Tether: the Musical by Zackary Russell
A theatre dad’s chronicle of adapting George MacDonald’s fantasy novel The Light Princess into an original musical.
The Original Story
Written in 1864 by George MacDonald, The Light Princess tells the story of a baby princess cursed at her christening by her wicked aunt, Makemnoit, who was spiteful over being left off the guest list. The curse strips the infant of all physical and emotional gravity, causing her to float away on the wind as she grows and to laugh mirthlessly at tragedy, completely disconnected from the sorrow of others. The court discovers that she temporarily regains her physical weight and clear-headed awareness only when swimming in the palace lake, where a wandering prince eventually finds her and falls deeply in love. Seeking to destroy the royal family, the witch uses a magical snake to drain the lake dry, causing the princess to wither away until the prince discovers a golden tablet with a riddle revealing that only a willing human sacrifice can plug the rift and restore the water. The prince volunteers to drown himself for her sake, and the overwhelming grief of watching him die finally causes the princess to cry for the first time, breaking the curse, grounding her soul in true empathy, and restoring the prince to life as torrential rains refill the kingdom.
The Source Material
The Light Princess is in the public domain and available in various formats for free:
The Adaptation
In Tether the Musical, this classic fairy tale is expanded as a fully sung-through, nobledark pop-opera. It uses a symphonic J-Rock and steampunk aesthetic, aging up the material for young adult theatre performers. The stakes are raised through a royal law which dictates that a princess must cry for the sorrow of another by her 19th birthday. If not, the kingdom will pass to the king’s older sister, a witch. A cunning, bureaucratic antagonist, the witch manipulates the court, triggers a bloody military coup, and drains the lake to cripple the capital. Early in the story, the prince and princess have a chaotic meet-cute, sparking a haunting obsession that drives him to build an airship to find his floating princess again. Ultimately, Tether preserves MacDonald’s deep allegorical themes of grace and redemption, utilizing the musical language of today to show that a shallow life completely detached from sorrow is a curse, and that true love requires being willingly tied down to the earth.
About the Author
Zackary Russell is a father to four theatre kids and writer of fantastical stories. Music has always been part of his life, whether piano, trumpet, guitar, or editing film scores. Tether: the Musical is his first complete album to compose.
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