The Making of Follow Me

Every once in a while, something so familiar and ordinary can, in the blink of an eye, actually become extraordinary. For the creators of Follow Me, that particular moment is where the journey began. In December of 2004, the concept workshop of Follow Me was performed in conjunction with “In the City” a musical event at the historic Glad Tidings Tabernacle in New York City. At the time, we had pieces of a few songs. The thought was that we could concept them out, set some dance to them and keep the presentation simple. Perhaps, if time allowed, we could compose another piece or two and present them together. The result was 20 minutes of raw, edgy material that challenged audiences to see Christmas in a new way. The event saw over 1,600 people in two days.

The response was so positive, that the decision was made to plow forward and fully develop the production. So, we dug in. As we began to explore “the most famous of all Christmas stories” we started to ask some hard questions: Who were the Magi anyway, and where did they come from? When Mary got supernaturally impregnated, how did that work? What did Joseph think about that? Who are Zacharias and Elizabeth, and what do they have to do with all of this? Why has no one ever heard of them? Did the Magi literally follow a moving star through the sky, or was it a metaphoric? When Herod gave the order to slaughter the children under the age of two, why would the soldiers comply with something so awful? Through a lot of research, we learned some pretty fascinating information.

In one fell swoop—the nativity, as we know it, did not occur; we had five Magi; and the culture of the time would likely have stoned Mary. Ah…that magical feeling of Christmas! That was the moment of transformation from ordinary to extraordinary. Truth is so much more interesting than fiction. We were hooked, and we suspected that audiences would be, too.

In July of 2005, with partial funding secure, we made the plunge and began planning for a larger full-scale production with the new and enhanced material. We wanted to create New York’s next holiday tradition! In fact, we even said so in our tagline. We were blessed to have a very enthusiastic cast and crew who were excited to be working on the show. We were also fortunate enough to be in residence at Glad Tidings Tabernacle and have the support of its community, and the mentorship of the leaders. GTT is a church that is passionate about the arts and shares a vision to see quality work thrive in the city. Together, it was a win-win. We got to produce our material, and the church was able to have a fully produced Christmas event. In December of 2005, Follow Me ran for a total of 14 performances.

With a two-week run under our belts, we decided that Follow Me was worth the journey and the investment—and to our surprise, so did a lot of others.

All of the sudden, people were asking questions we were not quite prepared to answer. “Are you planning on running it for longer next year?” “I have not seen something this right for the time and culture since Rent!”  “I wish I had known so I could have brought my family in from out of town.”In the blink of an eye, people believed our tagline and thought,  “This is New York’s Next Holiday tradition.” So once again, we set out to continue to improve the material, refine the concepts, and introduce some new creative thoughts as well. Armed with wise counsel, the gift of hindsight, and a love of the material, we are excited for what the future holds!Currently, the team is working on pre-production of Follow Me 2006 New York, with the eventual goals of a consistent yearly New York run, along with multiple companies performing Follow Me and touring regionally.