| Log of the Skippers Wife Program Notes | |||
| Life of a Common Sailor | Score |  |
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| All Hands on Deck | Score | |
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| Happy Days | Score | |
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| A lovely unexpected drive | Score | |
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| Log of the Skippers Wife - Act II | |||
| RIO | Score | |
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| Buxom, blithe, and debonair | Score | |
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| Finale | Score | |
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Dorothea Balano married a ship’s captain in 1911 and spent her life at sea, and her story is taken from her diary, compiled and edited by her son, James Balano, and published as the book of the same name (Amazon, etc.). She’s a wonderful personality for the stage, and audiences have truly enjoyed the shows over the last 10 years (Montreal, Yarmouth and Annapolis Royal, NS, Camden, ME, Washington, DC, and Stratford, UK). Members of the Balano family, including Dora and Fred’s grandchildren, attended the US premiere in Camden, Maine in 1997 – very moving to be performing for them.
Her progressive views and opinions, her energy and devotion to family, her intellect and passion – all are inabundance on stage. Her husband Fred was a gifted leader of men, businessman, sailor – but left much to be desired in his relations with his wife: conflict and affection collide throughout the show in universal and recognizable ways - thus the subtitle, “A Contemporary Musical.”
The tunes that Dora sings are drawn mostly from Irish, Scottish, and English folk songs, since that’s the tradition on the coast of Maine, where the Balanos lived most of their lives. These shanties and dance tunes are often mixed with modern harmony to produce that combination/collision of light-hearted daily life and deeper, often darker, emotion. Among the tunes are Single Jigs: "The Hen and All Her Broth"and "Cock Your Pistol Charley"; Hop Jigs: "The Cock and the Hen", "Andrew Carey", and Paddy Be Aisy"; and Reels: "Rodney's Glory", "The Echoes of Killarney", and "The Man in the Moon."
A few years ago, I met Dorothea and Fred's grandson, Jim Balano, on Monhegan Island, Maine. In the course of his family recollections, he sang two melodies which he said his grandfather particularly liked: "The Leaving of Liverpool" and "Coming Home," the second one familiar as the theme from Dvorak's New World Symphony. Naturally, these tunes found their way into the score.
The two Portuguese tunes that Dorothea sings during the trip to Rio, "Ole mulher rendera" and "Voce pense," are actual ballads known to people in both Portugal and Brazil. When I mentioned the words to Tomas Saldanha, of Montreal and The Azores, he immediately knew the melodies.