The Hollow: A Haunting Musical Set in the Wheatbelt

Gothic Musical–A ghost story.

In a city dive, Diva, fresh out of jail sings and plays guitar in a. city dive and tells the story of how she was a young naive and ambitious singer/songwriter, who fell in love with an aging famous country singer Johnny Star who’d had a hit on the radio–and how Johnny took her under her wing but wanted to clip hers. And then when Diva had a chance to go her own way, she didn’t take it. She didn’t go off with the debonair Angel who wanted to produce her music, because she didn’t want to hurt the feelings of her beaux, the hard drinking, territorial and possessive Johnny. But this was a bad choice for Diva and she became a drunk, just like Johnny. Several years on after making it big in the city Angel comes back to The Hollow to rescue Diva, and there is an altercation in which Johnny dies. Charged but not convicted of manslaughter, Angel then takes Diva to the city and they are successful together. But they come back to The Hollow on tour, and there Diva is hounded by the ghost of Johnny Star, and she goes out of her mind. Angel tells her that it is her conscience talking and not a ghost: her conscience telling her the truth—that Diva killed Johnny in an alcoholic blackout—that she killed him—and that Angel kept it a secret from her all these years. Perhaps Angel should have still kept it a secret, because Diva is so shocked and driven so mad by the news, and by the ghost, that she then kills Angel. She is deeply grieved, tormented and shocked by what she’s done. And this time she does go to jail, but she wants to. She wants to accept responsibility for her crime. And that is her story. A story of a powerful love that went wrong. Twice. A story, which is strange, sweet and bitter as a good country song.