How did this musical come about?
A few years ago Daphne was rehearsing with her church drama group in preparation for their Christmas production when an elderly member of the church approached her. He was clutching a small book which he offered to Daphne saying, “You will know what to do with this.” Startled, she thanked him and put it away till the next day when she had time to relax in her conservatory and read it. Immediately the story line of the book ‘The Story of the Other Wise Man’ gripped her and she knew something exciting was on its way. She rang her friend Anne and arranged to pass the book to her for her views on the story. Anne felt the same exhilaration and could see a musical playing out in front of her as she followed the story of the Fourth Wise Man who didn’t make his assignation to meet the other three Magi who made their journey to see Jesus in Bethlehem at the time of his birth. They wrote an overview of the story and Anne started to write the lyrics for some of the songs which came effortlessly from the theme of the book. However, they were unsuccessful in finding a composer for the music. In January 2015 Sashi Radley an old friend of Anne, introduced her to her husband Rick, an accomplished rock guitarist and singer. She tentatively asked him if he would be interested in collaborating in the musical as composer. He agreed although this was a new genre for him. He retired to his garage recording studio and within days the first songs were written and recorded. In Rick’s words, “A conduit opened up and the tunes and melodies just came through.” So we were off and Three Gemstones Productions was formed to take the musical forward.