Happy Valley

A runner-up for the 2019 Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwrighting excellence, Happy Valley is a full-length, romantic, musical comedy set in a hospice. A group of elderly hospice residents, led by Myra, Gary, and Ingrid, use their collective wit and wisdom to bring Anne Marie (the young head doctor) and Tim (a young music therapist) together, teaching them that life is for living and they should cherish every moment.

In 2014 I wrote 28 songs for Rich Rubin’s book. Now, I am completely rewriting the play and reworking the songs. This year, 2022, I have taken a break from writing songs for the Ideal Home Music Library, Vol 3: Songs for Orchestra so I could meet the October 17th submission deadline for the 2023 National Music Theater Conference. Wish me luck!

I’ll have demos for the songs up on this page as I finish them, as well as, in due course, the full book and score.

Book, music and lyrics by Michael Johnson.
Adapted from the original book by Rich Rubin.

Demos: Vocals by Michael Johnson. Piano by Finale.

Download the full book and score.