Readers of the funny pages are surely familiar with Zack Hill, the daily comic named for a hyper, video-game-loving, four-eyed, 10-year-old who lives in a boardinghouse with his mom, a Boston terrier named Cagney and a wacky cast of characters.
Democrat-Gazette editorial cartoonist, artist and all-around swell fella John Deering draws Zack Hill and John Newcombe writes the strip.
Now Zack and the gang are headed for the stage with help from an old friend.
Zack Hill and the Rocket Blaster Man Adventure is a new musical featuring a book written by Werner Trieschmann with music and lyrics by Thomas Tierney.
It was set to debut this month at the fourth annual Florida Festival of New Musicals at the Winter Park Playhouse in Winter Park, Fla., but the pandemic has bumped it to June 24-27, 2021.
Trieschmann, a former Democrat-Gazette features editor and columnist who now teaches theater, film and creative writing at UA-Pulaski Technical College, says he started on the project not long after the strip premiered in 2003.
"I really liked the idea of this kid who has a family that is not a conventional family," Trieschmann says.
In the musical, Zack is embarrassed at having to live in his mom's boardinghouse, but it is up to him to help save the house when the threat of foreclosure looms "and he comes to appreciate this odd family that the lives with," Trieschmann says.
Trieschmann has published 20 plays, including Disfarmer, You Have to Serve Somebody, Killers, Lawn Dart, and Wrought Iron. His work has been staged in all 50 U.S. states and 10 countries, including Australia, Canada, India, Italy and Japan, but he's never done a musical.
"This was an idea that would work as a musical," he says. "Not a lot of my ideas presented themselves that way, and I wanted to try it."
Trieschmann doesn't "know a musical note from a hole in the ground," so he teamed with composer Tierney, who lives in New York City and whose works include Eleanor, Ichabod and Narnia.
"It sat fallow for quite a while, but Tom kept coming back to it."
Tierney's previous work had been seen at the Florida festival and after a couple of rejections, the Zack Hill musical made the cut.
The production has artist Deering's blessing.
"When Werner approached me about it, I knew it was going to work no matter how long it took," he says. "He is such a fantastic writer. I knew he was going to come up with something great."
Trieschmann is ready to see it onstage, even if it won't be until next year.
"I am very proud of it," he says. "It's a funny, sweet musical and Tom has written some great songs. I want to see it and I hope other people get a chance to see it and experience it."
email: sclancy@adgnewsroom.com