A good comic book or graphic novel is a phenomenal work of art. It can be literary, subversive, disturbing, titillating, all while being potentially very accessible.

The idea of taking a great comic book and presenting it in real-time, such that the audience experiences the visual presentation freed from the confines of a small page – that’s an idea that CAN work. Usually this comes about as a movie adaptation.

Music, especially rock music, has a great ability to enhance emotion and communicate drama in extreme measures. A real-time presentation of a comic book or graphic novel cries out for an ambitious musical component.

Performance, true performance, happens on a stage and has always been 3-D. True performance places musicians and actors in the same physical space as the audience. True performance does not get to rely on computer editing, or special effects animation. True performance provides a more direct experience to the audience.

I believe that a project which combines all of these values is not impossible. I believe there are risks that ‘The Theater’ has expectations and baggage which will necessarily detract from and harm this project. Even without worrying about a schmaltzification, the project may literally collapse under the weight of it’s own ambitiousness.

And yet, I understand why it should be attempted.