LYNN — Ralph Tufo may be retired from his decades-long teaching career. But, thanks to his role as playwright/director for new musical Beyond the Blues, which debuts at the Washington Street Baptist Church next month, the former North Shore Community College professor is working more than ever.
“I’m working harder than I think I ever worked,” he quipped.
Tufo, who grew up in Lynn and now lives in Winthrop, is a self-described musician/singer/songwriter in the band the Squeezebox Stompers, which plays Cajun, Zydeco, and New Orleans music along with original songs that he’s written. That interest in music and songwriting is what sparked his newest musical, “Beyond the Blues,” a “musical about the power of music” set in Lynn in 1982.
“Beyond the Blues” is set in the city’s Brickyard neighborhood, where Tufo grew up, and follows the “gritty Urban Legend Bar & Grill” on the night it hosts its annual Singer/Songwriter Blues Competition.
“Four finalists are vying for the coveted award. They each sing two original songs accompanied by dramatic monologues which describe their song inspirations, the hardships they’ve gotten beyond, and their own unique connection to Lynn’s history. The owner of the Urban Legend is struggling to keep the bar operating since the Brickyard neighborhood has been decimated by urban renewal and a loan-shark is now threatening him for payback,” a synopsis for the show reads.
As he reflected on his work, Tufo said he came to realize that much of his songwriting focused on his upbringing.
“Looking back on some of my songs, I realized there’s a story behind a lot of them… and I was thinking about how I could connect them,” he said, explaining that the rest of the plot came naturally from the inspiration of his upbringing.
Tufo said he selected the 1982 setting because he wanted to peg the show to two key events — the demolition of the Brickyard and the Second Great Lynn Fire in 1981 — to explore the impact they might have had on his characters.
“I wanted to have some of the characters be affected by the Great Lynn fire. I wanted to have them be affected by the demolition of the brickyard. Their neighborhood, my neighborhood, the church is gone, neighborhoods gone, my friends are gone, everybody left. There was weeds for years, there’s nothing going on,” he said in an interview Sunday. “And I thought about putting it all together and I came up with the concept of the open mic blues competition.”
The play, which is produced and stage-managed by Bill Porter, of Saugus, will aim to provide an immersive environment for those who walk into the Washington Street Baptist Church between Nov. 11 and Nov. 13. Proceeds from the play will go to the church’s food pantry.
“Once you step in that door, you’re in the Urban Legend Bar and Grill, and it’s 1982, you are the audience and you’re given a ballot to vote, and the actors don’t know who’s going to win [the competition],” Tufo said. “There are some characters who come out of the audience and the audience doesn’t suspect that sometimes in the beginning of the play we have the cast members, dance through the crowd, get the crowd up, trying to get the crowd involved, and make them feel like they’re in this bar in 1982 in Lynn.”
The show stars Kevin Groppe, Jennifer Antocci, Reggie Joseph, Aliyah Harris, Peter Murphy, Ben Warren, Bill Porter, and Steve Crews. Groppe, who plays the Master of Ceremonies at the blues competition, was one of the show’s stars in its previous form — as a Zoom musical.
Tufo said he intended to get “Beyond the Blues” off the ground in 2020, but when the pandemic hit, he had difficulty securing a venue in the city. As a result, he shifted the production to a virtual format, and a recording of the show has garnered more than 700 views on YouTube.
In plotting an in-person debut, Tufo said he settled on the Washington Street Baptist Church after a meeting with the church’s pastor, the Rev. Pete Ballentine. The charitable component of the production flowed naturally from that choice, Tufo said.
“I love this hall and I said ‘well why not make it a fundraiser for their food pantry?’ Cover the costs after the grant and whatever costs I have, and all the proceeds from the program book and everything after that go to the food pantry and so that’s how it all kind of came to be,” he said. “It was no grandiose plan. It just sort of happened like everything else in life.”
“As long as I’m covering my costs, I don’t care if I make money or not and so, what better way to do a fundraiser then to do this right here in the church and I think it’s gonna be very successful,” Tufo continued.
With under a month to go until the show opens, Tufo summed up the process of getting the musical ready for primetime succinctly: “rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal.”
Tufo said he hoped audiences would walk away with a newfound understanding of the city’s history, as well as the impacts of urban renewal, and, of course, with a feeling that they were entertained.
“There’s also some recurring themes in there, about the obstacles that people had to overcome. And that’s why I call it the power of music. Some of them had to overcome racism, poverty, you emotional breakups with lovers and ex-boyfriends and girlfriends so it’s like music, helping people get through things,” he said. “I attest to that, the power of music to get you going get you over stuff just listening to a particular song sometimes can change your mood, playing music, you forget about your problems. So all that sort of positive aspect about the power of music.”
