The creators of E-Vatar: A Musical for the Pandemic Age are entertainers and artists above all. David Wilson-Burns, Brian Eads, John Burns, and Gregg Standridge (creative team) all have experience in performing and with creating various forms of entertainment, but each member of the creative team is passionate about making the world a better place and calling out troubling trends.
In the first episode, you may already be picking up some themes. Wilson-Burns draws listeners’ attention to the tension between conservativism and changing culture in the face of Taylen, a non-binary 20-something who asks nothing more than a seat in an airport terminal rife with anxiety and uncertainty. And then Standridge and Eads pulls those feelings into Terminal, giving them a powerful, universal voice in lyrics like “Terminal, Waiting to see if I will get away. It might not be today. Terminal, Afraid of the air that I have to breathe. Is it killing me?”
In the voice of the narrator, Wilson-Burns attempts to summarize a bit of the Gen-Z/Millenial experience with his opening lines.
Short hair.
Boy jeans.
Hot mess
Dragging their luggage through a Beijing airport.
Nothing is cooperating, least of all the wheels on the fifty-buck suitcase they received from mom and dad for graduating a thousand-and-five in their class for a degree they’ll be paying for until they die.
The fog in their glasses, caused by heavy breathing into a protective mask,
obscures their vision
and adds to their growing sense of division
And uncertainty in a new world.
The opening song, “Terminal” sets the tone for the dark stage on which this story is staged and delivers a powerful hook that promises to stick in their audience’s head for days to come.
The whole first episode sets the mood for uncertainty in the world, the country, and in Taylen’s personal life. It will leave the listener with questions and perhaps a desire to root for this young person who just wants things to be ok.
Available on YouTube, Facebook, and podcast. Download it at Apple right now and hear it for yourself!
E-Vatar 