About The Sorceress

The Sorceress is an in-development dark fantasy feature film. It is a musical, though not quite like those we have come to know from Disney or Broadway. Its style and mood are akin to Lord of The Rings, Princess Mononoke, and Sweeney Todd, aimed at young adult and adult audiences, with elements told through both song and dialogue.

Logline:

In the land of Gorlen, where clean water is controlled by a ruling tyranny, a sheltered teenage girl living in the forest has a secret even she doesn’t realize she’s keeping—one that just may be the key to saving Gorlen.

A New Take on the Marriage of Music and Story

I love the idea of stories told through music, therefore, I love the idea of musicals… but I almost never love musicals. KPop Demon Hunters, Wicked, Frozen, Les Miserables all do what they do exceptionally well, but their styles don’t connect with me. I also love fantasy stories that take place in archaic, magical worlds full of organic detail and complexity, and I have longed for a musical in which the songs match that world. It has long been my goal to create a musical that I want to see and hear. For my entire life in music I have been chasing a vision, a style, a mood, something that has always proven elusive because it doesn’t quite exist. This artistic vision gradually clarified through my musical development and then through my career as a performing artist and a film and TV composer. This music can stand on its own, this story can stand its own, this imagery can stand on its own, but combined, that’s where the magic is. These three elements were meant to work together in harmony.

The Story

In the land of Gorlen, a tyrannical government called The Guard has control over all the clean drinking water and uses it as leverage to maintain their elite class over the struggling villagers. Lyla, a sheltered teenager with a passion for gardening, convinces herself she is content with her father in the peaceful isolation of The Sleeping Forest. When a mysterious rash appears on her finger, her father recognizes it with concern, but Lyla wishes to let it heal on its own, lulling herself into the comfort and safety of the forest. Her father reveals that he has seen such a rash before, and it is gravely dangerous to her. Lyla has no choice but to journey into Gorlen to find a witch who is said to have a cure.

Soon after leaving the forest, Lyla is chased and nearly captured by guards, but offered protection by Ronan, a rugged, travel-worn girl about her age, who will help keep her out of the hands of Morimur, the king of Gorlen, commander of The Guard, and alchemist. Lyla finds the witch, who reveals that there is no cure for what she has, it is a part her shining through, and it gives her the power to manipulate the forces of nature, the power of an alour. Realizing that her newfound powers have the potential to help the rebellion free Gorlen from The Guard’s oppression, Lyla chooses to aid them instead of returning to her father in the forest. Lyla and the rebels plan to thwart Morimur’s creation of more alour, but when that fails and Ronan is captured, Lyla is forced to go head-to-head against Morimur’s alour, the battle leaving half of her body transformed into a tree, a side-effect of her powers unknown to her until now.

Lyla is devastated that their plans against Morimur and The Guard failed, and at the state of her condition. She communicates with the witch, who helps her use her burgeoning powers to see that the attack the rebels are en route to carry out upon The Guard is going to be an ambush, so she goes to aid them. The rebels are surprised by Morimur’s alour army, which he unleashes upon them, but Lyla arrives and quells them. Morimur makes one final attack upon her, but she blocks his attack and disables his alour army. When the dust settles, Lyla’s body has completed its transformation into a tree. Morimur, still unsatisfied with what he has achieved, is awed by Lyla’s sacrifice, and with the help of wisdom the Lyla-tree imparts upon him, he is able to see the error of his ways. He uses alchemy to bring Lyla’s alour powers into himself, turning himself into the tree, and releasing Lyla. Morimur’s final act, combining his alchemy knowledge and alour powers, is to purify all the water in Gorlen before the Morimur-tree petrifies. Lyla, her father, Ronan, and many of the rebels return to The Sleeping Forest to make a home together.

Download the script:
https://s.disco.ac/auvykvahimqd

The tree-home in The Sleeping Forest, where Lyla and Ivan live.

Lyla

The Music

Music is the essence of The Sorceress; a musical, perhaps an opera; a sonic pallet unique to the land of Gorlen, combining orchestral and earthly acoustic instruments: dark, organic, and complex, the music itself creates a world. This is a selection of pieces from The Sorceress.