Award-winning Hillcrest High theater teacher Josh Long will soon embark on a trip to London where he will direct a play titled “A Little Piece of You: An Atypical Musical.”
It’s not just joining the ranks of such icons as Andrew Lloyd Webber as a contributor to the artistry on West End stages that is exciting Long about the upcoming project. It’s that he’s helming a passion project of his 17-year-old niece, Kjersti, who composed the songs for the production.
“When she was 14, she wrote this whole album of songs that had to do with her emotional journey,” says Josh Long, who directs Hillcrest’s vaunted plays and musicals. “Her dad came to me and said he felt like there was something to it. So, I listened to the music, and there is a bit of a dramatic arc in the songs, and they take you on a journey and tell a story about a mother and daughter.”
It didn’t take long for the family to hire a playwright and a co-director, who is a former Hillcrest student who studied under Josh Long, who also choreographed the show, originally called “Relative Space.”
The musical shines a light on generational trauma through the eyes of a mother and daughter. “I have an English style of directing shows, and I felt like I could help shepherd Kjersti’s story in a way that matched what she was looking for,” Josh Long says.
After several years of honing and finessing, work on the show led to a staging in June. Three New York producers flew to Utah to see the production — and two immediately signed on. Among the first decisions was to take the show across the pond.
It’s not the first time Long has connected Utah — and CSD — with the United Kingdom. Last year, he brought “The James Plays” to Hillcrest High School for the production’s American debut.
“A Little Piece of You” will take center stage at the historic Royal Theatre Drury Lane for a two-day run on Oct. 13 and Nov. 1. Long has already started the school year — but agreed to stay on with the project and insisted his salary go to the Hillcrest High theater department.
“It’s really crazy that this is how it all worked out,” Josh Long says. “I’m sure this is not even the end of this story but because I love London so much, and I really love the theater community in London, I’ve always said working there is the only other thing I could ever imagine myself doing, other than teaching high school theater, particularly here at Hillcrest. I get to have the best of both worlds, it’s really cool.”
