Once in a Lifetime, Again
an original musical
When Jesse Davidson’s wife of 30 years dies, he is crushed by grief and remorse. He must find a new path as he embarks on the tender, funny roller coaster of searching for love again.
The Story
It was love at first sight when Jesse and Lydia met at a college party in 1974. Soon enough, they were one of many couples in the generation thrown into new gender roles: two careers, shared parenting —and with that, new stresses, conflict, and pressures.
When Lydia dies of cancer in her late fifties, Jesse is devastated by grief and remorse that he had allowed his all-consuming career to take priority over his love for Lydia. After lashing out at work, he is told he must begin therapy.
We meet Jesse as he begins seeing Dr. Carrie Little, a therapist who has little patience for his skepticism and unwillingness to engage. Through their work, Jesse discovers that he can examine his failings and regrets with unsparing honesty by writing original songs. Finally ready to try again, 65 years old and a bit lost in a dating world with new rules, Jesse sets out on an occasionally awkward, often comic, and always tender search to find love anew.
Listen to songs from
‘Once in a Lifetime, Again’
The score includes fifteen original songs, with lyrics and music by Stephen H. Gardner. Click on the tab for links to all the songs.
Artists featured.
Here are the extraordinarily talented actors, musicians, and directors we worked with in the course of recording all the songs and performing three readings of Once in a Lifetime, Again.
They have kindly allowed me to use these recordings and photos on this website.
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David Lutken is a Broadway actor, singer, and musician who created and starred in WOODY SEZ, THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF WOODY GUTHRIE. Broadway credits include INHERIT THE WIND, RING OF FIRE, THE CIVIL WAR, THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES.
Member Actors’ Equity Association
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Michele Ragusa appeared most recently on Broadway in FLYING OVER SUNSET at Lincoln Center, written and directed by James Lapine. Broadway credits include YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, URINETOWN, RAGTIME, and TITANIC. Off Broadway: THE BUTCHER BOY, Irish Rep.Member Actors’ Equity Association
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Samantha (Sami) Saltzman has worked as an Associate Director transferring landmark Broadway productions to National and International tours. Associate/Resident Director: KISS ME, KATE (West End), THE KING & I (West End and UK Tour), MY FAIR LADY (second National US), THE COLOR PURPLE (second National US)
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Logan Medland is a NY-based composer, lyricist, playwright and music director. BROADWAY: DR. ZHIVAGO, CRAZY FOR YOU (national Broadway tour), A BRONX TALE, CATS (national tour), JERSEY BOYS (national tour). Original work as Writer/Composer: FINGERS AND TOES (NY Music Theatre Festival), LOVE GODDESS, THE RITA HAYWORTH MUSICAL (London 2022).
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John Dossett is a Tony Award and Drama Desk nominee who recently starred on Broadway as the Wizard in WICKED.Member Actors’ Equity Association
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Andrea Frierson has been nominated twice for the Helen Hayes Award. She has performed leading roles on Broadway in THE LION KING, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, BRING IN ‘DA NOISE/BRING IN ‘DA FUNK, MARIE CHRISTINE, and FOR COLORED GIRLS.Member Actors’ Equity Association
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Leenya Rideout’s Broadway credits include WAR HORSE, CYRANO DE BERGERAC, COMPANY, and CABARET. She has appeared Off-Broadway in MUSIC CITY, WILD ABANDON, AS YOU LIKE IT, TAMING OF THE SHREW, BEFORE WE'RE GONE, FIRE & AIR.Member Actors’ Equity Association
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Kevin Kuhn is the lead guitarist for the Broadway production of ALADDIN, and was lead guitarist on THE LION KING, also on Broadway.
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Donnie Kehr is a singer-songwriter, musician, and producer. He co-founded the band Urgent on EMI-Manhattan Records and their album ‘Cast the First Stone’ sold over 400,000 copies.
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Stephen Gardner is a singer-songwriter who wrote the book, lyrics and music to “Once in a Lifetime, Again.” To learn more, visit www.stephenhgardner.com.
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Lyn Philistine’s Broadway/National Tours include GYPSY (starring Bernadette Peters), Monty Python's SPAMALOT, CINDERELLA (starring Eartha Kitt), Disney's ON THE RECORD.Member Actors’ Equity Association
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John Mullen is the lead guitarist for “Not My Problem,” a popular bar band based in Connecticut.
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Adam Weiss is the drummer for “Not My Problem,” a popular bar band based in Connecticut.
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Lisa Kaine is the lead vocalist for “Not My Problem,” a popular bar band based in Connecticut.
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Lisa Ratner is a composer, record producer, and performer who co-owned East West Music, one of New York’s leading commercial music houses. Her original songs have been performed by Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton, Vanessa Williams and many other notable performers.
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Fran Southworth is a singer, songwriter, and actress who wrote over 40 songs for “As the World Turns” and has appeared on dozens of television and radio commercials.
Creative Development
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Music Director Logan Medland, Writer/Composer-Lyricist Stephen H. Gardner, and Creative Producer Laura Lundy convened for a 5-day script development workshop and private reading at Open Jar Studios, New York City. Jen Wineman directed AEA actors Tait Ruppert and Michele Ragusa.
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Under the direction of Logan Medland, Broadway musical performer Donnie Kehr recorded seven of the original songs in ‘Once in a Lifetime, Again’ at Millrose Studios, New York City.
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An Actors’ Equity Staged Reading of 'Once in a Lifetime, Again' was held at New York City's Pearl Studios In September, 2022. The cast featured:
John Dossett* - Jesse Davidson
Broadway: Recently starred as the Wizard in WICKED, PARADISE SQUARE, WAR PAINT, CHICAGO.
Off-Broadway: DEAR EVAN HANSEN. Film: THE ORANGES, LITTLE MANHATTAN.Michele Ragusa* - Carrie Little and supporting female characters
Broadway: FLYING OVER SUNSET, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, URINETOWN THE MUSICAL.
Off-Broadway: THE BUTCHER BOY, Irish Rep.Jason Smith - Akila, Bass player NYC: SKINFOLK, dir: Mei Ann Teo, BEULAHLAND.
The 4-piece band included Kevin Kuhn, lead guitarist for ALADDIN and THE LION KING on Broadway. The AEA reading for producers and theater professionals was directed by Jay Stern, with Music Direction by Logan Medland, and produced by Laura Lundy, Blue Panther Productions.
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*Member Actors’ Equity Association -
Once In a Lifetime, Again was selected by The York Theatre Company for its prestigious Reading Development Series. Two Actors’ Equity Readings were performed on September 9, 2024.
David Lutken* - Jesse Davidson
David Lutken is a Broadway actor, singer, and musician who created and starred in WOODY SEZ, THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF WOODY GUTHRIE.
Broadway: INHERIT THE WIND, RING OF FIRE, THE CIVIL WAR, THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES.Michele Ragusa* - Jill, Susannah, Elodie, Darcy, Maddie, Tracey, Nina
Broadway: FLYING OVER SUNSET, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, URINETOWN THE MUSICAL.
Off-Broadway: THE BUTCHER BOY, Irish RepAndrea Frierson* - Carrie LittleBroadway: THE LION KING, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, BRING IN ‘DA NOISE/BRING IN DA’ FUNK, MARIE CHRISTINE, FOR COLORED GIRLS
Leenya Rideout* - Bass, and Frances (“Mutiny”) Kaine
Broadway: WAR HORSE, CYRANO DE BERGERAC, COMPANY, CABARET
Off Broadway: MUSIC CITY, WILD ABANDON, AS YOU LIKE IT, TAMING OF THE SHREW, BEFORE WE'RE GONE, FIRE & AIRThe 4-piece band included Kevin Kuhn, lead guitarist for ALADDIN and THE LION KING on Broadway. The AEA reading for producers and theater professionals was directed by Samantha (“Sami”) Saltzman, with Music Direction by Logan Medland.
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*Member Actors’ Equity Association
A note about the show, from the writer.
Thanks for coming to our website to learn more about ‘Once In a Lifetime, Again’.
Writing the book, lyrics, and music to ‘Once In a Lifetime, Again’ –and the exhilarating experience of working with actors, directors, and musicians to bring it to life in readings– has been, well, a once in a lifetime thrill. I have been delighted by the reception it has received from theater professionals and audiences alike… and pleased to hear that it has caused more than a few conversations in households with what I will call "vintage demographics." As Jesse Davidson asks at the outset of the show, “Hey Boomers – it’s 10:00. Do you know where your relationship is?”
I’ve long been puzzled why more has not been written about the wrenching changes and expectations to gender roles experienced by the young men and women graduating college in the 1970s and early 1980s. Most grew up with one archetype for family life: Dad goes to the office, and Mom stays home with the kids. Then, in a flash, it all changed. Young women graduating from college in 1975 not only had the opportunity to seek careers, it was almost expected -required- in a world turned on its head by the feminist movement of the ‘60s.
At first, two career households were easy. It only got crazy when babies arrived. Suddenly young women were expected to be lawyers/doctors/bankers – and full-time moms. Many young men were torn by the conflict between their traditional societal programming as “providers,” and the sudden new imperative to share the responsibilities of parenting. Many could not navigate their inner turmoil, frustrated that co-parenting meant leaving the office at 6:00 while peers stayed, working longer hours, and winning the big promotion.
In young marriages, it all created tension, unrealistic expectations, conflict, and hurt. Some young women gave up, surrendering their careers and reverting to the old paradigm. Some marriages suffered, withered, and ultimately ended. And there were the couples who kept trying, determined that they could have it all, do it all. Perhaps those felt the most stress of all.
Welcome to the world of Jesse and Lydia Davidson, a love-at-first-sight couple whose fairy tale marriage was strained to breaking by the pressures of dual (and dueling!) careers, unequal co-parenting, disillusionment, emotional distance, and then terrifying illness.
Visit, then, the world of widower Jesse, who must learn how to deal with his rage, grief, remorse, and regret… and then set out to find a new romance in a very different world, and a very different age.
Some of the most interesting comments about the play came from the people who noted that theaters are filled with audiences that are older than 50 —but very, very few plays are about the arc of the lives of those people who are in the theater that night. Sure, some plays might take nostalgic looks at their younger years. There are dark plays about aging couples staring at impending death. And there are unserious romps like the movie “Cocoon,” that seem like a 25-year old’s view of a sorry world filled with stale, sullen, decrepit old people.
I have not seen enough plays that try to portray what contemporary life looks like when parenting is done, retirement arrives, and life partners die. When still-vital people take stock of their lives, look for new challenges, and —for the many people who find themselves single— are filled with desire to find once in a lifetime, again.
Full disclosure: yes, there are similarities to my own life. Like Jesse, I lost my wife at far too young an age. Like Jesse, I found that writing songs enabled me to convey the powerful emotions that I struggled to process. But the play became more interesting to me the minute I turned Jesse into an everyman for his generation. The experiences Jesse has in this play are a complex mosaic drawn from observations of friends, colleagues, anecdotes, and an overactive imagination. The things you think might be real are often the fiction… and the stuff that sounds like fiction is likely to be that very unlikely and often unbelievable thing we call real life.
A friend who saw one of the readings of my show remarked that it was a “classic coming-of-age play.”
Then she laughed and added, “that is, if the age you are coming to is sixty-five.”
--Stephen H. Gardner
November 14, 2024
Here are some quotes
from attendees at the readings