Webb, we learn Shaw is a notorious flirt and heartbreaker who enjoys romancing women, attracting them to him "like a moth to the flame." But it is soon apparent he is not particularly interested in sex, a fact reflected in his real life where he remained a virgin until his 29th birthday. It's the thrill of the hunt that is the main attraction for Shaw, thoroughly enjoying the effect he has on women as he pursues them, not in the keeping of them. In present-day parlance, he'd be considered a sexist cad. Beatrice sees an opportunity to deflect Shaw's interest in her (and hers in him) by inviting their wealthy benefactor Charlotte to visit, knowing when she meets Shaw, the financially challenged but famous Irish playwright and political activist, that sparks will fly.
When Margaret Brown managed to scramble onto one of the few lifeboats available when the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, the Denver, Colo., socialite became the stuff of myth and legends. She grabbed an oar and argued vehemently that they turn the boat around and look for survivors. Later, as a philanthropist, Brown spent many years helping families whose relatives had been on the doomed voyage.
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